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Here’s some background to that Jamaican athlete that died a few weeks ago.

 

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Review of today’s historic event: https://games24.totallympics.com/?p=1760

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The newest little bobsledder has entered the world 

 

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Reviews of today’s racing are up on Totallympics Media. Here’s a link the women’s review: https://games24.totallympics.com/?p=1754

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Little review article for those who missed today’s racing: https://games24.totallympics.com/?p=1742

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16 minutes ago, dcro said:

Honestly, Romanians are just wasting their time and resources. They should either build a track and get competitive, or they should re-route current funding to some sport where it would make a difference.

Not sure about that, both their bobsleigh and luge teams have shown decent results in recent years. Yes, they’re not winning, but they’re probably the best middle of the pack nation. All it takes is one good day for them, and they potentially have an Olympic medal. They did quite good at the YOG, which obviously means very little, but it shows that they can produce some very good sliders.

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2 minutes ago, dcro said:

 

This weekend in Pyeongchang he finished 20th, and that's a track on which he has more experience than most... In fact, he only finished ahead of 46-year old Luxembourgian, 50-year old Kiwi and some random South African golfer.

 

He is not competitive at all. He finished dead last at the Olympics, and was losing 3+ seconds on every single run.

He is a legitimate slider though, which is what my original post was about. He looks fine on the sled, and his lines aren’t completely terrible. That’s why I’m sad they got rid of the Continental spots.

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1 minute ago, heywoodu said:

Exactly. He's a semi-competitive slider for the ICC tour, filled with way less experienced sliders (among others from other exotic nations), but that's about it. Which is perfectly fine, but on the higher level he's just ages behind. 

 

I honestly would have no problem at all seeing him at the Olympics, but saying he'd be competitive there is just a step too far.

We’ll see, hopefully he can qualify for Beijing 2022.

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8 hours ago, dcro said:

 

He'd probably like to think so, yes.

 

Nevertheless, he qualified only thanks to the continental places, which were rather a strange provision for a Winter sport.

He is a legitimate slider though (as in trains year round, goes to races every year, etc.), so it sucks they got rid of that provision . It should reward people like him, since he actually deserves a continental spot.

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8 hours ago, dcro said:

 

He'd probably like to think so, yes.

 

Nevertheless, he qualified only thanks to the continental places, which were rather a strange provision for a Winter sport.

He’s currently beating people on ICC, and has yet to finish outside the top 20 I believe...

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We currently have  competing in international events, but the IBSF decided continental quotas weren’t worth it . Frimpong is a competitive slider, and would/will add value to the games . Martin has been improving steadily, and competing on the ICC. Gambia would make their first Winter Olympic appearance (though he needs quite a bit of help).

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5 hours ago, dcro said:

Slovakian girl casually destroyed everyone at Lake Placid monobob event. @hckosice

 

https://www.ibsf.org/en/component/events/event/500755

She was the best by a mile there since the Germans and Romanians didn’t travel. She’ll be the highest ranked slider heading into 2020YOG

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55 minutes ago, Grassmarket said:

 

It would be like Women’s Ski Jumping. The first televised World Championships was just dreadful, with only about 4-5 able to do it properly.  Took about 6 years to develop.

Yeah it’s not fun to watch when it’s like that. That’s how I remember women’s freestyle skiing being when it was first included in the X Games and such. Now the quality is much better.

 

I think that’s what the IBSF needed to do here. I understand there’s 5 Federations trying to shove new events/disciplines into the games, but the likes of natural track luge should have been given priority. In the end, I think adding women’s mono bob will be much better than adding women’s four-man

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25 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Which all makes it a better option than women's four, but not a good option overall (yet). Give it 4-5 seasons of solid World Cup action before thinking about adding it.

Yes, that’s the point I meant to make.

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28 minutes ago, Gianlu33 said:

Well, no. Monobob situation is quite depressing. They haven't an international appeal, they haven't a competitive circuits, they have nothing. Mononob deserved to be out from the Olympics, at last until a development (like FIS do with the women's nordic combined)

But there is clearly more interest than women’s four. Plus, it takes less quotas, and it will reward a driver who can push fast and drive well.

