“It started… And then it was over.”
Kurt Browning, clearing up any misconceptions we may have had about the winning ice dance program.
Category: Olympics
QOTD: Sochi Edition v. III
Our internet is patchy at best this weekend, so this edition brought to you from my phone.
Worst:
“You can tell she’s a skier by her turns.”
– Jen Heil on the French mogul skier.
How… Insightful.
Best:
“He’s running on fuuuuuuumes!”
-NBC commentator in final seconds of men’s skiathlon.
I’m not generally a fan of NBC coverage (because, you know #nbcfail) but that guy might be my new favourite commentator. I want to buy him some throat lozenges and a beer.
And from our living room:
“MAN DOWN!”
-Anja, whenever a figure skater falls.
I *heart* Olympics.
QOTD: Sochi Edition VII
“He just did not have enough mustard to make that transition. Any hot dog eater could easily have seen that”
–CBC commentator on Men’s Slopestyle.
Superb. The Olympics and a culinary show, all wrapped up in one!
Thanks to Glavas for catching that one. I’m going to have to become nocturnal to do this right!
QOTD: The Sochi Edition Vol. I
I love the Olympics. Always have and likely always will. Forget my weekend social media hiatus, I’ll no doubt be online all weekend taking it all in. Every 2 years, I don’t care if it’s the Summer or Winter Games, I’m all in. I become a fan of curling and watch track and field like it’s my job.
The North American coverage of Sochi (or, as some may refer to it, @sochiproblems) has an air of schadenfreude to it. It’s like we’re holding our collective breath and hoping for failure. But if I recall correctly, Vancouver 2010 had a heavy dose of the same scepticism in 2010 before the world got all dazzled.
I won’t deny that there are numerous problems in Russia. I have good friends on the ground over there who will attest to it. I also have friends telling me that they’ve met some wonderful people and that their experience couldn’t be better, so far.
I’m not going to comment on something I don’t have first hand knowledge of. But you know what I can comment on? The commentary. Because really, I’ll be hearing lots of it with all my planned TV watching.
A fine sampling:
“If he’s going to go for first as he has in the past, he’s going to have to rely on his skating”.
-Kurt Browning, commenting on Patrick Chan’s short program skate.
Wow. I was hoping the brownies he’s baked for the judges would push him over the top.
Let the Games begin!
Rolympics
4 years ago, Rory was born… amidst a rock slide that shut down the Sea-to-Sky Highway and left us separated from Will for something like 6 days. That adventure was followed shortly thereafter by the Beijing 2008 Olympics. I don’t think I’ll ever forget being in my brother’s apartment, Will asleep in the other room, Rory on my shoulder, whisper-screaming for Simon Whitfield to GO! GO! GO! And Go! He did… to a silver medal.
Sadly things didn’t end well for Simon today, but in honour of that event four years ago, we gave Rory’s 4th birthday party a fitting theme this year.
Bring on… The Rolympics!
We like our Games to be inclusive (we mix age, gender and qualifying times for every ‘event’). We keep our athletes hydrated and fueled (aka juice boxes and cupcakes). We provide diversion from the stress of competition (aka smash the piñata). We are quite flexible on uniform rules (nudiness encouraged). Our flag bearer was selected by his peers (more like forced to do it). We all napped afterwards.
All in all, success!
Inspiration
Sometimes I have it, sometimes I lack it. With the Olympics on 24/7, I certainly have more of it than usual! Between live feeds, Twitter, FB, news, etc I’m having a hard time keeping up but I’m loving it and I’ve managed to keep my FOMO in check.
A few of the more captivating stories for me have been…
The Canadian Olympic Team, especially since we seem to have moved beyond the attitude of “oh, I’m just so happy to be here, I’m pleased with my 47th place” attitude to our “I’m here to win!” attitude. Go Canada Go! Also because my Olympic boyfriend is a serious medal contender.
The US swim team. They seem to genuinely like each other – legitimate rivalries included – and who doesn’t love a team that does something like this. Also, the fact that Rory has a HUGE crush on Missy Franklin helps. Oh, and well… Lochte.
The sculling sloth.
Tonight I’ll be in my jammies, cheering at the top of my lungs for the triathletes as they take over Hyde Park. I don’t even care if I wake up the kids, they can watch with me. We can nap tomorrow.
On that note, a few pictures from my inspired lunch-time run (it was hard to turn around and go back to the office, that’s for sure). Stay tuned for a report from Monday’s upcoming adventure… can’t wait!
The Bug
Unlike many Olympic followers, I don’t catch the bug every 2/4 years when the Games roll around. I seem to carry it 24/7. However, my obsession does kick into high gear when there is a Games happening.
My FOMO has kicked into high gear. There’s a part of me that alternates between sadness, disbelief and acceptance that I’m not in London this summer. I’ve adapted to this by bookmarking 2938743 Olympic sites, following 18234789 athletes on Twitter and thanking my lucky stars for iPhone apps.
I’ll be adjusting my sleep schedule to watch my favourites live (what’s up, 1am women’s triathlon?!) It doesn’t matter that I’ll be alone in my living room, in the dark and in my jammies, I’ll be cheering just as hard as if I were in the stands.
GO CANADA GO!
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