Who could not like the Nigerian and Jamaica women's bobsled teams? Or the crazy slope-style snowboarders? Or the curling???? (Can you believe curling is a sport??) And the skeleton competitors are certifiable, but so much fun to watch.
But let's get serious and talk about what we REALLY watched (other than the hunky Norweigans.)
THE FIGURE SKATING!
Did you have a favorite event? A favorite skater?
And--this one is really loaded--what about Johnny and Tara? Love them or hate them??
On favorite skating events, I'm torn between the Men's and the Ice Dancing. Although, of course I love the Pairs and the Women's events, but I'm forcing myself to choose.
Favorite performances? I have to say I absolutely adored Adam Rippon. What a triumph for him, to skate so perfectly after being left off the team in 2014.
I can't use current photos because of copyright issues, but here's one I found of Adam in 2009.
How adorable is that? I wish he'd kept the curly hair!
I know he didn't have the technical points to win, but his skating was just exquisite. As was Mirai Nagasu's in the team event. ( Here's Mirai in 2010, so graceful.)
I loved the French Pairs couple, and I thought Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir were just breath-taking in the Ice Dancing. Oh, and the Shibutanis are so cute and talented.
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| Virtue and Moir, 2014 |
I can see a definite lean towards the older skaters in my preferences, and I will admit that I'm more impressed by artistry than spectacular jumps. That said, Nathan Chen gets the Comeback Kid award, and I can't wait to see him in four years!
Are you glad the Olympics are over? Or feeling a little sad that we have to wait four years for another Winter Games.... Here's to 2022!
Aside from the figure skating, which we knew we would watch, we saw some of the skiing events, the snowboarding, a bit of the hockey, and some curling. [Curling? How is that a sport?]
ReplyDeleteTara and Johnny are not my cup of tea . . . give me Scott Hamilton any day. And artistry wins hands down over the athleticism of jump after jump after jump. Could we please have both?
Favorites? So many, including Adam Rippon, Patrick Chan, Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou. Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Chloe Kim and Shaun White.
Oh, I loved Patrick Chan! and Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres were fabulous!
DeleteI didn't watch much of the Olympics, except for one night when I was coming down with a cold and capable of not much more than staring at moving images while I folded the laundry. That night happened to be skeleton and men's Super G, and I really did enjoy all of it. In years past I would have watched more, and I've always enjoyed the figure skating, but somehow this year it didn't penetrate. There are, however, two rabid curling fans on our staff at work, so I've heard breathless recaps of those games, including long explanations of the kind of ice they use for that sport, and why the brooms. I think it's delightful that a sport that used to be the fallback answer for non-sports types who wanted to sound like they cared now has actual fans in this country. Curling, by the way, is a perfect candidate for Sport Invented By Guys With Too Much Time and Ice on Their Hands. If they ever attach flaming bottles of gasoline to the stones, you'll know the drunks have gotten involved.
ReplyDeleteGigi, too funny!
DeleteGigi, who would've thought that mopping floors would be considered training for an Olympic sport.
DeleteMy friend, the curling fan, tells me the sweeping melts just the thinnest top layer of the ice, allowing the stone to scoot more smoothly, but I think you've got the truth of it, Jay. Curling was invented by bored janitors!
DeleteLoved the snowboarding events! We had excellent coverage of cross-country skiing, too. Because all the big ice skating events were broadcast close to midnight, we had to catch up the next day. Not forgetting the magical drones...
ReplyDeleteI'm embarrassed to say... the skiing and snowboarding and people flying down a track on a sled (inscrutable sport) put me to sleep, every time. And that seemed to be what was on every night 10-11 which is when my light goes out. Has anyone found the replay videos online? I'd love to see all the skating that I missed.
ReplyDeleteHallie, I recorded everything. I'll probably skim through and watch my favorite figure skating programs one more time before I delete all those hours! I never managed to watch the opening ceremony, even though I recorded it. Did anyone else see? Is it worth going back through it?
