2010 Vancouver Olympics

Excited for the start of the Olympics this evening....

Our own WW'er, Ryan Shimabukuro, has his team of speed skaters ready to bring home some medals to the United States.

It appears that there is some tragedy to start the games as luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili has died today in training.

http://www.oregonlive.com/olympics/index.ssf/2010/02/luge_crash_at_winter_olympics.html

RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili

I read it's supposedly one of the fastest tracks seen in luge with one of the Americans nicknaming one of the turns 50/50 due to that being the chance of making the turn without crashing. Here's the video of the crash:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/akdobbins/nodar-kumaritashvili-luge-crash

wow. i know that in general it's not safe, but that looks incredibly unsafe to not have some sort of protection from those support bars

I was surprised to read that this is only the 3rd death in pre Olympic training and that there has never been a death during Winter Olympic competition.

Agree A-dub...that was surprising... You would have to think they assumed there was a shot in Hell that a competitor would come out in that area...?????

Incredibly unsafe to have those pillars there period.

Wonder if they will put some type of safety net up so this doesn't happen while the Olympics are happening.

That is just insane!!!!!

Holy crap, who thought that those pillars were a good idea? That is terrible. Immovable objects inches from a surface where people are going nearly 100mph. Genius.

RIP Nodar, you were a ballsy fella and went out getting after it.

Time for the course designer to get a new arse hole.

Blame Canada!

Holy cow. Here is a still photo of what was about to come.

A lot of the athletes having been talking about how fast and dangerous this course is, then you have this big open area with steel beams at the end, someone really screwed this design up.

Link to video, RIP Nodor you went out doing what you loved.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/12/olympic.luge.crash/index.html?hpt=C1

Wow. That looks really scary. That design is terrible. They should put some sides on that thing at least up 8' high

Nasty. It is amazing how fast those guys go. We saw some luge in 2002 in SLC and talk about flying by you. It took me a good half an hour just to time the shot so that I actually got one of them coming out of the turn before the whizzed past.

Nets pads etc it wouldnt have mattered at that speed.... What a shame.. R.I.P..

He would have been fine if the chute kept him inside the chute.

He would have also just been just hurt if he landed into a net vs a steel pillar.

Actually, it looks like they simply lowered te wall to early. If it was high for another 15 feet, he would have stayed in the course and not smashed into the pillar.

I bet he would have lots a few limbs if a net was there..

Ya, the best solution is to keep them in the chute. After that, all bets are off.

Thanks for the support EJ! It was a great motivator walking in the Opening Ceremonies tonight and the Long Track US Speedskating Team is ready to roll!

With regards to the tragedy in luge today, it was indeed very sad. It's appalling that the media up to this point has been portraying nothing but great things about the luge track when in fact, sliders have been complaining about the dangers of the track for a long time now. Also, they had to reconstruct one of the turns a few years ago because the Bobsledders were also having major problems.

Finally, VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee) supported the efforts to restrict venue access to all foreign competitors in the hopes to give Canadian athlete's an "home field" advantage. That plan drastically reduced the amount of training runs for each slider, thus reducing the time it takes a slider to learn the course, which in the end makes it much more dangerous for the competitors. VANOC will eventually have to answer some very serious questions in the upcoming days.

Good night from VC!

Good luck Ryan and thanks for posting! We're all behind you and the team.

USA! USA! USA!

Must have been an amazing experience marching in last night, an experience so few get to have.

Its sad to see that picture above and think he was taking his last breath at that moment. The video was very sobering to say the least. It would be like jumping out of a pickup truck bed at 80 mph into a telephone pole. I was glad to see the rest of his team stay and compete even though its got to be hard on them to stay focused.

Thanks Paul! It's definitely an honor to wear our countries color's and represent the USA with pride.

Have a great weekend everyone!

R.I.P Nodar Kumaritashvili

HAVE FUN RYAN! I stayed up late just to watch the opening ceremony and to hope to catch a glimpse of you and your team. Had to be even better in person!

