orangeman

In other news, Canada finishes 1st in mixed curling.  Will play either NOR or CHI in the semis.  I guess we should hope for CHI, but I think CAN is on a roll now.  

1 minute ago, Nate River said:

Don’t remind me about the judging in 2014, I’ve watched Sage’s run more than a dozen time and I still don’t understand what the judges saw in it. At least this time I think you can make a solid argument they got it right (I need to rewatch the runs, but I doubt I’ll come to the conclusion that Red’s win was unreasonable).

I personally agree that the three on the podium deserve to be there.  I think an argument could be made about the order, but honestly my picture wasn't the best and I don't know the technicalities of the sport inside out.  Congrats to Red for gold, sincerely.  

1 minute ago, Nate River said:

Very unhappy about both the judging and the runs.

 

This is an event a Canadian should have won. Very disapointing.

We can say if Touts would have landed his last run it could have been a sweep, but the judges in this event seem to always want a certain country on top.  I'm not sure if any Canadian could have made up for that.  I'm not as upset as after this final 4 years ago when the American didn't deserve to be anywhere near the podium.  This time, it was a lot closer and debatable.  

3 minutes ago, Nate River said:

At least this won’t be as controvertial as Kostenburg’s win, but still seems a bit generous.

 

That being said Red is a good rider, he won’t be another one hit wonder.

I don't want to come off as a sore loser, but yeah "generous" might be a good word.  

2 minutes ago, Nate River said:

I think it’s a pretty disappointing result for Canada. Parot in particular underperformed, and neither Toutant nor Nicholson could get a run together.

I mean, if the stars aligned Canada could have potentially swept this event.  But in this type of sport and with judges, it's a bit of a crapshoot.  Two medals is good, although would have obviously preferred gold.  Parrot put down probably the best run in the final position in 2014 and finished 5th, so I'm just glad the judges were a bit more, uh, real, this time around.  

Silver and Bronze!!! 

Don't want to sound like a sore loser, but yet again an American given gold in this event.  My feed was a bit blurry, but the announcers sounded really surprised that he ended up on top.  Not as bad as 2014 when a bland nothing run took gold.

Happy about silver and bronze!  

I predicted this result for the Canadians, but with Kleveland on top.  Again a relatively unknown American taking home gold instead.  Congrats to him.  

Bloemen in the 5000m also has a shot.  I mean, he is the WR holder in the event.  

7 hours ago, Canada4thewin said:

I have to agree with the coverage at CBC I am not Impressed so far.

 

Regarding the short track final, how many skaters were there, it seems a lot for the final. Maybe it is just me but I thought they were less for the final.

 

Now there are no others competition until tonight.  This is a big gap with the hours.  Lol 

 

 

There were 9 in the final because of penalties and advancements.  Usually there is 6.  It was sort of ridiculous, but that's the name of the game.  I thought the guys would pull it off, and unofficially predicted a silver and bronze behind the Korean.  But like I said, short track is a crapshoot especially when there are so many in the final.  The important thing is they stayed on their feet (unlike Sochi).  

25 minutes ago, dcro said:

Ah, this is tiring. I've never heard someone proposing to drop track cycling.

 

After the British domination in 2012 they even increased the number of athletes that the big nations could enter in some events.

I was just kidding, of course.  

People say they should get rid of women's hockey because only Canada and the USA can win.  Well, statistically speaking, the Dutch have won a greater share of the total medals in speed skating in the last two Olympics than CAN and USA have in women's hockey combined.  So maybe we should eliminate speed skating since it is not so competitive?  

Glad to see we're keeping our national tradition of 4th place finishes alive and well.  

I kid, I kid.  

Not happy with the CBC coverage.  I was watching the short track feed live here with an American friend who spent the whole day complaining about NBC.  Then there's a random commercial every 2 minutes (the exact same one), interrupting the replays and results.  So we switch to the main (TV) feed, and they skip the women's relay semis to show long track races that were done 20 minutes prior.  They kept on building up the Canadians, who were actually racing at that exact moment.  Then we go to the short track final, then back to long track where we see the 2nd last race and are told that Blondin goes to 5th place.  Then we get a feature on Blondin and see her race where she goes into 3rd.  Then we see the final pairing with her already down to 5th.  Why?

Anyway, not a terrible Day 1 for Canada.  About par for course.  Was hopeful for the 1500m, but it's a bit of a crapshoot.  Snowboarders did well, going to the playoffs in mixed curling on a streak, other short track races are set, Edney in luge is doing well.  Good chances at medals tomorrow.  

I guess I should be happy that the Canadians at least stayed on their feet this time around.  Not too disappointed, they will have other opportunities, but they didn't do their best that final.  Glad our women moved on in the 500m and relay, though.  

9 racers in a final is crazy.  

33 minutes ago, phelps said:

 

I still go with X-Games winner, Markus Kleveland...

today he didn't do anything more than he needed, but to have an idea of what he could do, just look at his X-Games performance...

quali results from different heats shouldn't be compared (different conditions, different mindset and above all, different jury panel)...