DeleteDebs, the end of the opening ceremony was especially cool. They had over a thousand lit drones fly from the Olympic stadium up the mountain, in the shape of a dove. When it got to the mountain the drones reformed into a skateboarder, and met with real skateboarders, who rode down with lit torches. Then the drones formed the Olympic rings, and they flew back over the stadium. That alone is worth watching.
DeleteThere were a lot of really cool bits in between, too, but the drones were just amazing technological marvels.
Of course I meant skiboard, not skateboard. I keep doing this.
DeleteHallie, go to nbcsports.com, then click on the Olympics option. The most recent figure skating videos were there last night.
DeleteTHanks, Margaret!
DeleteThe Hubby would not watch the figure skating. Grr.
ReplyDeleteWe saw quite a bit of snowboarding and skiing. Also the Canada-US women's ice hockey gold medal game, but I think we must have seen a replay - now that was thrilling!
Mary/Liz
Sigh. Thrilling for some... :^(
DeleteWe watched most things. I enjoyed the racing events, speed skating and strangely enough found the curling exciting. Now there's finally an Olympic sport I could compete in. I know how to sweep!
ReplyDeleteI thought the men's figure skating was breathtaking. Why do our guys keep falling?
I think the media puts too much pressure on athletes. We hear them say that someone is sure to get the gold and then disappointment when they don't.
Ha, Rhys, I'm really good at sweeping, too! Maybe I've found my sport! Except, uh, no ice where I live....
DeleteMay I say that TV programming is usually so bad that watching the Olympics is a vast improvement! I so rarely turn on the TV any more, but have had the games on most nights this past couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteA friend summed up my feelings about the downhill events: how many different ways can you slide down a hill? That said, Chloe Kim and Red Gerrard were both delightful to watch. Chloe's third ride down the mountain could have been a victory lap, but she went for it, and bettered her previous high score. It was thrilling. Both these snowboarders are 17 years old! And neither of them shamed us like Shaun White, who not only dragged the American flag, but he stepped on it. I was horrified, and he should have known better, since he's been there before.
The skating was the best, though, and I half fell in love with Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and the Shib Sibs. As for the commentary, Tara Lipinsky is overrated, but Johnny Weir, as strange as he is, is solid, fair, and evenhanded commenter. I appreciated his calm demeanor, especially compared to Tara's opinion-laden remarks.
Who was the host? I LOVED him. He's a breath of fresh air after so many years of that wooden Bob Costas. I'm so glad they got rid of him.
Karen, his name is Mike Tirico, and he was a play-by-play NFL announcer. I agree, I loved him. So glad to not to see Bob Costas and his wig...
DeleteAnd I agree about Johnny and Tara. Johnny was such a beautiful skater--it's too bad his career was so injury plagued. But maybe that's part of what gives him such empathy for the competing skaters?
Were Johnny and Tara the skaters in the Olympics this year or are they the commenters?
DeleteThey were commentators. Tara won Gold in 1998 when she was 15 years old.
Deletethank you.
DeleteI'm hoping there is exhibition skating tonight but haven't seen a schedule.
ReplyDeleteThe Figure Skating gala is part of this evening's Olympic coverage . . .
DeleteOh no! In Houston. Missing it.
DeleteI must say I was blown away by the snowboarders. I always watch the skating and found I’ve started rooting for the older skaters. I was happy for Javier from Spain earning a bronze! I think the media puts way too much pressure and high expections on the athletes. Wasn’t it cool that Brian Orser is coaching skaters from different countries! Remember the Battle of the Brians way back when? Another example of media overkill.
ReplyDeleteOh I loved Javier Fernandez!!! I'm rooting for the older skaters, too, and I hate seeing edged out on the technical scoring. I think skaters are going to reach a limit on the jumps that are physically possible for a human body, and then maybe they can concentrate on beautiful skating again.
DeleteA friend commented that we needed another skiboarder with Blue in his/her name, to go with medal winners Red Gerrard and Shaun White.
