Winter Olympic Games 2018 Final Review

[phelps 8,695]

2 ore fa, intoronto ha scritto:

Sochi's artifical $51 billion dollar games were the worst games ever. They runied the Olympics and no one wants the games because of them.

 

part 1: I don't agree at all...the competitions and the atmosphere around tracks and venues was million times better in Sochi than in Pyeongchang...

but that's just my opinion...

 

part 2: that's absolutely false...and it's not just my opinion...no one wants the Games anymore because they're too expensive in general (and it's an issue from well before Sochi) and for many other reasons that don't have anything to do with Russia and the Sochi Olympics, reasons that go well beyond the sports politics only...

 

p.s. and about artificial overpayed Olympics...what should we think of Beijing 2008, then?

[heywoodu 16,460]

12 minutes ago, phelps said:

 

part 1: I don't agree at all...the competitions and the atmosphere around tracks and venues was million times better in Sochi than in Pyeongchang...

but that's just my opinion...

 

part 2: that's absolutely false...and it's not just my opinion...no one wants the Games anymore because they're too expensive in general (and it's an issue from well before Sochi) and for many other reasons that don't have anything to do with Russia and the Sochi Olympics, reasons that go well beyond the sports politics only...

 

p.s. and about artificial overpayed Olympics...what should we think of Beijing 2008, then?

That it'll be nothing compared to Beijing 2022 

[De_Gambassi 1,369]

Regarding Sochi (Why are we talking about that here btw ) and its pricetag, the $50b meme should really be revisted one day, possibly cut in half:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/did-the-winter-olympics-in-sochi-really-cost-50-billion-a-closer-look-at-that-figure/2014/02/10/a29e37b4-9260-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html?utm_term=.76063b896db5

 

But, it won't serve the anti-russian Sochi 2014 narrative. So...

 

And yes, other cities didn't wait for Sochi to happen to drop their bids left and right.

Edited February 27, 2018 by De_Gambassi

[intoronto 6,891]

1 hour ago, phelps said:

 

part 1: I don't agree at all...the competitions and the atmosphere around tracks and venues was million times better in Sochi than in Pyeongchang...

but that's just my opinion...

 

part 2: that's absolutely false...and it's not just my opinion...no one wants the Games anymore because they're too expensive in general (and it's an issue from well before Sochi) and for many other reasons that don't have anything to do with Russia and the Sochi Olympics, reasons that go well beyond the sports politics only...

 

p.s. and about artificial overpayed Olympics...what should we think of Beijing 2008, then?

My comment had nothing to do with atmosphere.

Look at 2022 bid process. Many cities withdrew because of Sochi's cost. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2014/10/28/stockholm-regrets-withdrawal-of-2022-games-bid/18057133/

[ahjfcshfghb 296]

As a spectator, I’ll do it from that angle:

 

Favorite moments:

Gold medal hockey game/finding a German fan club at the game

15k cross country 

Any short track event

Biathlon women’s relay 

Actually being able to talk to people about biathlon in real life 

Starting pin trading

Getting on the Today Show audience/meeting the US team on it 

Being interviewed by 7 Russian TV channels

The events at Czech House

Meeting the Eurosport biathlon commentators

Getting Koshechkin’s autograph 

Randomly meeting like 5 exotic athletes

Being able to use discounts I’m not really eligible for  

 

Disappointments:

Opening ceremony- so freezing

Buses- not enough in times of high demand, often waited an hour

That I barely caught Ledecka’s medal ceremony (I ran in as the anthem was playing)

The lack of atmosphere at some events 

Struggling to understand volunteers 

That I couldn’t resell tickets because I’m not Korean

 

[heywoodu 16,460]

3 minutes ago, ahjfcshfghb said:

 

Getting on the Today Show audience/meeting the US team on it 

Being interviewed by 7 Russian TV channels

Randomly meeting like 5 exotic athletes

Being able to use discounts I’m not really eligible for  

 

 

I'm waiting to hear more about this...  

 

And talking about biathlon with people in real life for the first time....I know, right?! That's such a relief! 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2018 by heywoodu

[Dimast 88]

В 27.02.2018 в 16:18, intoronto сказал:

My comment had nothing to do with atmosphere.

Look at 2022 bid process. Many cities withdrew because of Sochi's cost. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2014/10/28/stockholm-regrets-withdrawal-of-2022-games-bid/18057133/

 

OMG You are a typical anti-Russian propagandist. Russians always and everywhere are to blame. Give another link to the New York Times 

[intoronto 6,891]

9 hours ago, Dimast said:

 

OMG You are a typical anti-Russian propagandist. Russians always and everywhere are to blame. Give another link to the New York Times 

Last I checked I had no control over why these cities withdrew 

[orangeman 2,876]

On 2/27/2018 at 17:46, intoronto said:

Sochi's artifical $51 billion dollar games were the worst games ever. They runied the Olympics and no one wants the games because of them.

 

That price tag includes building the whole city, though.  They were also building resorts, an F1 track and preparing for the arrival of a KHL team.  This is why adding up the costs of the Olympics is always so difficult, because a lot of these projects sometimes would have been done anyway (i.e. new highways or train lines, like the KTX to the east coast in Korea).  I do agree that people didn't want to host the Olympics after seeing these price tags, but it's really short sighted.  It's like saying, "I'm never buying a house because my sister bought one for a million dollars and I don't have a million dollars!"  Maybe you should buy a house, maybe you shouldn't.  But you don't have to buy a million dollar house to be a home owner.  

[orangeman 2,876]

My short review:

I was excited for these WOG because I lived in Korea for a long time and witnessed the lead up to it first-hand.  It really did seem like Korea and Koreans were really into it.  I did get to go to these Games, my first one ever, but just the last weekend.  Before that, just watching on my computer, I have to say it didn't feel as exciting as past ones.  Even on screen there seemed to be a total lack of atmosphere.  As others have said, the scheduling didn't help either.  Nothing for hours and then 10 things at once.  It just didn't make sense to me, either.  Why was the women's gold medal hockey game at 1pm in the afternoon?  Why was the final night of short track on Thursday instead of Friday (or Saturday), especially since that's the biggest sport in Korea.  Putting qualification and finals in many snowboard and freestyle events ended with having disappointing finals.  And I was getting really sick of seeing snowboarders, and to a lesser extent skiers, falling down and getting injured every single run during the cross races.  It's the Olympics, not Death Race 2000.  

 

One example of how generic these Games were compared to others: on the slopestyle course in Sochi they put a big nesting doll for character.  It was a great touch.  I was hoping Korea would do something similar, maybe put one of the gates from Seoul in there.  But there was nothing.  No personality at all.  

 

Visiting was awesome, of course.  I said in the 'experiences' thread that it did seem a bit bland and quiet, though.  The volunteers were amazing!  Transportation was efficient and there were no problems at all.  I don't know if my past in Korea helped me, but I think it was pretty straight forward for everyone.  I only went to the Gangneung "coastal" cluster, though.  

 

As a Canadian, it was overall good.  I mean, we won the most medals ever for our country and most non-home golds.  But it was also strange because we did so poorly in hockey and curling (well, our women's hockey team did fine, it's hard to get closer than the 6th round of a shootout).  It's also weird because many of our favourites under-performed, while other athletes stepped up to glory.  I looked at infostrada and while they got our total medal count pretty close (though totally underestimating the golds), many of the names were different than reality.