O Canada! (True North, Strong and Free)

Point the first: Let's let everyone know whose game they're playing.

Point the second: FuckYeahKateBeaton.

Point the third: The CN Tower is gold.

Point the fourth: Did Canada own the podium? Canada did not win more medals than the US. It did win more gold medals than any other country, and more gold medals than any other host country, ever.

In conclusion: Canada, I know it's not your wont, but feel free to bask. Just a little bit.

Hooray for the Olympics!

Can I just say? Can I just say? I love it.

Ice Dancing!

I do not own a TV. As such, my Olympics-watching has been happening mostly post-game (although that's what everyone is doing, thanks to NBC's not exactly simulcast).

But you guys! My roommate knows Charlie White, who is totally a medalist in Ice Dancing! I'll get my roommate to give me the rundown soon. In the meantime, have a picture of Plushenko looking peeved (or like he's whipping his body around much faster than normal).

V. V. French

While Shaun White was melting everyone's faces off with his Double McTwist 1260, you might have been asking yourself, "What are the French snowboarders up to?" (Please note, if you were thinking this during Shaun White's performance, you are le crazy).

 

Two words: Sharpie Moustaches.

The coach! The coach has one!

YEAH.

Olympic Overload!

Oh man, there is so much Olympics going on, I can't even say.

First off, we have an amazing entry into the field of sports journalism by Timothy Eagan, about Canada broadly and his fake ID specifically and national identity and all that good stuff.

And then we have some malfunctioning zambonis, that meant an intermission of about an hour for no good reason... but it gave us more time to ogle the speed skaters.

There's a good story in here somewhere about gender bias in the Olympics and why women aren't allowed to ski jump (spoiler alert: it's because they would beat all the men) but a Canadian curler could be competing while five months pregnant (awesome!!).

I've got to write more in-depth about the NBC coverage and the internet and twitter and Olympics Triple Play (and Dick Ebersol and Dick Ebersol's sweater) and why something like this can totally happen in this day and age:

Aaaaaand that's not even getting started on the incredible tales of athletic prowess, speed, precision, and artistry that are going on. So yes! I am going to get back to watching Shaun White beat the pants off everyone. In the meantime, here:

Enjoy your mind trip as you watch Quatchi watch himself WATCH YOU.

Reasons I love the Olympics:

#123010398834: Great cover music.



#2039238480209393: Team Norway's curling pants. Update! Now available for purchase!

#32311232109292: Graham Watanabe:

When asked in a press conference (for probably the five-hundredth time this week) what it feels like to participate in the Olympic games, Watanabe, an American Snowboarder, said, “Try to imagine Pegasus mating with a unicorn and the creature that they birth. I somehow tame it and ride it into the sky in the clouds and sunshine and rainbows. That’s what it feels like.”

 

Graham Watanabe

An approximation of the beast he tamed and rode into the sky

Opening Ceremony!

When I was but a wee lass, my family had an antenna system attached to the TV. Because we lived in the middle of nowhere, we had exactly three TV stations available to us: CBS, ABC, and PBS. All were grainy, but I was young and bright-eyed-- I didn't care. My friends had cable, but I didn't mind our grainy stations.

But no NBC, back in those days, meant no Olympics.

There was only one time that my dad went out and started tapping into the neighbor's cable. This was in 1992 for the Winter Olympics. For those two glorious weeks, I held my breath as Kristi Yamaguchi triple axeled her way into my heart.

Flash forward to today. I again find myself without cable, but no matter! I have a laptop with which to watch the live stream.

Only... NBC wasn't streaming. And CTV was inaccessible to Les Américains. So there I sat, refreshing three different liveblogs and reading twitter streams and imagining what it must be like.

Apparently it was a nice ceremony. I've been able to see some clips now, and I'll be sure to watch the entire thing someday soon. In the meantime, a big shout out to Kate Beaton, or @beatonna as she is sometimes known, for keeping me happy while I was not watching the torch being lit.

 

Yes.

Tragedy

I realize this is old news, but news it is: the Olympic Movement suffered one of its greatest tragedies right before the Opening Ceremonies when Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled, smashed into a pillar, and died while taking a training run on Whistler's luge track.

My urge is to make light of even the most serious of incidents, but I will try and refrain. He will be remembered as a great athlete from a little country, a young man who never reached his full potential.

 

Goodbye, Nodar. I hope you thought you were flying.

 

 

Canadian Superheroes: Official Designation

We here at Mount Olympics are rather proud of the tags on this here blog, but perhaps we have never been prouder than at this very moment. From today's New York Times Sports Section:

February 12, 2010 

A Fashion Statement Designed to Grab Gold

By KAREN CROUSE

RICHMOND, British Columbia — Look at that figure streaking into view on the Richmond Oval. Is it a crossing guard? Is it a backpacker? 
Actually, it is Christine Nesbitt of Canada in her new superhero bodysuit.

We here at Mount Olympics have been using the "Canadian Superheroes" tag for just under two years, and we treasure it as one of our greatest innovations. As such we will take this opportunity to be a little bit smug. Yes, that's right, New York "Our Coverage Takes the Gold" Times. Because we called it.

OMG Google

OMG OMGOMGOMG

I am SO EXCITED!!!

 

 

Google ski view

Back in the heady days of 2007, I once dreamed that I could attend the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It was my plan. I was going to do it.

Now, with a job and some responsibilities, I realize that going for the official Games is ridiculous. (I still occasionally check ticket prices in mid-march for the Paralympic games...) BUT I still want to be there!

And Google has made it as close to possible as I'll get. Fantastic.

How Badass is Curling?

According to the BBC, it is really, really badass.




BBC Sport - 2010 Winter Olympics Inuit Animation

NO snow at the Winter Olympics??

Remember how I said earlier that the Winter Olympics were, at least to some degree, dependent upon the natural world? Well, there are those who wish that were not the case.

I am having a little bit of trouble with this concept, primarily because the only time I visited Vancouver, it was snowy and cold and fairly wintry outside. Also, my house currently looks like this:

Quatchi sees nothing but snow

 Apparently, though, there is a heatwave going on in the Pacific Northwest right now! It's in the upper 40sF (between 6 and 12 Celsius) in Vancouver right now. It's crazy. CRAZY!

It's almost like all of their snow came and dumped on the Eastern Seaboard of the US. 

Seriously, it's apparently beautiful out there, but that's not what we want. We want snow! Lots of it!

Let me be clear. We want that in VANCOUVER, not here.

Costumes: Usually not heinous

When last we spoke, I promised to return with some incredibly ridiculous figure skating costumes. I did some research, and it turns out that each ridiculous costume has redeeming value. For instance, Johnny Weir is lauded in some cases for his "ornate, unapologetic style." And no matter what you think of his sometimes questionable choices, you can't help but admit that he wears them like a star.

In another article, Vera Wang (who is apparently in the Skating Hall of Fame for costume design) reviewed some of the costumes of years past. And apparently even neon has its place.

 

Questionable, but still.

But thank you, Emily, for sending me the article that opened my eyes to the sordid nature of ice dancing costumes. Because really? There is absolutely no excuse for this:

 

 

 

I mean... no.