ReplyDelete:-)
DeleteAnd Red Gerrard is adorable. And so talented, but the snowboarders scare me to death, especially after seeing footage of Shaun White's crash in NZ.
We were watching the half-pipe skiing, and two competitors in a row crashed onto the edge. It was horrifying. I was sure the one guy had a broken back; he didn't move for a couple of minutes. Luckily, he was able to ski down the rest of the way, refusing to be carried.
DeleteSuch a dangerous sport.
I'm glad the Olympics are over in some ways since I've been watching every second I could since the games started. Yes, plenty of ice skating. The couple are my favorite. For ice dancing, I thought the couple from France should have won gold. I loved their skate, although maybe my bias for "Moonlight Sonata" is coming through.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy Johnny and Tara's commentary, although any time we actually saw them, I thought his hair was just ridiculous. But listening to both of them and their insights was interesting to me.
I admit I didn't watch much this year, most whatever was on between four and five, and then seven and eight, which wasn't much. I did see the women skaters last evening, free style maybe? when the 15 year old Russian beat out her teammate for the gold, Canada taking the bronze. Impressive. I can't imagine even being able to stand up on skates.
ReplyDeleteBut I did see a lot of bobsledding. This is a lot like car racing imho. People waiting for a horrible body smashing crash to bloody up the ice. And the biathlon! Nordic skiing with rifles, brought to mind an ugly image of WW2 SS troops, who probably never did anything on skis, but the Nazi image was stuck in my eyeballs.
I'll take curling everyday. In fact, I have charged up my Roomba and I have a broom, so watch out people. I may be an Olympic athlete in four years.
Watched the ice skating. Loved the Spanish skater Javier Fernandez. I loved the pair from Turkey - beautiful costumes and beautiful skating. And I loved Adam Rippon too. I agree with you about the curly hair, Debs. His name reminded me of a English tv interviewer named Angela Rippon. Yes, I also watched the Canadian team - Scott and Tess ? Mirai and the brother sister team were also wonderful. I saw this couple from France briefly. Interesting to see an American skating for South Korea and another American skating for Japan. There was a pair from South Korea and the fellow was born in the USA. And I saw a skating pair from Japan and the fellow was born in the USA too.
ReplyDeleteCannot believe I missed that bobsled that you mentioned. I caught a bit of Lindsay Vonn's skiing and a bit of the women's cross country skiing.
Diana
Mostly I don't miss TV, but I do miss it when the Olympics are on. I've been following the news accounts of the games. The skating has always been my favorite, and I like all aspects of it. Back in the seventies I was fortunate enough to see the US Skating Championship in person one year. (We sat behind the family of one of the very young skaters who was competing in either the Novice or Junior Men's competition. It seemed like every time he started to do a jump, his mom got a panicky look on her face. He won his event, and when he was older became an Olympic champion, Brian Boitano!)
ReplyDeleteI thought Scott Hamilton was going to be a commentator this year but I haven't seen any mention of it. He's one of my all-time favorite skaters and commentators.
I always enjoyed the ski jumping, too. I haven't even heard anything about it this year. Have I missed it?
DebRo
Scott Hamilton was relegated to an Olympic feature story show that was on an alternate NBC channel (sorry, I read about it, but obviously don't remember). If you Google him, there are a number of interviews with him where he said he could see it coming as Tara and Johnny appeal to younger viewers. He thought they were great.
DeleteThanks, Cathy.
DeleteLucky me, being in Canada, I could watch the Olympics of 4 different stations (including NBC). I mostly watched the Canadian coverage. I always watch skating - Scott and Tessa knocked it out of the park. Amazed by the Russian girls and very proud of bronze medalist Kaetlyn Osmond. I enjoy watching the X-game cross over boarding and skiing sports. I am also amazed by the endurance of the speed skaters and cross country skiiers. I'll watch anything and enjoyed it all :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm not patient enough to watch a competition all through but I enjoyed a lot the recaps of every competition especially when Canadians did good. And I must say they were pretty good this year.
