Vancouver / Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics Thread
We will be posting news updates and discussing the Vancouver / Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics here.
Stay tuned for an Olympic contest we will be announcing in the next couple of days. It’s simple - pick the medals in the men’s and women’s snowboard halfpipe, in order. Get all six correct and you win a Burton Snowboard of your choice. Don’t post your answers here. There will be a thread dedicated to the contest.
Can’t wait for the Games to begin!
WOW !!!! Now the mind is working overtime.
So if its a Quadrella for picking four, what is for six?
Great prize!! but what if more than one person picks the winning riders in order?
I think its going to be pretty hard to choose. I know for the females after the results at x-games, I’m now unsure who has got it in them..
Great prize!! but what if more than one person picks the winning riders in order?
We either randomly pick a winner, or we make them pick winners of another event, or we split the prize pack into smaller prizes, or first person to put in the winning answer. Still thinking about this… and open to suggestions. Thoughts?
First person to post.
but be able to change your pick depending on how heats progress and the person that posts the correct winners the earliest without changing gets it.
What Spaz said !!!!
I think first to get it in is good, but I don’t think changing answers will work. It’s too easy to edit answers whenever, and too hard to stay on top of it. When someone posts their anwers, I am going to lock it in and document it on my computer.
So what do you think? First person to place the winning answers gets it all?
But what if you put your answer in and its exactly what I wanted to put down.. I think you should split the prize if there is more than one winner..
If there is one winner you receive a new snowboard
If there is more than one winner you get to choose between prize a, b, c, d…
Alright guys, the contest is up and running.
https://www.boardworld.com.au/forums/viewthread/578/
Good luck! 
TORAH ON TRACK DESPITE CRASHES
Winter Olympic officials insist Australian gold medal hope Torah Bright’s preparations remain on track despite her suffering concussion for the second time in three days.
The 24-year-old halfpipe snowboarder was taken to hospital after a crash in practice on Thursday (Friday AEDT) forced her to withdraw from this weekend’s Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado.
The accident just two weeks out from start of the Vancouver Winter Olympics sparked immediate concerns over the hopes of one of Australia’s brightest medal prospects.
But Australian team chief Ian Chesterman said scans had cleared Bright of any serious injury and stressed her withdrawal from what was to be her final lead-up event was a precaution only.
“All the indications are that the injury today was not extreme, it was a fairly minor knock in the end,” Chesterman said.
“Whilst it’s obviously not the ideal preparation I think the right decision has been made to miss the X Games and concentrate on getting into top shape for a couple of weeks time.
“Her best interest now is just to ensure she gets in good health so when she gets to Vancouver she’ll be ready to go.”
Chesterman said Bright was a resilient character and did not believe her confidence would be affected by the incident, which followed a similar training accident three days ago.
“I think these athletes are pretty tough ... they get out there and give it a red hot go and accidents like this do happen from time to time,” Chesterman said.
“She’s a very robust athlete and I’m sure she’ll get there (to Vancouver) and be in good shape.
“She’ll have plenty of opportunities to practice before the Games so I think you’ll find this is not a setback at all.”
Early reports indicated Bright was injured while trying to perfect a risky double cork manoeuvre which she is rumoured to be working on for the Olympics, but Chesterman did not believe this was the case.
Bright recently spoke of the danger involved in the trick.
The accident means Bright misses a chance to compete against her main Olympic rivals - US stars Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler - one last time before the Games.
In positive news, Jenny Owens has come out of knee surgery well. She will undergo her medical test tomorrow to secure her spot in vancouver.
Source: olympics.com.au
TORAH BRIGHT TO CARRY AUSTRALIAN FLAG
Snowboarder Torah Bright will carry the Australian flag at the Opening Ceremony of the XXI Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
The 23-year-old will be competing in her second Olympic Games following a 5th placing in Torino in 2006.
Australian Olympic Team Chef De Mission Ian Chesterman made the announcement at the official team reception this evening (Canadian time) in Vancouver.
