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by Ryan Hudson • Jul 11, 2011 12:01 PM EDT

What You Might Mean When You Say Team Luge Events

The international Olympic Committee has approved a handful of new sports for the 2014 Winter Games In Sochi, and one addition stuck out immediately on the first read through the release:

The International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday that ski halfpipe (men and women), mixed relay in biathlon and team events in luge and figure skating were also added to the program.

The phrase "team events in luge" is especially interesting to me because there already is a two-man luge, and to say it's awkward it to understate just how crowded one tiny sled gets when you put two men in spandex on it and ask them to engage in subsonic downhill spooning. 

So what could the IOC mean by team relay? There's an answer, and I'll get to it, but first to the more entertaining matter of blind guessing what it could mean.

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1 comment

by Spencer Hall • Apr 6, 2011 11:47 AM EDT

Apolo Anton Ohno Undecided On 2014 Winter Olympics

Apolo Anton Ohno, the United States' most decorated Winter Olympian of all time, isn't ready to close the door on competing in another Olympic games just yet.

Ohno said he has until December to make a decision on whether he's retired from speed skating or whether he'll head to Russia's Sochi Games in 2014.

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1 comment

by Jeff Gluck • Mar 3, 2011 10:10 AM EST

2014 Olympic Mascot Candidates Include Santa Claus And The Sun?

Three years out from the Winter Olympics in Sochi, it's time to start talking intangibles, and our friends at Fourth-Place Medal have an exhaustive ranking of the proposed mascots for the games. In a startling departure from past years, several of the candidates are actually identifiable creatures. Never fear, though; this is still the Olympics and the pool isn't without the requisite left-field creations. Our picks for hits and misses:

The Good
• The Bullfinch. Reminiscent of Twitter, which will make for easy Fail Whale jokes if complications arise in getting the sites ready.
• Snowflake. Will animate nicely on television and not likely to frighten children. These are qualities not to be underestimated in a mascot.
• The Dolphin. It's a dolphin on snow skis. Your argument is invalid.
• Matryoshka! Nesting dolls are an inspired choice. There ought to be five of them, though, to correspond to the rings, right?

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1 comment

by Holly Anderson • Feb 8, 2011 4:22 PM EST

Weird, Cause The British Have Been So Good To Native Americans Up Until Now

For some reason, the World Lacrosse Championship is being held in Manchester, England this year.  Thirty nations will compete for the right to be the best, including the United States, Canada, Japan and lacrosse hotbed Latvia.  The tournament is significant as it allows the Iroquois Nation, consisting of the six nations that make up the Haudenosaunee people, to compete as their own participant.

And they're pretty good too, finishing fourth in 2006. They should be good...they invented the game.

The World Championship has been held all over the world and the Iroquois have traveled to play in it every time without issue.  Along with other tournaments, they've traveled to Australia and Japan, amongst other places.  Never with any kind of incident.

That changed this week as the team tried to board a plane for England and were told by British authorities that their Haudenosaunee passports would not be accepted. Their concern was whether or not the United States would accept them upon return and in a turn of events from all known incidents in the past, America said no.

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4 comments

by Sean Keeley • Jul 14, 2010 11:08 PM EDT

Spain's World Cup-Winning Goal: Best Served As A Spanish Broadcast

When Spencer Hall argued that we should follow the World Cup on Univision, he knew exactly what he was talking about. Moments ago, I had the pleasure of watching Spain's extra-time goal on a Spanish broadcast.

I don't speak Spanish, and it did not matter. The dramatic nature of the goal -- with only a few minutes left in the World Cup final -- sent the announcers positively over the edge. Minutes later, they're still trying to collect themselves. One of them made this sort of full-throated hybrid of a cry, a scream, and a table saw. The vuvuzela should be abandoned in favor of a bullhorn that plays that noise on loop.

Outstanding.

3 comments

by Jon Bois • Jul 11, 2010 5:11 PM EDT

Team USA Skiiers Accuse USSSA Officials Of Financial Irresponsibility

For some reason, several U.S. ski team members appear to have a problem with United States Ski and Snowboard Association chief executive Bill Marolt making over $650,000 last year while some skiiers had to pay for their own training and travel and coaches took pay cuts. Quoth Alpine racer Scott Macartney:

“Does one less week of training mean that in 2014 you won’t be scoring medals?  I mean, I doubt it, but as time goes on, some people could lose that competitive edge if you have enough of those lost weeks of training — if the team can’t provide for its athletes.”

An association spokesman, however, was quick with the catty rebuttal:

“We are a business, and just like any other business, we have to make decisions on spending. Anyone can advance their own position by simply moving up the athletic pipeline. And as you have more success and you move up, you will have more program costs covered.”

Financial improprieties in Olympic sports? The heck you say!

by Holly Anderson • Apr 20, 2010 7:10 PM EDT

Canada Loves Hockey So Much, They Can Hold It

As you may have heard, around 80% of Canadians watched on TV as their country beat the Americans in the Gold Medal game this year. But they didn't just watch—if this graph's any indication, they didn't want to miss a minute. Look:

As you can see, the water usage went down dramatically throughout the game, spiking only as the game hit intermission, when everyone scurried to the bathroom. With all the toilets flushing at once and (since Canadians are so polite) everyone washing their hands, you have three spikes in water demand. Otherwise, those polite bastards were glued to the couch. A few other thoughts while we're here:

1. Really though, that's impressive dedication, Canada.
2. Can someone measure the Super Bowl next year? Bet the third quarter has more water usage than halftime, which is sad.
   
3. Our 1980 water usage still beats their 2010 water usage. Easy.
4. Screw you, Sidney Crosby.

1 comment

by Andrew Sharp • Mar 9, 2010 10:16 AM EST

Olympic Village To Be Converted To Mixed-Use Space (So The City Can Make Its Billion Back)

With the close of the Vancouver Olympics, preparations are underway to turn the athletes' village into a thriving waterfront community. And that had better work, or the city's gonna take quite a hit:

The depressed real estate market has marred the village project since its inception and threatens to hinder plans for the future. It was built on city-owned land by a developer who was supposed to privately finance the venture and then convert it to luxury condos after the Games, paying the city for the property. But then the credit crisis hit -- Vancouver was particularly vulnerable -- and the city had to provide a $434 million bailout to the developers. In all, Vancouver spent about $1 billion in costs on the athlete's village.

If this sounds problematic to you, one more hangup at the end of a snafu-infested series of events, just imagine the fun when Russia takes over.

by Holly Anderson • Mar 4, 2010 9:09 PM EST