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Well women’s monobob seems to be doing well for itself. 17 nations and 32 athletes are scheduled to compete in the first official race.

https://www.ibsf.org/en/news/8-bobsleigh/21365-first-ibsf-women-s-monobob-races-with-32-athletes-from-17-nations

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36 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

 

But the city exists? I realize Canada is just an excuse for jokes for Americans so that figures

I’m just saying that singling out Calgary is strange. That’s like saying, I hope Kamil Stoch gets booed in Wrosaw, but not Wroclaw. Or I hope Sun Yang gets booed in the Shanghai, but not Beijing.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Olympian1010

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46 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

 

Deserved? Seriously? She's full of the entitlement shit that runs wild in the modern society. I hope she gets booed in Calgary for the rest of her life

That’d be a bit hard, since the track no longer exists.

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Just now, heywoodu said:

I don't care which country she brings whatever too, I just hope she compete in an abuse-free environment. If it wasn't possible in Canada, I ,sure hope it is in the US.

Hahahahahahahahahaha

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Just now, Monzanator said:

 

Yet Todd Hays is actually American. So she left Canada because of an American to become an American citizen?   I hope she struggles a lot under the new flag.

I hope she’s bring in the 

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The first World Cup has been reallocated from Park City to Lake Placid becuase Park City refrigerating system went to shit this week (it will be repaired and operational in the next week hopefully, but the IBSF just wanted to play on the safe side to make sure the first World Cup happens). There will be 2 weekends of World Cup racing at the ever famous Lake Placid track this year. Rinaldi does well there, so hopefully...

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1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Chris Spring will sit out the next season.

https://www.ibsf.org/en/news/8-bobsleigh/21320-bobsleigh-pilot-chris-spring-takes-2019-2020-season-off

 

Same for Elana Meyers Taylor, but unlike Spring, she is pregnant.

https://www.ibsf.org/en/news/8-bobsleigh/21292-baby-break-for-olympic-silver-medallist-elana-meyers-taylor

And very excited waiting for the arrival of her baby I might add . Half her posts are about that.

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5 hours ago, heywoodu said:

And when did she do that?

I got the mixed team and mixed 4-man confused . Sometimes I really am just an idiot. Thanks, for correcting me though 

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The way some many Canadians are treating Kaillie Humphries is disgraceful, disrespectful, and deplorable. She won your country 3 Olympic medals (two of which were gold, and one those was in Canada!), 3 overall World Cup titles, 2 world championships, and world championship bronze while being the female driver of a four-man bobsled! It’s so disgusting to see Canadian’s saying things like “good riddance”, “I hope she gets her ass kicked”, “I hope she never wins again”, and calling her the Antonio Brown of bobsled. Notably these are mostly men saying these things, so I honestly do blame her for leaving, but people need to grow the fuck up. She didn’t murder someone, she didn’t dope, she didn’t cheat, she rose to fame representing Canada, she didn’t abuse her teammates, she didn’t attack anyone. Ahh! 
Why do white dudes (excluding myself, cause I woke.) got to be so bad? Bros, be complaining about women or anything progressive all the time. “Women can’t run farther than 800m”, “Black people aren’t actually human”, etc. White dudes are fucking insane. I thought this whole white nationalist thing was an American, and maybe in some cases, a European problem, but this is just insane coming from Canada. 
 

I really do wish Humphries the best, though I highly doubt the environment over here is better...

 

I still love Canada, but y’all need to chill the fuck out and go play ice hockey to take out your anger on each other.

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Just now, NearPup said:

Some irony: Humphries alleges that the abuse comes from  Todd Hays, the Canadian coach. He previously coached the women’s US teams and apparently two athletes in the US filled harassment claims against him.

Mainly I think besides the toxic relationship with bobsled Canada, I think she choose the US to be closer to her husband. What kills me is how ungrateful some Canadian’s are for her achievement. She gave you two gold medal ffs!