General Olympics thread

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General Olympics thread

Post by Thanas »

Thread for the winter Olympics.


So apparently Steven Seagal is a security expert for Putin's propaganda channel. Link

A US Bobsledder was locked up in the bathroom and destroyed the door. LInk

And to tip of the trifecta, here is the haters guide to the Olympics. Well worth a read and guaranteed to make you chuckle
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by J »

The fix is in for figure skating Or, shall I say, the fix is in, yet again.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by General Zod »

The Russian Police Choir win the Olympics for their cover of Get Lucky. I mean you really don't have to watch anything else.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by fgalkin »

And here is some actual figure skating talent:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjkiebus/this-r ... ng-perform

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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by fgalkin2 »

General Zod wrote:The Russian Police Choir win the Olympics for their cover of Get Lucky. I mean you really don't have to watch anything else.
That wasn't the Olympics. It was a musical break from last years' winter season of Chto? Gde? Kogda? I mean, you see the team and everything. Another reason why that show is awesome

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%3F_Where%3F_When%3F


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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Borgholio »

Well as usual, the whole "Streaming the Olympics live online" thing is bullshit. Last Olympics, they released mobile apps that were just shit...locking up whenever the app tried to reduce resolution to compensate for low bandwidth. The iOS app was less prone to crashing than the Android app. This year, it's reversed...so I can't watch it on my iPad but I can watch it on my Galaxy Note. Not that big of a deal really, since I can at least still watch it on my laptop. But also just like last year, they keep advertising "Free streaming" when in fact, you need to have a valid cable or satellite TV account to log in. Luckily I do, but it's still all bullshit. Fucking NBC.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by dragon »

Did you see Julia Lipnitskaia, the 15-year-old figure skating from Russia talk about flexible
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Grumman »

dragon wrote:Did you see Julia Lipnitskaia, the 15-year-old figure skating from Russia talk about flexible
Is it possible to write about modern figure skating without sounding like you should be on some kind of government watch list?
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Re: General Olympics thread

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Borgholio wrote:Well as usual, the whole "Streaming the Olympics live online" thing is bullshit. Last Olympics, they released mobile apps that were just shit...locking up whenever the app tried to reduce resolution to compensate for low bandwidth. The iOS app was less prone to crashing than the Android app. This year, it's reversed...so I can't watch it on my iPad but I can watch it on my Galaxy Note. Not that big of a deal really, since I can at least still watch it on my laptop. But also just like last year, they keep advertising "Free streaming" when in fact, you need to have a valid cable or satellite TV account to log in. Luckily I do, but it's still all bullshit. Fucking NBC.
German state TV has a great livestream. Don't know if you can watch it from elsewhere but:
http://ard.br.de/olympia-sotschi-2014/live/index.html
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Borgholio »

Thanks for the link, Thanas! Unfortunately for all streams I try to view:

Derzeit kein Video-Livestream verfügbar.

So probably country-restricted.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by dragon »

Borgholio wrote:Thanks for the link, Thanas! Unfortunately for all streams I try to view:

Derzeit kein Video-Livestream verfügbar.

So probably country-restricted.
I'm able to see it and I'm here in Texas. Granted it might be because it's on a military network with reserved IP ranges. So a base in Germany and a base in the states all start with a 155 IP range
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Borgholio »

Watching USA vs Slovokia ice hockey. It is now 7 to 1 USA. I've never seen such a lopsided score in hockey before, but I'm not the biggest hockey fan so I don't know if there have been even bigger gaps in the NHL or something. But still, I am feeling sorry for Slovokia right now. They're not just losing, they're being humiliated.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Block »

Borgholio wrote:Watching USA vs Slovokia ice hockey. It is now 7 to 1 USA. I've never seen such a lopsided score in hockey before, but I'm not the biggest hockey fan so I don't know if there have been even bigger gaps in the NHL or something. But still, I am feeling sorry for Slovokia right now. They're not just losing, they're being humiliated.
It happens. Teams just have a bad night, there's been some 6-1 and 7-0 games in the NHL this year. A couple years back Washington beat Florida 11-2. Too bad for the hockey teams that it's no longer Czechoslovakia cause they'd be the best team in the world.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Coop D'etat »

Block wrote:Too bad for the hockey teams that it's no longer Czechoslovakia cause they'd be the best team in the world.
Not even close. A combined Czechoslovakian team would have less talent than the likes of Sweden and the United States, they wouldn't be close to what Canada has. The Slovaks would bring their goaltending up to below average rather being awful and add a few extra star wingers and defencemen. They'd still be near the bottom for the elite 6 teams.

They were a 3-5 ranked team when unified, and they've declined heavily compared to the top teams over the past decade. The end of communism did a number on their development programme.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Block »

Coop D'etat wrote:
Block wrote:Too bad for the hockey teams that it's no longer Czechoslovakia cause they'd be the best team in the world.
Not even close. A combined Czechoslovakian team would have less talent than the likes of Sweden and the United States, they wouldn't be close to what Canada has. The Slovaks would bring their goaltending up to below average rather being awful and add a few extra star wingers and defencemen. They'd still be near the bottom for the elite 6 teams.