“Torah Bright is a terrific athlete and a wonderful leader and is befitting of this honour,” Chesterman said.
“Carrying the flag at the Opening Ceremony is a very tangible way the Olympic Team can honour someone.
“Torah is greatly respected by her fellow team members and well liked by other international competitors.
“It was an agonising decision in some ways because this is the best credentialed Australian team to ever participate in a Winter Olympic Games.
“What has impressed me the most is that those people I have spoken to about this have all responded the same way – ‘Torah is an outstanding choice’.
Bright is a three time World Superpipe champion (06, 07, & 08) and in 2009 she claimed her second Winter X Games title (previously won in 2007). She also took out a World Cup gold medal in Switzerland.
She is one of the most recognisable and popular athletes across the international competitors in Vancouver.
The crowd and her teammates cheered when Chesterman made the announcement.
“I don’t really know how to put this feeling into words,” Bright said.
“This is an incredible honour and a privilege to be the Australian flagbearer at the Olympic Games and I just wish every one in the Team could carry this flag with me.”
“It is actually so special to be holding our nations flag as we walk out into the Olympic arena. I just want to wish everyone the best of luck and to go out there and do your personal best which is what it’s about.
“Good luck everybody,” Bright said to her teammates.
The honour will be extra special for Bright as she will be able to share this with her brother and coach Ben.
“I said the other day that I got an enormous buzz out of wearing the team uniform in Torino and it’s been the same here. I compete in an individual sport but wearing the colours of your country is quite an emotional experience.”
Bright who went to primary school with fellow 2010 Olympians Ramone Cooper and Ben Sim joked about them putting their little country town Cooma ‘on the map’.
Source: olympics.com.au
VANCOUVER VILLAGE LIFE, IN THE SHADOW OF THE BOXING KANGAROO
Life in the Olympic Village at the Winter Olympics has a certain Stepford feel to it, populated as it is by young, fit, happy people whose every need is within easy reach.
Got to have a slice of pizza or a rice bowl at 3 in the morning? Done. Need a chipped tooth attended to, as a U.S. Olympic Committee staffer did Tuesday? The dentist will see you now - right now. Keen for a game of Wii tennis? The Living Room is the place to be.
More than 2,700 athletes and team officials are calling the Vancouver Olympic Village home for the rest of the month. It’s a tidy spread of contemporary high-rise apartment units constructed of steel, stone and glass ringing a central plaza overlooking the False Creek area south of downtown.
It offers a gorgeous backdrop of water, city and mountains - mountains mostly bereft of snow, but that’s another story.
“To come in here - I’m overlooking the water, I have a view of the city. I have two bedrooms, two baths. It’s like a five-star hotel,” said speedskater Chad Hedrick of Spring, Tex. “This is going to set the standard for future Olympics. We love the city. It’s my third time here. These are the last races of my career. I can’t think of a better place to be.”
U.S. women’s hockey player Natalie Darwitz is an Olympic veteran, having competed at Turin, Italy, in 2006 and Salt Lake City in 2002. On Tuesday afternoon at the football field-size dining hall she was grazing at the sandwich bar, putting together a creation to be toasted, panini-style.
“This is my third Olympics,” she said. “I’m really impressed with the Village so far, the cleanliness and the rooms are awesome. There’s stuff to do. Everything looks great.”
Darwitz was having a mid-afternoon lunch with her hockey teammates after they finished practice. They had available to them five food stations serving grilled and carved meats, continental dishes, pizza and pasta, Asian entrees and the ubiquitous McDonald’s.
Bypassing the Asian offerings, a Chinese athlete loaded her tray with a Big Mac and two servings of fries. Again - young, fit, happy.
In the tech-oriented Living Room lounge off the main plaza, two Italian athletes were playing Wii tennis while a Japanese athlete sat at an acrylic piano and pretended to play.
The back of the lounge featured what Jordan Kallman, manager of the Village Plaza, called a “digital graffiti art wall.” People so inclined can grab LED spray cans and leave their marks on a digital wall.
