Am I the only person watching the Olympics??

[dreamshark]

Figure skating pairs was a triumph of story-telling, as the Chinese couple that everyone was rooting for finally nailed their longed for Olympic gold, the other Chinese pair (Pang and Tong) came up from behind to nab the silver with an absolutely exquisite performance in the long program, and the quirky German couple finished the job of toppling the Russians from their ill-deserved 46-year domination of the sport. Yay!

Lots of drama and surprise tonight in the men's short program, with the snooty Russian skating early and setting an impossibly high bar of 90.85 with his perfect quad combo, only to have (American) Evan Lysacek come in at the end of the evening with an electrifying performance that left him in almost a dead heat with the Russian going into Thursday's long program. There are also a couple of very interesting young Japanese skaters still in the running for medals, along with the ineffable Johnny Weir(d) and some guy from Switzerland who dressed like Hamlet and did a brilliant program to the William Tell Overture. Unfortunately he muffed one of his jumps, so he's only in 5th place, but we're kinda rooting for him to pull a surprise upset somehow and make it to the podium. I wouldn't mind seeing Lysacek win, though, even though Alex says he's kind of an arrogant jerk. If that's what it takes to skate like he did in that performance, I guess I can live with it. Go, Evan!

The snowboard cross races (SnoBoCross) provided periodic diversion. I prefer the snowboard events with the aerial tricks, but you gotta love a sport where it's a rare event for all 4 of the competitors to make it to the finish line. Coverage was a little inconsistent, though. The announcers were so intent on covering only the competitors that they thought we should care about (Americans and Canadians) that they never got around to telling us who got the bronze in the women's SnoBoCross. It wasn't exactly obvious, since two of the four competitors in the finals wiped out before they got to the finish line. So... nobody gets the bronze? Or does it go to whoever won the B-Final? Wouldn't it have been polite to at least MENTION it?

It's even worse with the coverage of the men's speed skating, where the coverage tended to go something like this: "Apollo Ohno is in fourth place! No, he's moving up! Here they come into their final lap with Apollo Ohno moving up on the Korean and those other two guys behind them! And Apollo Ohno has the silver, for his sixth medal!" Okay, I got that. Who exactly WON?

Comments

[carbonel]

I am trying to exercise daily, work full-time, and watch all the Olympic coverage except hockey and curling.

Which means I don't have time to post about the Olympics, mostly, though I have a few comments in other people's LJs about the skating that I should probably repost in my own.

And I have cataract surgery next week, and then a long weekend in California, which means I have the choice of either declaring bankruptcy or watching everything several days late. Before TiVo, there was never this sort of dilemma.

[hakatrip.livejournal.com]

I have too much going on personally right now to watch the Olympics religiously. I regret that, but so be it. It's just sports.

But I did watch the pairs figure skating last night. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the choreography of the routines until Pang and Tong skated. They were an absolute joy to watch! Grace, joy, skill, and appropriate to the music.

What has happened to figure skating? It seems to me sometimes that they struggle so hard to get the required components in, that there's little room for artistry. Perhaps it's just the shine that age can put on memories, but I recall with fondness my teen years of watching Scotty light the ice up with his energy and Torvill and Dean leave us aghast with their passion.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Pang and Tong were our favorites on both nights for exactly the reason you mention. We haven't really watched enough skating to be aware of changes in choreography over the years, but were kind of appalled by the costumes. What's with all the men looking like they came directly from the office and didn't have time to change?? Some kind of backlash against the traditional sparkly color-coordinate outfits? Another plus for the Chinese couples - they not only danced their duets like they meant it, they knew how to dress.

If you can find the time to watch just the last hour of the men's long programs on Thursday I think you will see some of the passion you found missing in most of the pairs skating. Some of the skaters in the middle of the pack skated kind of nervous and mechanical programs, but all the top finishers had both intensity and personality, and very diverse styles.

[fuzzygabby.livejournal.com]

A coworker said that he'd heard that Johnny Weir and an American skater had a rivalry. I'm guessing that's Lysacek. Apparently, the rival wants to make the sport more "manly" and appealing to Joe Six-Pack. I went to bed after Johnny Weir's performance, so I don't know what Lysacek's was like. Anyway, if what my coworker said is true, then I'm rooting for Weir.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I've watched some of the Olympic coverage. It's nice to be able to see it in real time (mostly). Annoyingly, the West Coast gets their feed delayed three hours, even though the event is in their time zone.

The events I used to watch -- women's skating, downhill skiing -- seem to have taken a back seat to snowboarding (which doesn't seem like an Olympic sport), luge (which just looks dumb), skeleton (which looks dumber) and so on. The pairs figure skating had more falls than good routines. Speed skating might have some excitement.

But mostly, I can't bring myself to care anymore. Okay, so one skater is the 15th descendent of a Japanese warlord they made a video game out of, and this skater has been practicing since she was in utero and this boarder was famous when he was six. *yawn*

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I just haven't been interested this year.

P was VERY unhappy when the Koreans missed their chance at sweeping the medals in one of the speed skating events--I guess they were coming in 1, 2, 3, and then one of the latter two decided to try for a higher place, crashed into another, and put them both out of the running.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was pretty exciting, actually. That's how the omnipresent Apollo Ohno got the silver instead of coming in as an also-ran 4th place. That was exactly the race I was referring to where the announcers were so fixated on reporting Apollo Ohno's every move that they barely mentioned the actual winners. The Koreans were just part of the Ohno story, as far as they were concerned.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

I've been watching 'em. (So much in fact that I'm reeeeeealy tired of the How To Train Your Dragon tie-ins.)

What I want to know is what kind of office Johnny Weir (sp?) works in.

(Also there's been a dust up after Mark Lund -a retired skater- did a verbal bash of Weir for being too foofy. Lund's gay, so I guess he should know...)

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

"What I want to know is what kind of office Johnny Weir (sp?) works in. "

*snerk* Johnny Weir is not part of the problem; he's part of the solution. He designs his own costumes, you know.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

FaceBook is full of Olympics commentary. I don't see much on LJ. Go figure.

[pameladean]

I don't care enough about it to put up with the horrors of the coverage.

P.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

You can always turn off the sound. I particularly enjoy watching things like ski jumping (no sound) on the TV in the gym.