Official Torino 2006 thread

[MHS2002]

For the foreigners out there...are your networks showing the Games live? Everything except some curling and ice hockey is recorded for us.

[MHS2002]

Australia is aiming for one medal, any colour. How depressing.

An Australian just won the gold medal in men's moguls.

[MHS2002]

This American woman was leading by about 60m, and in one of the jumps she decided to show off and pull a trick...but she mucked the landing, fell on her arse and was overtaken by a swiss chick just before the finish line.

It was hilarious, the moment of the games for me so far.

It doesn't quite compare with Bradbury, but it's the best of Torino so far.

It was embarrassing. While she has said she wasn't trying to do a trick, other U.S. snowboarders even admit she was going for style points.

[MHS2002]

This American woman was leading by about 60m, and in one of the jumps she decided to show off and pull a trick...but she mucked the landing, fell on her arse and was overtaken by a swiss chick just before the finish line.

It was hilarious, the moment of the games for me so far.

It doesn't quite compare with Bradbury, but it's the best of Torino so far.

It was embarrassing. While she has said she wasn't trying to do a trick, other U.S. snowboarders even admit she was going for style points.

She basically retracted that claim and said she was "having fun".

I'm glad she lost.  It was a just punishment for poor sportsmanship.

Yeah I just saw that. She deserved to lose.

[MHS2002]

Well, it's been an interesting games so far. 14 medals is very good, right on the heels of the US, although we dont have anywhere close to the amount of golds.

I am willing to answer any questions about curling, as I am an avid curler myself. Basically to score points, you have to get your rocks closer to the centre of the circles than the other teams rocks. It's really a lot of fun to play, but I can understand if it is boring to watch on TV.

And hugh, stop bashing  ice hockey, you don't see me whining about field hockey. Ice Hockey is a lot of fun, you should try it.

Ready for the big U.S.-Canada curling match (men's semifinals) on Wednesday?

[MHS2002]

Well, it's been an interesting games so far. 14 medals is very good, right on the heels of the US, although we dont have anywhere close to the amount of golds.

I am willing to answer any questions about curling, as I am an avid curler myself. Basically to score points, you have to get your rocks closer to the centre of the circles than the other teams rocks. It's really a lot of fun to play, but I can understand if it is boring to watch on TV.

And hugh, stop bashing  ice hockey, you don't see me whining about field hockey. Ice Hockey is a lot of fun, you should try it.

Ready for the big U.S.-Canada curling match (men's semifinals) on Wednesday?

Should be fun. I wonder what happened with the women's team. They were supposed to do very well. When I watched the Canada-USA game, Johnson was making some weird calls. Not enough experience I guess.

The women received a lot of attention in the States before the games, based in part on the looks of the Johnson sisters but also their silver at the last World Championships. I think a lot of people had the U.S. men doing poorly, with the women contending for a medal.

[MHS2002]

From an American perspective, here's what I'll remember about the games:

1. Bode Miller "doing it his way;" 0 for 5
2. Lindsey Jacobellis taking silver on snowboardcross after her fall
3. Sasha Cohen again failing to put two programs together in figure skating
4. Chad Hedrick/Shani Davis speedskating feud
5t. Shaun White "The Flying Tomato" gold in snowboard halfpipe
5t. Joey Cheek donating Olympic winnings ($40,000) to charity

[MHS2002]

The only 'spectacular' Olympics in the last 20 years-Barcelona 1992; Lillehammer 1994; Sydney 2000. Sydney was obviously the best of the three, but Barcelona 'saved' the Olympics.

I only remember starting with Sydney, and my memories of that are very fond. It seemed like the Aussies really cared, and for the most part filled up the stands. Salt Lake was good as well, the last two Olympics have been lacking however.

I think the Athens Olympics had its moments: the shot put at the site of the ancient Olympics is one that comes to mind. It seemed to me like the Greeks were into the Games as well.

IMO, Lillehammer had the best games of recent memory.

[MHS2002]

Most Memorable Event:
- Hedrick winning the 5000m on the first day

Least Memorable Event:
-Nordic Combined (only sport I didn't watch)

Top Five Stories:
1. American Mens Speed Skating Dominance (3-3-1)
2. Ohno, Ahn, and Lee battling on short track (9 of 12 medals)
3. Bode getting drunk and going 0 for 5 (Freedom Fighter)
4. US Snowboarding Dominance (3-3-1)
5. Ice Hockey let down (Though I had picked Finland in the final)

You're an idiot.

Obviously the biggest story is Cindy Klassen winning five medals.  That's almost as many medals as the entire "dominance" of the US men's speedskating team.

Cindy who? She got very little coverage outside of her races on NBC here in the States. I'm sure your list of top five moments would be very different from mine and Jake's (Klassen, most medals ever for Canada, men's hockey failings, men's curling gold, etc). I'm also sure we could argue until we're blue in the face about the best Olympic moments, but it's a matter of perspective.

[MHS2002]

Heh, I don't really care what the most memorable event for you was. Seeing how I hardly watched any of Klassen's races, I really cannot recall anything about them besides the fact that she medaled. Now, I can remember Hedrick's celebrations, Cheek's win and donation to charity of his winnings, the Davis-Hedrick fued and medal wins, Ohno, Ahn, and Lee battling for nine medals, and the Gold-Silver for men and women snowboarding. Plus, Bode's comments about not getting drunk "that much". Those are what I remember, from my perspective.

It's not *my* most memorable event, it is *the* most memorable event. Five medals tops anything else, I am sorry. Obviously if you didn't see it, you would not understand.

Ooh, speaking of memorable events, I think the US losing to Sweden in women's hockey has to be up there. I still can't believe that happened.

I'm sure that the Italians (Fabris) and Norwegians (cross country failures) would disagree on what is the most memorable moment. Rarely is there a moment in the Olympics that makes everyone, around the world, take notice. Klassen had the best performance of the Olympics, but that doesn't mean that it is the most memorable around the world. If that were the case, the big story after the Salt Lake Olympics would be Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and his four biathlon golds, but I don't think that lives long in the memory of many sports fans worldwide.

[MHS2002]

To my mind. the most memorable event of Torino 2006 was the deadly glare from the Italian ice dancer after her parter dropped her.

That was pretty deadly; certainly a contended for the top five.

Re:Klassen-not enough of them were gold. She could have won 10 silver and it wouldn't have been all that memorable. It'd probably be more memorable because of the lack of gold, actually.

You're just jealous because she got more medals than Australia has in the last two Olympics.

I wouldn't do that if I were you. Australia is pretty good at the Summer Olympic games.