NearPup

I am assuming the FIS will fight very hard to keep it. From a substainability standpoint it also really doesn’t make that much sense to axe Nordic combined as long as ski jumping is in the games anyway. For the same reason that all three sliding sports are basically a package that will live and die together.

Now confirmed by the Iranian government.

Arrivederci

My not a sports fan mom, unprompted, brought up the lack of funding that Canadian athletes are receiving. So it’s definitively breaking through.

It is being reported that the Israeli government believes that they have killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Trump is :P

Feels like this calls into question the sanctity of the FIFA Peace Prize

And seemingly a pretty well deserved yellow card as well from looking at the replay. Hopefully Drury's injury isn't too bad.

Mikaël is now talking freely about the extend of his injury this Fall (in French): https://ici.radio-canada.ca/sports/2232726/ski-acrobatique-kingsbury-blessure-projets So when he missed the second Val St. Côme world cup it wasn't load management, he genuinely could not compete. He's officially not doing another world cup this season, he's undecided about whether or not he'll do the Canadian championships. He sounds like he's done (what difference does it make if I've won 100 or 104 world cups?) but he's refusing to officially rule out coming back to competition (he's only fully ruling out another Olympics).

Not sure if I'm relieved he's retiring and he won't play against Oskar again, or disappointment that we won't see the fireworks from a close game between those two teams again. (I know theoretically team Jacobs could qualify for worlds, but I kinda suspect the Olympic hangover will be too much for them to win the Brier, especially with Brad Gushue playing at home for the very last time)

Quite good commentary about the controversy around the locker room behavior from Julie Foudy and Abby Wambach:

As long as they start playing Handball on their ice or snow

Maybe half of Americans, but pretty clearly zero members of the men’s team given how the past couple days have gone :/ (and none of them seemed to have any problems making their win very political and an occasion to express pretty blatant sexism)

It was also nice to have actual crowds again. I think the Beijing organizers did the best they could given the COVID regulations that still existed in China at the time, but it sure did dampen the atmosphere *a lot*.

I was in premium economy as well, the extra five inches of leg room definitively helped me stay sane. For BA I was in business class and I just wasn't impressed at all, despite the cabin itself being really good (it was a 787-900 so their newer business class product). The service was just... not good enough for international business class - they actually made me appreciate Air Canada xD . With Condor I could forgive the service not being that good because of how little (relatively) I paid, and the seat was comfortable enough.