I agree with you, but I think the Canadians will give him a run for his money.  Should be an excellent final.  

Ok, been traveling around the last week, trying to keep up with all the developments.  Finally settled into my place here now and watched a bit of snowboarding this morning.  Can't wait for short track in a couple of hours (luckily I'm just 2 hours behind KST here in Thailand).  GO CANADA GO!

1 hour ago, Topicmaster1010 said:

 Canada Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Team (225 athletes)  

 

 

 

Let me know if anything needs to be changed. Also I'm fairly new on this site and this is my first post so it's nice meeting all of you fellow Canadians.

Hi Topicmaster!  Welcome aboard!  Nice list, thanks for doing that.  

Canadian team:

Men:

Samuel Girard

Charles Hamelin

Charle Cournoyer 

François Hamelin

Pascal Dion

Women:

Kim Boutin

Jamie Macdonald

Kasandra Bradette

Marianne St-Gelais 

Valérie Maltais

I expect a lot from this team. Got to see them in Shanghai a couple of months ago, and it is very strong.  

Does anyone know where to find information on what will be on offer at the Gangneung cluster?  I know the Canadian House will be there, but I'm having difficulty finding any more information.  

We planned to arrive early to see what's going on, but I just realized the flame will (likely) be at Alpensia park since that's the main area where the ceremonies will be.  We're now considering hopping off the train one stop early to see what's going on there, but that will mean complicated shuttles over to Gangneung to get to the hockey game.  Not sure if it's worth the headache, but if you're going to the Olympics you should see the flame, right?  

The other option is to go back to the area on Saturday before our evening flight out, and then take the train to Incheon.  But then what do we do with our luggage?  Anyway, not sure if it's worth all this headache or if Gangneung will have enough to entertain us before and between events.  

Edit: I found this list of hospitality houses: https://medium.com/road-to-pyeongchang/olympic-hospitality-house-list-pyeongchang-ultimate-guide-to-pyeongchang-2018-cee00632a2c3

in addition to Canada, the Gangneung cluster will host Czech, Japan and...wait for it...the Holland Heineken House!  

So, yeah, I think my friend and I will find enough Asahi, Urquell and Heineken to keep us busy between events.  

Russia is also on that list, but I'm not sure now.  

6 hours ago, intoronto said:

will have two flagbearers, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. 

Great choice for Canada!

5 hours ago, ahjfcshfghb said:

Maybe you could get the Pyeongchang rail pass? About 200 CAD for unlimited travel 7 days. Though time is still a huge factor unfortunately.

Well, as I said I decided to just drop by for a few days instead.  I'll be sitting on a beach in Thailand the rest of the time.  Much cheaper...and warmer!

4 hours ago, CCB said:

I will go to Pyeongchang too! Quite easy to buy some tickets, because it seems no one else goes to Korea. A lot of speedskating, but also shorttrack, curling, figure skating, alpine skiing, snowboard and ... thank God ... BIATHLON!! Just bought two tickets for the 10KM sprint men. 

Yeah, lots of tickets for everything.  Unfortunately, only the very expensive tickets left for short track ($350).  I'm surprised short track is available at all still, considering how popular it is in Korea.  I expect that to sell out soon.  Biathlon and other ski events are plentiful and cheap.  

21 hours ago, Sindo said:

So as of now we will have @ahjfcshfghb and @orangeman in PyeongChang from Totallympics.

 

Hopefully you will be able to post here some pictures and comments during the Olympics!

I will!  I'm actually only going to be in Korea for 3 days, and at the Olympics for 1 because I will stay in Seoul.  It'll be a long day - 8am train out to Gangneung, returning after midnight.  Really, really excited!  

Everyone is saying that the ticket sales are low because of North Korea, but I would have stayed much longer and bought many more tickets if it was organized better.  There was no way to really stay near the events.  Luckily I used to live in Seoul and know my way around, but I didn't want to take the train every day there and back (expensive and tiresome).  All my friends in Seoul want to go see things, and maybe they'd pay the Olympic ticket prices.  But then add $50 for a return train trip, 2 hours each way, and very few of them are going to bother going.  The North is a nice scapegoat, but I think the organizers have to take some responsibility.  

But still very excited!  

18 hours ago, ahjfcshfghb said:

Which events will you be at?@intoronto @orangeman

I'm going to the women's gold medal hockey game and then the men's curling semifinals, both on 02/22.  If Canada's men make it to the hockey semis the next day I will try to get tickets for that as well.  

Yay!  Was able to get to Korea for the Olympics after all!  Going to be there at the end, got tickets for the women's gold medal hockey game, which should be even more fun because I'm going with an American.  Also got tickets to the men's curling semis the same day.  If Canada's men get to the hockey semis the next day I'll try to get tickets for that, too.  Leaving before the gold medal game, though (stupid work!).  Tried to get short track tickets, but only the super expensive ones are left ($400).  I did finally get to see some short track here in China a couple of months ago, so that'll have to hold me.  

So stoked!  Always wanted to go to the Olympics!