They were a 3-5 ranked team when unified, and they've declined heavily compared to the top teams over the past decade. The end of communism did a number on their development programme.
Yeah, no. The Canadians MAY have the most talent though that's very questionable, but they're not the best team, and without the special dispensation to play on smaller ice in Vancouver (total bullshit), they wouldn't have made the medal round in the last Olympics. The lack of speed alone is probably going to hurt them this year pretty badly. It's also called hyperbole, ya know, intentionally overstating to make a point.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Coop D'etat »

Block wrote:
Coop D'etat wrote:
Block wrote:Too bad for the hockey teams that it's no longer Czechoslovakia cause they'd be the best team in the world.
Not even close. A combined Czechoslovakian team would have less talent than the likes of Sweden and the United States, they wouldn't be close to what Canada has. The Slovaks would bring their goaltending up to below average rather being awful and add a few extra star wingers and defencemen. They'd still be near the bottom for the elite 6 teams.

They were a 3-5 ranked team when unified, and they've declined heavily compared to the top teams over the past decade. The end of communism did a number on their development programme.
Yeah, no. The Canadians MAY have the most talent though that's very questionable, but they're not the best team, and without the special dispensation to play on smaller ice in Vancouver (total bullshit), they wouldn't have made the medal round in the last Olympics. The lack of speed alone is probably going to hurt them this year pretty badly. It's also called hyperbole, ya know, intentionally overstating to make a point.
They won in 2002 on international ice, the different dimensions doesn't matter that much.

If your going to knock this Canadian roster for a lack of speed in particular I don't know what to tell you. That at such right angles to reality of who those players are that I have to figure your relying on old stereotypes than actually knowing much about them. In particular that defenseman group, you've got most of the world's top two-way skating defenseman in the lineup (Keith, Doughty, Pietroanglo, Subban. No other country has anything close to that at Sochi). Look who is actually playing as the top line forwards for the Fins and Slovaks or playing defense for Russia or the Czechs compared to the Canadian roster and tell me there isn't a significant gap in talent of the players here.

There is a reason Canada has a better track record of winning real "best on best" tournaments (Olympics since 98, World/Canada Cups). They produce a lot more quality players than anyone else. That's far from decisive in the 3 games it takes to win a tournament, but it is significant.

10-15 years ago a revived Czechoslovak team would be one of the best in the world, but those guys got old. Their replacements aren't nearly as good. Its a long ways from 98.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by mr friendly guy »

I found this interesting article.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/02/1 ... or-russia/
Short-track speed-skating star Viktor Ahn, formerly known as Ahn Hyun-soo, has brought his adopted home Russia two medals, one gold and one bronze in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

With his winning streak likely to continue, South Korean online forums were overrun with discussions about what had driven this skating genius from his birth-country and the Korean media's sudden focus on Ahn ‘being a Korean'. Criticisms mounted on the deep-rooted clique culture that perpetuates the Korean skating world and Korean society in general.

Ahn made headlines on the international level in the 2002 Olympics with his unfortunate crash into the eight-time medalist skater Ohno. Four years later, Ahn surged back as Ohno's formidable rival by grabbing three gold medals and a bronze.

However, Ahn failed to compete in the following Olympics in 2010. The official reason given was that it was due to his knee injury, but it was an open secret to net users that Ahn had a fallout with the Korea Skating Union and was severely bullied [ko] well before the 2006 Olympics. By 2010 Ahn had been de-facto abandoned and was cast out by the union. He left his country and became a naturalized Russian in 2011.

For playing for the Russian team, Ahn has reportedly been rewarded [ko] with a much higher salary, a private tutor, coaching staff and he has also been promised a stable job after his retirement.

Too late too little

As Ahn won a bronze medal earlier this week, Korean media outlets suddenly gained interest to the unfair treatment he suffered, several years earlier. Even the President made a comment about Ahn that ‘we have to look back on whether it (referring to Ahn switching his nationality) is because of irregularities lying in the sports world, such as factionalism, favoritism and judging corruption'.

Politicians chimed in as well. The ruling Saenuri party posted an emotional photo with accompanying text [ko] on their Facebook page that read ‘sorry, but we will always support you'. Net users were not very impressed with this belated response.

Many Koreans were rather happy for this under-appreciated star's newly-found happiness and seemed unmoved, even offended by the Korean media sudden emphasis on his nationality. Here are several tweets about Ahn.
I wonder how often this occurs. Athletes with good medal chances are all but forced out because of problems with that sports organisation in that country, switch to another country and wins a medal for their new country. Kind of like saying fuck you to the old country.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Crazedwraith »

Pussy Riot have apparently been whipped by security forces.
The BBC wrote: Russian protest group Pussy Riot have been beaten with horsewhips by Cossacks who are helping patrol Sochi during the Winter Olympics.