“It’s the most social part of the Village,” Kallman said. “It’s where the athletes can come and unwind and get away from the pressure.”
A beverage bar in the lounge serves coffee, tea, hot chocolate and a variety of juices and sports drinks.
“Only healthy drinks, sorry,” the Stepford bartender said when a visiting media member asked for scotch, straight-up.
In the fitness center, three tanned Australian athletes were pedaling stationary bikes. It’s summer in Australia now, and Alex Pullin, Holly Crawford and Damon Hayler all looked like they had spent their time at the beach instead of working at their snowboard events.
“For me, I’m really digging it,” Pullin, in snowboard cross, said of life at the Village. “The facilities are awesome, people are really friendly. It couldn’t be better.”
The Aussies’ rooms are easily identified from afar for the huge, two-story banner of a boxing kangaroo fixed to their balconies, dwarfing the national flags of such countries as Great Britain, Sweden, Italy and South Korea.
The IOC initially was not happy with the kangaroo banner on display in lieu of Australia’s official flag but president Jacques Rogge relented and let the Aussies have their ‘roo.
“The rooms are pretty good - big balconies, beautiful view, giant boxing kangaroo outside our rooms,” said Hayler, who competes in snowboard cross. “It’s a nice area to live.”
But don’t touch the kitchens. As some 1,100 of these units will be for sale at market and non-market prices after the Games end Feb. 28, the local organizing committee did not want the pricey granite counter tops damaged by some squatter in a jogging suit.
There’s no need for individual kitchens here anyway. The dining hall, open 24 hours a day, serves up whatever its temporary residents desire.
Life is good here at the Stepford Village, er, Olympic Village.
Olympic village facts
Population: 2,730 athletes, team officials
Housing units: 1,100
Medical sub-specialties: 21, including acupuncture, chiropractic, optometry, ER, OB-GYN, dental
Size of dining hall: 40 meters by 100 meters
Meals expected to be served: 350,000
Pounds of beef and chicken to be served: 68,000
What happens afterward: Housing units sold for market, non-market value
Source: mountainwatch.com
LACK OF SNOW AT CYPRESS - HALFPIPE TRAINING HALVED
Winter Olympic officials will eliminate two days of half-pipe training as they continue to add snow to Cypress Mountain, site of the freestyle and snowboarding events.
Athletes now will have three days of training instead of five. The men’s half-pipe is scheduled for Feb. 17; the women’s will be the following day.
“The main thing is to protect the field of play,” said Tim Gayda, vice president for sport for the Vancouver organizing committee.
That means keeping athletes away as helicopters dump a load of snow every three minutes atop parts of Cypress Mountain. Cypress, just north of Vancouver, had the warmest January on record, forcing organisers to bring in snow.
It also might mean using snow hardeners come competition day a “last resort” Gayda said.
“The forecast is looking positive this week, and we’ll hopefully see some colder temperatures,” he said.
Sarah Lewis, secretary-general of the International Ski Federation, said cutting back the halfpipe training still will give athletes more time on the venue than they would have at a World Cup, which typically features two days of training.
“The situation, the change, it’s the same for everybody,” she said. “We’ve seen that rather a lot of the athletes are choosing to come in a little bit later, to train outside the hecticness of the Olympic atmosphere.”
Freestyle skiers and snowboarders also have been offered trips up to the host mountain resort of Whistler to keep in shape.
Environment Canada officials say recent warm weather is attributed to El Nino and, to a lesser degree, Pineapple Express weather patterns. Both bring warm weather and rain from the Pacific to the west coast of North America.
Cypress, which is just north of Vancouver, has suffered from the warmest January on record forcing organisers into an extensive contingency plan that’s involved bringing into snow from across the province.
Their new hunting ground is about two hours east of Vancouver off the Coquihalla highway, where trucks are now bringing 3,000 cubic meters of snow from Yak Peak.
Source: mountainwatch.com
anyone have a link to watch the olympics online?