ReplyDeleteI find it difficult to watch, always anxious for them when jumping on the ice or from a mountain, always afraid they'll get injured. But no problem with curling, of course.
Here in Pacific Time Zone, the Olympics were on from 5pm to 10 or a little after, so we watched a lot of it. I enjoyed most of the snowboarding, though there seemed to be an awful lot of it, and the same with figure skating. The Team Event seemed pointless. Curling? The most boring "sport" there is, really just shuffleboard on ice, it seems. I accidentally saw a "highlight". It was a good time to go get a soda.
ReplyDeleteMy, and my wife's favorite skating event was the pairs free skating (the long program). Just lovely. She also likes bobsled and luge. We thought the Opening Ceremony was disappointing, but the end was good. In downhill, it was too bad the weather delayed so many events until they were all stacked up towards the end, which was pretty hard on the athletes. We're now at Olympics burnout, but will watch 2 more nights, after all, it's only once every four years.
Alina Zagitova, Evgenia Medvedeva, Satoko Miyahara, Kaetlyn Osmond. Can you tell that I watched a lot of ladies' figure skating? I also watched the ice dancing and the pairs, but missed out on the men's. I'm a big fan of Tara and Johnny; I think they know their stuff, and Johnny's sartorial flair is an added bonus. One of the advantages of being on the west coast is that you can record the primetime coverage starting at 5:00pm and then fast forward through it to find the events that interest you. I wouldn't have had the patience to watch 3+ hours of bobsledding, curling, and human interest stories every night in exchange for a dose of skating!
ReplyDeleteFor me, I'm glad the Olympics are over so that my regular TV shows can get back to airing.
ReplyDeleteI didn't watch much actual live coverage of the games at all. In fact, I think the only things I saw "live" was when I was out at my local 99 restaurant for my regular Saturday lunch. I saw some curling, ski jumping and luge. But that wasn't planned as I didn't have control over the remote.
I read about some of the more interesting stuff online in terms of Mirai Nagasu's disastrous interview after finishing 10th in the skating. She came off as self-aggrandizing without any reason to AND she also sounded like an idiot on top of that.
I also read about the Shibutanis and their handicap in the ice dancing world because they are brother and sister which means they are unable to really sex it up like other pairs do.
And I do care about Olympic hockey. The men once again failed to amount to anything. Meanwhile, the women won gold over arch-rival Canada after 20 years of trying to replicate their win in 1998. Sadly, I did not see the game itself because the darn thing started at 11pm at night and thanks to going to an overtime shootout, didn't end until 2am. Truth be told I fell asleep before the game even started. I saw the shootout video online.
But the Olympics are really becoming a bigger farce with their toothless banning of Russia but letting a boatload of Russian athletes compete as Olympic Athletes of Russia. It became even more worthless when I read that there was supposed to be a vote (I think today but I'm not sure) as to whether or not to allow them to march in the closing ceremonies under the Russian flag. This despite 2 of the reported four athletes that have tested positive for drugs while at the games being Russians.
I love the Olympics and watched as much as I could. I love all the snowboard and skiing events. I also love figure skating, especially ice dancing. I am not a fan of Tara and Johnny...I thought they talked too much! I wish they would bring Scott Hamilton. I also liked Taneth White’s commentary in the ice dancing competition. Mike Tirico did a great job. I’m so glad I didn’t have to listen to Bob Costas this time.
ReplyDeleteAhh...Torville and Dean. Remember? Virtue and Moir are almost as great! I think Johnny Weir is a terrific commentator. And yes, Ingrid, agreed--it wasn't always riveting. And WHEN will commentators learn NEVER to say: Oh, he;s never fallen in all the years of skating..." Because you KNOW what will happen next! And so much pressure, yikes. It's part of the competition, I know. But so difficult to handle.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Hank! Every single time Tara said, "this is the element she's nailed all season," the skater would end up in a heap on the ice! They jinxed them!
