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Winter Olympic Events you would eliminate (1 Viewer)

Jeff Gatie

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The achilles guy was the other Chinese couple. The reason the Chinese couple you speak of came in second was three fold. One, their short program score was high, putting them within shooting distance of a medal. Second, the fall, while atrocious, was only counted as a fall. The fact it was a fall on a throw quad, the most difficult throw attemtped, gave them points just for the attempt and throw, but none for the revolutions and the landing (subjective, but certainly within the rules). Third, they are allowed to resume a program at the moment the fall happened with no penalty (even though it took a long time to decide if she should continue) and the rest of their performance was relatively flawless.

The american couple did get points for the difficult element (I forgot what it was) but their short program was lacking and the rest of their free skate was rife with mistakes.
 

Paul McElligott

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I like figure skating well enough, but I can't get into it as much since they stopped kneecapping their opponents. Tonya Harding's White Trash Mafia added a lot of entertainment value to the sport.
 

Patrick_S

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I was dismissive to your looks good it is good" attitude because sometimes what looks good can be picked apart technically. The vast majority of figure skating judges would tell you the exact same thing.

Perhaps you were referring to my nonsense comment concerning "I guarantee you there is less objectiveness in judging the approach, execution and landing of a salchow than there is in the average MLB umpire's strike zone." Sorry to hurt your feelings but I think that is nonsensical statement. I think there is just has much objectiveness involved because in the end humans are applying there interpretation of the performed element to the rules. You obviously don't so I'll leave it at that and move on.

Here's a question for you Jeff, should ballet be included in the Olympics? It certainly meets the "Official Jeff Gatie Definition of a Sport” as much as Figure Skating does.
 

Steve Ridges

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I second the comments about sports that have judges. There is just something wrong when a total outsider like myself that knows nothing about snowboarding or skating watches two performers and can obviously see that one is better than the other but the judges scores don't reflect this. There were several cases in the snowboarding competition where I feel a better performance was not scored as high because the athlete was a newcomer/noname vs "main attractions" like Shaun White or Kelly Clark.
 

Jeff Gatie

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No, because Ballet is not competitive, although you could see where some aspects can be judged. Plus, the two other rules are:

2) You cannot dress for a sport in the same clothes you wear to casual Friday at work. Examples: Golf, Bowling.

4) Any props used in a sport must be used to hit something, be hit by something or thrown through or into something. Any props used for decoration or to tell a story constitute a non-sport. Examples: Rythmic Gymnastics, Juggling, etc.

Ballet falls under #4.;)

EDIT: PS, now you can answer a question. Should boxing be eliminated from the world of Olympic sport because of a history of corruption, fixed fights, mob ties and lousy judges? Considering the changes in Figure Skating to try to eliminate the bad judging compared to the sad state boxing is in nowadays, I think the case could be made for 'Yes". But that does not mean boxing is not (nor ever was) a sport.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Get rid of the stage sets and just judge the dance, and it no longer falls under #4. ;)

As for boxing, Jeff, that's probably not a good "sport" to use as defense of figure skating in the Olympics. IMO, pro boxing is worse than pro wrestling. At least with wrestling, you know that every match is scripted or "fixed". With boxing, you never know which match's outcome is legit and which isn't. Pro boxing has to be the biggest sleazeball sport in existence.
 

Patrick_S

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Don’t confuse Professional Boxing with Olympic boxing it’s an Apples and Oranges comparison but if you want to bring it up in a SUMMER Olympics thread by all means knock yourself out in two years. (Pun intended)
 

Jeff Gatie

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This is actually going nowhere and I will bow out and leave opinion to opinion. I certainly have been on the opposite side about golf and know when it is going nowhere.

I would like to know one thing. Patrick_S, with your exposure to and participation in the sport/non-sport of figure skating, I would think you of all people would support the athletes/non-athletes in the pursuit of the ultimate goal in the ultimate arena, yet you do not. It seems to be quite personal, if I am reading it correctly. If I am not, I apologize, but why exactly are you so adamant about it not being in the Olympics?
 

