Questions About Luge, Answered

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Since I chose to feature doubles luge as my banner photo for the first third of the games, and then drew further notice to the situation with Oh You Lugers, I’ve received a few questions regarding the sport. Here are a few answers:

Q: Does women’s luge exist?
A: Yes. The four runs took place on February 15^th and 16^th, the fourth and fifth days of the Vancouver 2010 games.

Q: Did those events air on NBC?
A: Yes. Runs 1 and 2 were relegated to late night coverage the morning of February 16^th. It appears that a touch of runs 3 and 4 were set to be aired during late night coverage the morning of February 17^th. I regret to inform you that I missed all of ladies luge due to the scheduling decisions made at NBC. Pretty sure most Americans missed it.

Q: Is there women’s double luge?
A: No there is not. No. There. Is. Not. Ponderous.

Q: Are there any single sex winter Olympic sports?
A: Yes, in addition to doubles luge, the four-man bobsled is just that, a men-only event. While there is a women’s bobsled field, women only compete in the two-person style, whereas men may compete in the double and the four-man. Furthermore the Vancouver games feature men-only Nordic combined events; there was a huge to-do about the women’s event, a quick Google search bears plenty of fodder on the topic. The ski jumps events are also a boys club.

Incriminating Ice Dancing: Costumes, Costumes, Ouch!

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If missed the Ice Dancing original dance programs from last night you are either very lucky because your senses have not been scarred by terrifying costumes and musical choices, or you are very sad because you missed out on the chance to judge.

Here we go.

brisbanetimes.com/ Reuters

The most atrocious broadcasted incident of the evening was not unexpected for those of us familiar with recent ice dance competitions, but appalling just the same in both the sartorial and cultural sensitivity departments: I bring you the first-ranked-in-the-world Russians, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin dancing to Australian aboriginal music wearing… Well, that. Something you can’t see? Faux foliage stuck into their skates.

As the couple entered on to the ice Tom Hammond queried, “Looking ridiculous, does it affect the judges?” “Yes Tom, it does come into play, it is a subjective sport.” They were rewarded with “a lukewarm response at best.”

They of course claim no ill will, but it’s pretty ridiculous. I think most can agree with The View’s Joy Behar who posed, “It’s like skating porn, isn’t it?” Meanwhile, Barbara was just generally appalled at the state of the ice dancing world. Including the fact that many of the pairs are siblings: “there has to be a little sex there [in the tango compulsory dance from Friday]” so that’s awkward for everyone, really. Although in all fairness, that was a general statement neither aimed nor applicable to the Russians.

What else? Well, there were about a hundred cowboy/cowgirl couples which I found entirely horrifying. I was even heard to exclaim, “I’ve died and I’ve gone to hell.”

gawker.com

Frenchwoman Nathalie Pechalat sported a whip at her hip and cowboy boot skates, whilst her partner Fabian Bourza kept company with a host of other competitors by indulging in a hideous pair of chaps. Ga-ross.

The problem with the whole situation is that, much like the case of galactic duo of the pairs competition, these travesties of taste distract from the technical skill, artistry and general athletic prowess of the ice dancers, which after all is what the Olympic competition is about. The original dance became a heinous spectacle– and it is a shame.

There is one dance that I’m just sad I missed thanks to NBC:  It seems that German team William and Christinia Beier danced the hula. Alas, I’ll have to get my internet to cooperate for that viewing delight. For more on the costumes, the music and the mayhem, check out Gawker’s recap… my rant must end before it doesn’t.

Olympic Correspondence

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Thanks to fellow blogger Kelly for the Twitterly Olympic love! Check her out at WordPress & Tumblr.

Lock & Load Lena

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nbcolympics.com/ Reuters

Magdalena Neuner, my favorite German skied and shot her way to a third overall and second Olympic gold of the Vancouver 2010 games. NBC didn’t air the 12.5km women’s mass start biathlon until late night coverage, but it’s OK– I stayed up to get the scoop for you.

Recap: After two penalty laps borne of shooting range misses earlier in the race, Neuner pulled it out, unexpectedly shot clean at the last upright range (not her strength) and quickly made up 7 seconds immediately afterwards. By the end of the race she had made up about 15 seconds, quite a feat: “She is absolutely ripping it out on this uphill!” Neuner ran away with the gold by a [whole] 5.5sec, leaving Russian Olga Zaitseva and fellow German Simone Hauswald to fight it out for silver and bronze respectively.

nbcolympics.com

And after all that, Neuner basically looks fresh as a daisy coming across the finish line with a big smile. Damn.

Oh and she’s an accomplished knitter. She blogs about it. So who reads German here?

PS> Wall Street Journal article on Lena & German biathlon.

Two Slices of Crazy

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Of course women’s short track got pushed to the end of the night on Saturday, and we had a little incident in the apartment.

First, congrats to Katherine Reutter who made an Apolo-like pass during her 1500m qualifier and then came in fourth in her semifinal. Cut to commercial, I leave the living room for moments, come back for the next heat and what do I find? I think my tweet sums it up:

@JohannaAP25 “You switched to notting hill, you slut.” Molly switches to a channel NOT the women’s short track semi finals whilst I am in the bathroom.

Really?!

Molly: I have been watching a lot of olympics lately and just needed a break… And short track is only my 8th fave Olympic sport.

Johanna: You have them ranked?

Molly: No I just made that up, but it’s somewhere near there.

Well.