DeleteTessa and Scott.
ReplyDeleteKaetlyn Osmond.
And catching whatever happened to be on CBC.
It's all good.
Tara and Johnny! Enjoyed their commentary! Don't forgot Terry Gannon! (the third commentator) He was good too! The skating was a pleasure to watch! Also, loved it to see Americans who won the Gold singing the National Anthem! Did anyone see the Italian woman who won Gold as she belted out the Italian anthem? That was something! I love the Cinderella stories such as the USA curlers going in to the finals in 7th place, and then "running the table" and winning the Gold. And the Czech woman, Ester Ledecka, who won the Gold in skiing (Super G) on borrowed skis! And coverage did not even initially include her as she was considered an "also ran". AND the drone light show at the Opening Ceremonies! WOW! I really liked what the Norwegian director said, and this is not an exact quote, but when asked about their Olympic experience, he said they reached their goal of how many medals they hoped to win, and he said, we made friends, they liked us, we liked them. I believe our goals were met! The Olympics are about bringing people together and I always enjoy watching that.
ReplyDeleteSince I always follow ice skating, I discovered that NBCSports showed all the skaters except when they cut to hockey or curling around 10:00. They also had Scott Hamilton and Tanith Belbin White on Olympic Ice at 7:00. Don't blame just Tara and Johnny for the jinxing. Every commentator from Dick Button has been doing it. Anyway I didn't see as much of the other sports as usual. Even though I'm retired and could sleep in, I'm still tired from staying up to see the end of the skating. On the ladies short program I went to bed after the Americans but OnDemand only showed the top 2 Russians and Americans but not the Canadians or the Italian so I stayed up until after midnight to see the ladies finale, which was worth it.
ReplyDeleteTara and Johnny - I want to hang out with them :) and Adam Rippon, too! The ShibSibs are adorable and Virtue and Moir (OMG - I needed a fan and a bucket of ice they were so hot)! I loved it all so much. The snowboarding and slalom skiing always wow me, but you have to love the bob sledding and, yes, even curling! Honestly, it has destroyed my deadlines and I've been online WAY too much so it's a good thing it is over, although I will miss it and the wonderful feeling of world camaraderie that it brings. I cried buckets for the German pairs winner Savchencko (5 Olympics to get the gold)! and cheered like crazy for Ester Ledecka when she got gold in two different sports! Huzzah! That's why I love the Olympics - something unexpected always happens. LOVE.
ReplyDeleteMe, too, Jenn!
DeleteSorry that I'm coming in so late today/tonight, but I've been birthdaying today. Hubby fixed me breakfast, I watched movies with my older granddaughter, and then went out with friends for dinner and a play. Last night the whole family got together for my birthday dinner at an Italian restaurant and I had some delicious ziti.
ReplyDeleteNow, for the Olympics. I've enjoyed much of them, but I haven't watched them all the time. The figure skating and ice dancing are probably my favorite sports, and I was quite taken with the snow boarding this time. I especially enjoyed the ShibSibs and Adam Rippon were favorites in the skating. There are more figure skaters I liked, but I'm horrible at remembering their names. Chloe Kim,Red Gerrard and Shaun White were crazy amazing. The skiing always amazes me, at how fast they go. I was interested in Lindsay Vonn's performances.
I'll add this, though the blog has moved on to another topic, so probably no one will see it. NBC's blatant bias for the US athletes was bothersome. When excellent people from other countries - other than the top 3 places or so - were ignored so a profile of an 18th place US finisher, it got me steamed up. They had to go back and pick it up when Ledeski won her skiing gold, because they'd cut her run out in favor of yet another interview with Vonn or Shiffrin. Yes, I know it's the US station and the US feed, but how about some equity in the coverage? Over all, we were pretty unhappy with the coverage, though it was all we got, and thought Mike Trico was a poor substitute for Costas.
ReplyDelete