I love the free skating...it has such grace, beauty and amazing teamwork. Sometimes it brings tears to my eyes.

Actually, all the sports are amazing to watch. These folks have so much incredible dedication. It's phenomenal.

1 UNITED STATES UNITED STATES 2 2 4 8
2 GERMANY GERMANY 1 3 1 5
3 FRANCE FRANCE 2 0 2 4
3 CANADA CANADA 1 2 1 4
5 SWITZERLAND SWITZERLAND 3 0 0 3
5 KOREA KOREA 2 1 0 3
5 NORWAY NORWAY 0 2 1 3
5 ITALY ITALY 0 1 2 3
9 CHINA CHINA 1 1 0 2
9 CZECH REPUBLIC CZECH REPUBLIC 1 0 1 2
9 JAPAN JAPAN 0 1 1 2
12 NETHERLANDS NETHERLANDS 1 0 0 1
12 SLOVAKIA SLOVAKIA 1 0 0 1
12 SWEDEN SWEDEN 1 0 0 1
12 AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA 0 1 0 1
12 ESTONIA ESTONIA 0 1 0 1
12 POLAND POLAND 0 1 0 1
12 AUSTRIA AUSTRIA 0 0 1 1
12 CROATIA CROATIA 0 0 1 1
12 RUSSIAN FEDERATION RUSSIAN FEDERATION 0 0 1 1

SUPRMAN said:

i love these updates...coverage is on lateish here

july said:

Who's that new kid in speed skating..... JR Celski? He's been deemed the "new" Apolo. He's adorable.

prb said:

Alex's story about his brother made me cry. Amazing and so inspiring.

What are all the ice dancers falling!

I should have learned how to ice skate. That pairs figure skating event is just TOO beautiful.

AnckSuNamun said:

He really is. He was on THE BIGGEST LOSER last week. They were all trained by Olympic athletes that week.

another gold for Canada by Maelle Ricker in Women's Snowboard Cross
[Edited 2/16/10 15:15pm]

I'm sure nobody mentioned the fact that people are protesting the games, Vancouver is spending way too much money on things, wasting tax money that could be used for health service and the like.

I'm enjoying this, but it is something of a letdown compared to Bejing.

It's not a fair comparison, as that was Summer Games, but it will stand out for a long time IMO.

The Opening Ceremonies actually turned out better that I thought, based on the beginning. They opened so damn slow, though! Then I almost turned it off during Brian Adams, if not for Nelly Furtado's incredible figure. I'm glad I am a pervert, because the rest of it was decent, and even great in places.

It really showed though, that China spent half a billion dollars on theirs, and this was 1/10 as much. Still a very big show, but I doubt we'll see anything like that Bejing opening for a while. I doubt London will be able to top it either.

2freaky4church1 said:

http://prince.org/msg/100/330027

NDRU said:

Everyone raves about how spectacular Beijing was but no one would want that repeated in the U.S. (or likely in London or anywhere else.) Money was no object for China, here we would protest every cent spent because it should've/could've been spent on xyz.
Here we could not just decide where to put the stadium and simply move everything in the way someplace else.
Here we could not simply tell people, that for the next three weeks you won't go to work, you will report for rehearsal for the Opening Ceremonies.

We celebrate Beijing while forgetting the human and capital costs that went into creating such a spectacle and completely ignore that only because they are an autocratic totalitarian society was it even possible to create and exhibit such a spectacle.

I wonder if it resonates in China the same way - sadly, I'd say likely because nationalistically it's hard to criticize what is seen as such a shining moment for the nation and with a repressed media, I'm sure any protests or problems were simply ignored.

SUPRMAN said:

I'm not much of a sports fan, but I somehow always love the Olympics.

Men's Shorts were pretty boring thus far except for Johny W ~ final set to skate soon ...

Johnny Weir should have scored higher. I don't get it. He didn't make one mistake.

WaterInYourBath said:

Technical level difference ... = lower points




.
[Edited 2/16/10 20:14pm]

Skeletor just took the ice

I have a the biggest crush on Johnny Weir

Mach said:

Ahh, so his moves weren't complicated enough. Ok, thanks.

So far, I think the Japanese team has done the most difficult spins/jumps.

Figure ice skating is so amazing. I love watching!

Evan ROCKED IT

matthewgrant said:

Just watched Daisuke Takahashi skate from Japan. He had quite the Prince look!

NATION TOTAL
Germany 3 4 2 9
United States 2 2 4 8
France 2 1 4 7
Canada 2 2 1 5
South Korea 3 1 0 4
Switzerland 3 0 1 4
China 1 1 1 3
Norway 0 2 1 3
Austria 0 2 1 3
Italy 0 1 2 3
Sweden 2 0 0 2
Slovakia 1 1 0 2
Czech Republic 1 0 1 2
Japan 0 1 1 2
Netherlands 1 0 0 1
Poland 0 1 0 1
Estonia 0 1 0 1
Australia 0 1 0 1
Russia 0 0 1 1
Croatia 0 0 1 1
Total 21 21 21 63

WaterInYourBath said:

He also didn't do a quad.

vanessabfly said:

I really like this guy!

I hope Johnny Weir can medal!

And I actually like Plushenko--but more as a competitor than skater. Me no like his mullet though! And he's a striking looking guy with a great presence on the ice.

I think it's funny he knows a lot of people "hate" him, but he's not bothered by it one bit!

Evan?? I dunno.. He did a great job, but I'm not one of his fans.

Of the Americans, I would love to see Johnny Weir beat Evan actually!

I'd love to see Johnny Weir win the whole thing, but I don't think it's going to happen.

It's going to be interesting to see how Plushy does in the long-program. This is a pretty entertaining competition.

AnckSuNamun said:

The'll never be another Apollo.... He's Uno!

SUPRMAN said:

all true, but you can't deny that was a spectacular show.

Living in the united states I can't totally judge what goes on in another country. I don't live there, I don't know what's really happening, but I do know that the US is up to some shady stuff, too.

their culture is rich, and they put on an amazing display that celebrated it, that's all I know for certain

the male figure skaters could make the female bum thread

Who wants to come over and watch with me ? I have fresh peanutbutter cookies baking