The Winter Olympics in Sochi

[Jaded]

I'm left rather cold by it all.

[pcolbeck]

Might watch the downhill skiing, bob and the luge if I remember. Not really hooked by the other winter sports.

[clarion]

Not watching, but more because I don't have a TV and have limited interest in other people doing PE.

[Gus]

Might watch some skiing events and maybe som luge, but otherwise I do not care.

[tiermat]

I might see if I can catch the Free Ski as it is possibly the UK's best chance of a medal (both mens and womens), with the current world champions both being from Sheffield!

[Jakob]

Here in Canuckistan, the Winter Olympics are *the* Olympics and it's hard not to get caught up.
Must see:
- Hockey. I grew up cheering for Sweden (because Denmark was really bad at hockey back then), but will mainly cheer for Canada. (Pretty sure it's part of the citizenship test over here, so it's kinda mandatory). This is as big as the Football World Cup in UK (Except Canada are actually good at their sport). Womens hockey too, although I wont get up at 4am to watch it .
- Snowboarding. While the progression over the last 5-6 years isn't my cup of tea, slopestyle and boarderX is still good to watch. Halfpipe, not so much, mostly because Shaun White will win it and he's a douche.
- Speedskating: I find the big track SS mesmerizing to watch..I also like big quads, so hey! Short track is really entertaining and worth watching.
Will probably watch:
- Any alpine event
- Free (individual) figure skating. I didn't really *get* figure skating, until we went to a major competition over here, just before the last Olympics. Watching it live you can really see the physical challenges and it changed my perception of it. Still only in limited doses, though.
- Curling. Only because it's the only winter sport that Denmark competes (and have a chance of getting a medal) in.
Will watch if nothing else is on:
- Everything else.

Oh and as much as I really want Russia to get as much bad press as possible, I hope for the athletes sake that everything runs smoothly.

[mattc]

Most of these sports are 'spectacles' for me - I'm impressed, and I'll watch for 5 mins, but don't get drawn into it as 'sport' per se.

Done well, the doubles skating is entrancing [writes a torvill-n-deane era child!].

Curling is no more a sport than lawn bowls. So there.

[woollypigs]

- Hockey. I grew up cheering for Sweden (because Denmark was really bad at hockey back then)
- Curling. Only because it's the only winter sport that Denmark competes (and have a chance of getting a medal) in.

Snap

I agree with curling being like lawn bowls, but it does suck you in* - at a very late hour because the olympic is in a far away time zone or because that is the only time the Beep would show you the highlights of a game - on a cold winters night.

*snooker, lawn bowl and curling has the same effect on me - lets just watch five min and three hours later you are counting how many frame/set/play team/person A needs to win if only team/person B would make a mistake that team/person A could/should/need/and often fails to take advantage of.

[CommuteTooFar]

I want to watch the Nordic Combined but it does not normally get decent coverage. It is the best event once you understand it. Put simply it has two parts a ski jump which sets the start time for each racer for the cross country.  Now unlike triathlon where it is always won by an above average runner. above average cyclists and above average swimmers cannot win. In my opinion not a true multi discipline sport.  Nordic combined contains jumper runners and runner jumpers. It is not possible to be a very good jumper and a very good cross country skier. Very good skiers have trained to improve their jumping and their skiing prowess is lessened. Similarly very good jumpers train for cross country and cannot jump so far. What this leads to at the half way stage after the jump, excepting the entry from Tuvalu or wherever, you have a cross country with the worst skiers starting first and the best skiers starting last.  So if the jump length/skiing time has been set right everyone finishes at the same.  In practice you nearly always get a race where the desperate current leaders are passed in the stadium rather than knowing the winner after the first kilometer.

 

[woollypigs]

Of all the sports both warm and cold olympics I think that the Biathlon is the Sport. I have run around with planks of wood attached to my feet and I have had a little dab at target shooting, ok not at any level. It amazes me that you leg it around a track and then have a sit/lie down and hit small targets 30 odd metres away while your lungs are crawling out of your mouth while you heart beats like a jack hammer.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Curling is no more a sport than lawn bowls. So there.

Lawn bowls is to sport as audax is to cycle racing - the activity appears similar but with the emphasis on beer and cake!

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I like the scary bobsleigh stuff, and the icedancing, and I quite like watching the curling.

[mattc]

Sh1t, I forgot about the short-track speed skating! Now THAT'S a sport 


(but massive thumbs downs to Slaphead Board or whatever this year's newsporttoattractthe yoof is called  )

[Biggsy]

The pictures of substandard and bizarre toilet facilities doing the rounds are bogus.

http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/8-viral-sochi-olympics-photos-that-are-total-lies-1517429839

[Kim]

Meh, sport (she says, being of the year group that were glued to the telly in the sixth form common room watching the curling, which had inexplicably achieved cult status).  I'll probably keep an eye on the homophobia, though.

[tiermat]

I like Google's stance on this, shown by today's google doodle.

[Kim]

I like Google's stance on this, shown by today's google doodle.

Also Channel4's, shown by their new old logo.

[L CC]

- Speedskating: I find the big track SS mesmerizing to watch..I also like big quads, so hey! Short track is really entertaining and worth watching.

This.

And Ice Dancing. But without a telly I may not get much chance to oo (thighs), ahh (dancin'), and eeeeeww (broken limbs).

No2Son will keep me updated on the homophobia.

[clarion]

  I'll probably keep an eye on the homophobia, though.

It might be keeping an eye on you.

[CommuteTooFar]

I almost forgot about the ski cross a week Thursday.  Now that is always fun to watch. Even better than the boarder cross.

[Ruth]

The tones on the Sochi tannoy are the same as my doorbell.  I keep going to answer the door. 

Not watching any more 

[Nuncio]

Of all the sports both warm and cold olympics I think that the Biathlon is the Sport. I have run around with planks of wood attached to my feet and I have had a little dab at target shooting, ok not at any level. It amazes me that you leg it around a track and then have a sit/lie down and hit small targets 30 odd metres away while your lungs are crawling out of your mouth while you heart beats like a jack hammer.

Fully agree, while never having done theslidy plank thing, not the shooting thing.  It's a crying shame that Magdelena Neuner retired at 25.  I've had to split my allegiance between Kaisa Makarainen, Darya Domracheva and Tora Berger. The target distance is 50 metres, by the way, with the target size 45mm for the prone, a bit bigger for the standing.

Looking forward to the short-course speed-skating as well, but that's a once-every-four years thing for me, unlike the biathlon.

[Kim]

The tones on the Sochi tannoy are the same as my doorbell.  I keep going to answer the door. 

You need a Rod Hull doorbell.

[Woofage]

I like Google's stance on this, shown by today's google doodle.

Also Channel4's, shown by their new old logo.

Have you seen the German team's kit? It was probably not meant as a protest but many will see it that way.

[clarion]

The tones on the Sochi tannoy are the same as my doorbell.  I keep going to answer the door. 

You need a Rod Hull doorbell.

Nobody needs a Rod Hull anything