90 mph with a knee high wall seperating you from massive concrete pillars. Genius!!
Plus they have been running the accident on all the news stations.Now you don't just have to hear about him dying,you can watch it as well. Nice.
You would think there would be an independent inquiry into his death. But that will spoil everything and they might find a whole raft of people have been negligent so.................

They lowered the starting spot to slow the race down.

They also extended the wall for 40 yards as shown in this pic...

Even though they lowered the starting point they are still taking heat from the athletes and the media due to their speeds still reaching 90 mph.

I just couldn't believe that they showed the entire video on TV, seems wrong to me....

^^^ What I find more disturbing still is that there is video out there with sound of Nodar hitting that support beam. You hear Nodar hitting the pole and the sound of him hitting the steel support beam throughout the structure.

Women's moguls was fun to watch last night....Kearney & Bahrke bring home medals to the USA!

Though I didn't see the race, the numerous replays show the generosity of the Korean skaters to Apolo Ohno & J.R. Celski.

Looking forward to watching the women's hockey today at 1:00 PM local.... Will attempt to not see a score before then.

olympics not going so well for Canada. No snow, poorly planed tracks, no golds, damn, guess thats why Colorado said EFFoff in 76?

No snow, that's probably our fault, does it usually snow a foot in Texas? Nobody can predict the weather. The track was designed by a company (Stantec) that has designed may tracks before, and it was built in conjunction with the International Luge Federation. The venue was based on a track design of German designer Udo Gurgel of IBG. The death was tragic, but at speeds like these, people could come out just about anywhere. It was an unfortunate accident. Nothing more, nothing less. Just enjoy the nature of the Olympics!

i wish nbc coverage did not suck-tape delays suck.

Watching the women's team right now, they move the puck really well, can skate nicely, but wow they cannot shoot! Call me sexist, but camp out with a box of pucks and a net and work on that shot.

^W Hockey is tough to watch. They really need to bring hitting into the mix, without it the games are painfully boring.

I didn't think the Women's Hockey game was tough to watch at all...? The only thing that made that game slow was the fact that China was so outclassed....




Know what is cool about the Olympics.... I was jumping up and down watching the finish of an event(Nordic Combined) that I am not even sure what the sport consists of.

I was just excited that there was someone from my Country leading and possibly getting a medal in a sport the United States never has....

"Know what is cool about the Olympics.... I was jumping up and down watching the finish of an event(Nordic Combined) that I am not even sure what the sport consists of.
"

Totally agree to this point.

I don't want to bag on the women's hockey much more, but just to put it into perspective, my roommate's high school team (male) played the US Olympic women's team about 2 years ago in an exhibition match and easily handled them 6-2. I'm not saying the Women aren't fun to watch, but skill level is on par with a mediocre boys High School team here in MN.

China was just bad. I am pretty sure the Bantam team I coach could beat them.

I was kidding. I think cancada rocks. I also Think My boys, who I went to h.s. with, todd and johnnie kick ass, and are gonna take a few more medals home.

oh, and the i.o.c. sucks, not canada.

Mark, totally agree with you there. It's funny to hear about decent hs teams here beating up on the women's team. I was playing outside right around Christmas and a couple members of the women's US team were playing out there and they were getting walked by 40 year old men haha. Not saying women's hockey isn't good but the men's tourney will be something to watch...

Yea, that course is crazy. I was in Whistler in December and everyone was talking about the current world record and how it will very likely be broken. RIP.

Most of the November snow melted. Hard to believe b/c they had every snow gun on the mountains running 24/7...

^^^ Cypress Mountain was getting approx 25 truck loads of snow brought in from Manning Park which is about 3 hrs away without our horribly bad traffic.

Just checked online. Cheapest singles seat for mens halfpipe on Wednesday is $ 795.00. Most expensive is $ 30,000.00 for a pair. I guess I won't be going.

Just checked the detailed hockey schedule. USA plays at 2pm CST both Tues and Thurs. Does anyone have a good website I can stream the games from.

And, prob the best hockey game in 4 years, US v. CAN Sunday at 6:40pm CST. This guy is excited.