Footage shows members of the band, which became famous after performing a protest song in a church against President Vladimir Putin, being beaten.


Police questioned witnesses, but no-one was arrested.

On Monday, two band members were arrested on suspicion of theft at Sochi, but later released.

The footage shows Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, who both served prison sentences for their Moscow church performance, being attacked along with other band members.

A Cossack appears to spray a substance in the face of one of the band members, who were wearing ski-masks.

An officer with a whip then proceeds to attack the band members along with a man with a camera.

Other Cossacks then jump in, punching the band members and throwing them to the floor.

'Political event'
The group has been fiercely critical of President Putin, who has been the main driving force behind the Sochi Games.

One band member said on Tuesday that the Sochi Games were a political event.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was among those attacked by Cossacks
"Now there is an occupation of this territory, because the city is under total police and security control," Nadezhda Tolokonnikova said on Tuesday.

"We have arrived here on Sunday [and] we are being detained all the time. Even when we were driving our car and walking in the street. So they are looking for any reasons to arrest us."

Ms Tolokonnikova said they were detained for 10 hours by police on Monday after arriving "to make a political claim about the Sochi Olympics".

Earlier this month, six members of Pussy Riot signed an open letter insisting that Ms Alyokhina and Ms Tolokonnikova should no longer be described as members of the punk rock collective.

The remaining members of the group said the pair had forgotten about the "aspirations and ideals of our group" and were wrong to appear at an Amnesty International concert in New York.
Or at least two of them, who may not still members of the group? Regardless, not sound like proportionate response there.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by fgalkin »

Video in question



Honestly, yeah, Cossacks love their nagaykas. But I've seen NYPD do worse to OWS protestors.

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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Lolpah »

Cossacks in what sense? People of Cossacks ethnicity or identity, who also happen to be policemen, or is there a special unit called "Cossacks"?
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by fgalkin »

Lolpah wrote:Cossacks in what sense? People of Cossacks ethnicity or identity, who also happen to be policemen, or is there a special unit called "Cossacks"?
Both. Cossacks are an identity (not really an ethnicity) who serve in Cossack units. The whip they use is a traditional weapon, btw.

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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Edi »

Pretty happy about Finland beating Russia in the ice hockey quarter finals. Would have loved to see Latvia send Canada home, but alas, it was not to be. Close enough to have collectively freaked Canada out, though and they certainly have one of the best goalies of the tournament.

Semifinals tomorrow, Finland vs Sweden and Canada vs USA, both are liable to be pretty intense.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Crown »

fgalkin wrote:Video in question

<snip>

Honestly, yeah, Cossacks love their nagaykas. But I've seen NYPD do worse to OWS protestors.

Have a very nice day.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Coop D'etat »

Edi wrote:Pretty happy about Finland beating Russia in the ice hockey quarter finals. Would have loved to see Latvia send Canada home, but alas, it was not to be. Close enough to have collectively freaked Canada out, though and they certainly have one of the best goalies of the tournament.

Semifinals tomorrow, Finland vs Sweden and Canada vs USA, both are liable to be pretty intense.
Fins are putting in a good showing despite some crippling injuries. You can almost always count on them to play their system well, like Switzerland with much better talent. An anti-climatic Russian loss in the quarter finals is a nice poke in Putin's eye as well. Although expectations were way to high for them going in, this group of players is neither particularly strong relative to the field and unbalanced in their talents. That and Russia has only won a best on best tournament once and that was at the height of Soviet National team. Good enough to have a decent chance at winning but not to expect it.

Slovenia Sweden was played unexpectedly close for the first period or so until Sweden got some power play goals. Slovenia was a nice underdog to watch, most of the minnows go immediately into a 1-4 or even 0-5 forecheck and collapse to the goalie setup and pray the bounces go their way, but they were willing to actually play. Austria attempted the same with much worse execution and got lit up.

Canada-Lativa was a fun match. Canadians pulling off 75-80% puck possession, Lativians sitting in a 5 man box in the defensive zone to prevent rebounds or transition shots and scored a goal on a net little set play involving sending a defenseman to the bench to spring place a forward out behind the Canadian defense. Canada didn't get the favourable bounce you usually get having the puck in the zone all game so it game down to wearing Gudlevskis down to exhaustion. ~30 scoring chances and only 2 goals

Geographic rivals and rematchs of the last 2 gold medal games is a dramatic setup for the semi finals.
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Re: General Olympics thread

Post by Edi »

Fuckity-fuckity-fuck. That is all.

Sweden beat Finland 2-1 in the semifinal. Not a real surprise after Finland wasted the 1:36 of 5 on 3 power play in the first round. Fucking pathetic and it didn't help that Rask is apparently sick, so Lehtonen had to be in his place. Not that Lehtonen is in any way a bad goalie, quite the opposite, but he is not quite as good. A good summary would be not enough accuraacy in finishing shots, too many wasted power plays and a few mistakes by the defense and here we go to the bronze games again.

Sweden just had better win the gold now, or else...
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