dcro

Lea Jugovac withdrew from slopestyle this morning. Details are starting to come out. Apparently she got removed from the Opening Ceremony parade moments before entering the stadium as she got a call about testing - positive. She spent then hours in Beijing waiting for another test which was - negative. They brought her back to Zhangjikaou around 3am. At least slopestyle is her less preferred event, but this still is years of qualification going down the drain... And I guess this is the kind of luck which always remembers to give us multiple first reserves during qualifications...

Smells like the Chinese NOC pulled the plug on women's hockey suddenly because their level started nosediving after Vancouver.

Well, considering she started competing for Hungary literally just two months ago (!!), it's safe to call her an opportunist.

Much more enjoyable second run. Cool to see Burri advancing as the only one who tackled the side jump.

Wow, after curling another pretty low level competiton to start day 1...

It would be interesting to know what is the Dutch judge doing on the panel since usually only judges from qualified nations (in the specific event) get invited.

Lea Jugovac tested positive yesterday. And then later negative. Eventually she was allowed to start today, but withdrew due to exhaustion. Apparently she was back in her room around 3am (after being forced out far away from the village after the positive). Wonderful organization...

It's hard to grow a lead in mixed doubles. Even harder to lose it apparently.

So excited for our debut tomorrow. Seems like a fair enough draw for Aščić, even though of course she is the 4th place favorite if everything goes according to form on paper.

Interestingly, looks like FIS invited the Hungarian halfpipe athlete to take part in the slopestyle (as a replacement for Yoshika). Must have been last minute.

Curling is not among the more predictable sports, but sometimes in these sports there are teams who come to championships and just look invincible from the start. I have seen it time and again in show jumping. Italy definitely has an X factor here (jinxing aside).

As they should. I bet biathletes are sick and tired of having to race two straight Olympics in unheard of conditions because some "fans" are too lazy to wake up at 7 am or something.

My highlight of the Olympics so far were Hubbell/Donohue skating to Janet Jackson, followed by Guignard/Fabri skating to Michael Jackson. Who would have thought? I was even disappointed going into the event as Chock/Bates were lacking from the start list and I love their rhythm dance this season.

Who was Winnie? Some gangster from the 1950s?

Well, it's mini by choice. They qualified 7 athletes on paper.

Our main official (chief of mission) tested positive. Crap.

He is upset because IBSF would not hand him a free quota. End of story. He lucked out in 2018 because IBSF still had continental spots, unlike any other Winter federation, but now they removed them because there was not enough competiton. He qualified in 2018 by virtue of being literally the only African slider ranked... So, yeah...

I am guessing it's about CT levels.

No Moldova?

Normal hill competition, at the very least, will turn into an open season.

Leona Popović officially out of giant slalom. Still a chance she makes it for slalom but it would have to be on short notice after arriving to Beijing...

Some NOCs are more equal than others when it comes to "negotiations".

That was excellent from Georgians. They will looking to overtake anyone who flops.

Whaaaat? Is Footloose not how the 1980s looked?

True, but I expected them to look entirely the other way so even this was refreshing.