Adam_S

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Like I said, I love figure skating, the only sports I really find boring to watch are downhill skiing and speedskating. While very tough sports there just is more fun in watching the other events. For what its worth I dislike watching baseball and soccer on TV but love playing them. And while the American pair skated a very decent to excellent short program their long program was pretty limp with numerous mistakes.

Also falls are not as brutal under the new system as they used to be so when the female in the chinese couple touched the ice (the one with the torn Achilles) on their side by side triples in the short program it was not as bad as it would have used to have been and overall the elements of their short program was stronger than the American team that landed all their jumps, so they recieved a higher score. I don't know if the American's were first who actually skated (tape delay plus only eight or so competitors shown) but it did seem they were judged a little harder than the couples that came after them.


I actually would like to know all that stuff, I've never been able to tell the difference between an axel, lutz, toe loop etc.
 

Jeff Gatie

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It has to do with approach, take off, revolutions and landing. What foot, what edge, backwards, forwards and whether you take off from an edge (edge jump) or a toe.

These are the basics (if I remember correctly, with some help):

Axel: Easiest jump to recognize, because it is the only jump that is approached from a forward position. Takes off from the forward outside edge and is landed on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. Revolutions are x+1/2 (double is 2 1/2 revolutions). Named after Axel somebody and is generally considered the hardest jump.

Flip: Takes off from the tow-pick, the other foot on the back inside edge, lands on back outside edge of opposite foot.

Lutz: Takes off from the tow-pick, the other foot is on the back outside edge, lands on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. Second easiest jump to pick out because of the long, curved, backwards approach. If you see someone skating on one skate in a backwards curve with their head looking back, you can almost be sure they are setting up for a Lutz. Named after somebody Lutz.

Salchow: Yes, it is spelled like this, not Sow Cow. :) Edge jump approached backwards, taken off from the back inside edge of one foot and landed on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. Ulrich Salchow (I always seem to remember this guy).

Toe-Loop: Toe pick jump, takes off and lands on the same foot, back outside edge (a regular Loop eliminates the toe-pick).
 

Blaine Skerry

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Something has to be done about women's hockey. There is a huge disparity between the Canadian and U.S. women's teams and the European teams. It is a given that either Canada or the U.S. will win gold and the only drama left is for the bronze.
 

Ken Chan

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The same might have been said about U.S. domination in basketball -- give it another four years.

David Letterman seems to be really enamored of women's speed skating. I forget if he specifically mentioned the uniforms, because nothing beats women's beach volleyball.

I'm not sure if Bryant Gumbel's opinion will help or hurt the discussion :)
 

todd s

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Ken, Gumbel's opinion is ridiculous. In so many ways. I mean he is right when he said the ancient Greeks wouldn't know about Skating. They were too busy with the summer games with Woman's beach Volleyball and Badmitten. Then to bring in the race issue is unnecessary. :thumbsdown:
 

Jay H

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My next door cubemate plays competitive badminton. I have played it a bit when I was in college for a bit. it's nothing like your friendly backyard game!! I don't know how fun it is to watch but certainly is fascinating if you've never played it competitively.

Jay
 

Jeff Gatie

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Especially when the winter sports are seeing more minorities than ever. This year we have our first african-american speedskater, an asian just won bronze in moguls for the US and the african and arab nations have more representatives than ever before. The Olympics is about harmony, it is a shame some find it necessary to inject disharmony into the event.

I truly long for when the Olympics was all about nationalism and crushing the Soviet menace...now those were the days. ;)
 

Holadem

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Those days are not gone, bro. This June will see another long awaited intallement of the greatest of all tournaments, The World Cup Soccer. Sports and Nationalism at it's best.

--
H - Allez les Eperviers!
 

Jeff Gatie

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Yeah! Boy, I want some fence side seating for that. Nothing beats getting crushed by a sea of humanity when you want to spell out national loyalty. :D

I'm not really a futbol afficinado, but I'm a big fan of hockey. I guess I like my blood and mayhem on the ice rather than in the stands.;)
 

todd s

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Well its not the Soviets. But, now you have the Chinese. Who are using the same techniques the Russians did to become a dominate at the Olympics. If a child shows an aptitude towards a particular sport. They are taken to training facilities to live and train...even at young ages.
 

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