Comments on: The Fall Olympics #Sochi2014

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 04:57:55 +0000

As more sports are added and changed there is a process to refining the sport. It does seem odd that the women don’t practice on the same equipment that they will be competing on. To me that seem like the only logical way to be fully prepared, especially for an event like the Olympics.
http://www.orionweblog.com

By: Jimmy Senkov

Jimmy Senkov — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 00:35:25 +0000

Petticoats? Go home Greg you’re drunk.

By: Andy Dinh

Andy Dinh — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 15:56:01 +0000

This article gives some interesting information and insight about the conditions of the Olympics this year. If you’d like to read about the terrorist threats about surrounded the international event check it out here : http://thenebula.org/the-terrorism-around-the-sochi-olympics/

By: dean

dean — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 16:29:50 +0000

I admit to being befuddled as to the reason that women are allowed to compete in the two-man (as they call it) bobsled competition but not the four-man. I can’t imagine what the reason could be for that rule.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:14:05 +0000

Alphagamma: Thanks for the information on that. I was fooled by some documentary looking thing that was on years ago. The fact that it was essentially made up is even more interesting than it being real would have been.

By: Alphagamma

Alphagamma — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 11:53:43 +0000

It’s a myth that all the athletes in the women’s 800m at the 1928 Olympics (the first with women’s events) fainted. It comes from an account by a writer for the New York Evening Post, who probably did not even witness the race.
Film footage of the race shows one runner falling as she crosses the line (as also happened and happens fairly often in men’s races). She is almost immediately helped to her feet and walks off. No-one else collapses. All 9 athletes finish.

In contrast, the Evening Post article states that of 11 runners, 5 dropped out before the finish while 5 collapsed at the line. That account, taken as fact, was partly responsible for women not being allowed to run further than 200m at the Olympics again until 1960.

Oh, and here’s a blog post with a photo of Lina Radke of Germany crossing the line in first ahead of Kinue Hitomi of Japan. No petticoats in evidence- they’re dressed the same as the male 800m runners you see further down.
http://go-feet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/running-history-4-womens-800m-1928-and.html

(There was also a women’s 100m at the 1928 Games, which was the first women’s Olympic race, but I haven’t seen any reference to athletes collapsing in that, and there has been one at every Olympics since.)

By: Smarter Than Your Average Bear

Smarter Than Your Average Bear — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 05:39:22 +0000

In ice skating (not ice dancing though) there has been a steady increase in pressure to perform quad jumps. This started before the Vancouver Olympics but by then the pressure to do at least one in both short and long programs had started to really build. It is a group pressure, not an official one. Once someone landed a near perfect quad the game was up, everyone felt they had to or “go home”. It is the ultimate, from the experts the human body can not gain the altitude and hang time required for a quintuple, while still having the small lean bodies needed for all the rest of the moves. So now the pressure is to not perform just one quad but multiple in each set. Landing wrong on a quad is a very quick way to get injured and the probability of landing wrong is quite high. Also Canadian ice is much slippery – because CANADA! 🙂