^Yus, I'm stoked for that game too!

Hey Ryan, just saw ya get some prime time nbc nods complaining about the ice conditions! Good stuff and good luck!

Mark- you can stream some of the events on NBC's site: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/live-full-replays.html

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quote:

By Manzo (zo1) on Monday, February 15, 2010 - 6:38 pm:

Hey Ryan, just saw ya get some prime time nbc nods complaining about the ice conditions!

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I just saw that as well....

Get on 'um Ryan!

So will I be able to watch Snowboard Halfpipe quals online? If not, I don't get why the largest sporting event isn't streaming live all the time. If so, I can't find it anywhere on NBC's site.

Try CTV or Sports Net. Both are the Canadian stations that broadcast the Olympics. Haven't look to see if they are streaming though. Halfpipe is tomorrow.

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/index.html?assetid=92208eae-058d-4545-b02e-e2fc0e5ffeca

See if that works....

Anyone on here notice that NBC confused Terry Fox with Micheal J Fox? Big difference...

Yeah USA! Bobby Ryan scores at the end of the first period!!

Another rough Olympic experience for Lindsey Jacobellis.....

http://snowboarding.transworld.net/1000117439/news/olympic-pipe-and-pgs-standing-room-tickets-canceled/

If I would have gone, my trip would have been ruined.

Jacobellis was out of control.. too bad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUtHd8_i1pc&feature=player_embedded

Wes- that's awesome!!

^ I was watching it at a bar last night (yeah, male figure skating at a bar)... and that came one, I spit out my food and almost died laughing.

She is practicing blowing a dude and he is just thrusting away... gosh thats funny.

Another rough Olympic experience for Lindsey Jacobellis.....

With a second failed olympics I see a Playboy spread coming.

well i haven't been this bummed in a while. No live stream, no live coverage, no way to watch the quals in halfpipe in the United States. Major FAIL NBC, I really don't get what anyone is thinking.

Quals are what I wanted to watch, I'd like to see the guy from random country X giving it his go

and to know they're showing curling on tv right now..... how awesome

found a site http://e99tv.page.tl/VU13_-B--k1-Olympics-k2-.htm

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/CTV/index.html


i'm watching snowboard live right now...

White is on top so far

The Pipe looks pretty slick (lots of people slipping out). I have no audio on so i'm not sure if the announcers are commenting on it

yes, in canada you can watch what sounds to be every event on ctv, it does not allow US to watch that. Same with most Euro streams. CTV seems it is blowing NBC out of the water

the link i gave was the only one i found that US people could watch

previous link no longer works... supposedly NBC finds out and shuts their feed down to the States....

Here's anotherhttp://www.fromsport.com/video-179165.html

oh, sorry guys.

f..k nbc!!!!

Great first "high 5" after Shani's 1000 win Ryan!

Good to see Hendrik get the Bronze as well!!!!

USA had a big night!

Congrats Shima and crew!

Congrats Shawn White! Gold in the half pipe. And by far, no one was anywhere near him in the scores. He stomped that last run with the gold in his back pocket already. We took Silver as well.

What a great end to yet ANOTHER GREAT DAY!! I thought yesterday was a good day, today was WAY better!!!!!!

(Message edited by Kraig on February 17, 2010)

DITTO!

CONGRATS TO RYAN'S GANG!!

Shani looked great during his 1000m... Repeat Gold Medalist!!!!!!

Thanks Guys! A very proud and fun night for the team.

Lindsey Vonn Downhill gold was really impressive.

Women's downhill was flat out scary to watch, especially when 3 women crash before you race! Luckily none of them were hurt badly.

What a legendary night that was.

Even with the progression of action sports these days, downhill skiing is still awesome. I don't think you realize how gnarly that is until you see them crash.

That has to be a rush.

I enjoyed the swearing by whites coach during the long silence by the announcers, then they come back on and apologize. Very funny. Someone is getting fired for leaving that camera angle on to long.

Ryan,

Congrats! You are a hero in Hawaii!! All over the news here at 5p.m.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/global/story.asp?s=12009782