phelps

really... surely, in downhill not coming back home with a medal (actually, the Gold medal) would be a huge fail...but also in super-G the expectations were high... with Stuhec out of contention, Goggia is right now the most inconsistent but by far the quickest skier in the world...only Vonn at her best (but only on certain kind of track and course design, with no heavy, difficult turns to the right, since her left knee is no longer the one it used to be) can keep up with her...IF she doesn't make very big mistakes... unfortunately, it happens once every too few times (and never at big events like Worlds and Olympics)...I mean, Goggia not making big mistakes... she would/should have easily won this... and of course, she should (now...she MUST) win the downhill by literally seconds, not fractions... but once again, I'm never optimistic with her... meanwhile, Schnarf and Brignone did a very good race...I don't think the they could have done better than this (especially Brignone...on such a track she's not big, heavy enough to manage the very many flat sections)...pity for Johanna, who was already 4th in Vancouver 8 years ago (and missed the Sochi Games because of injuries)...

he just gave it all earlier last night against Italy... so, after winning 2 games as underdogs, finally we lost the only match we should have won (on paper)... but who cares? in curling, our Games have already been better then our most optimistic expectations...

[hide] Women's Tournament Knockout Round February 17th - February 22nd, 2018 Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Bronze Medal Match and Gold Medal Match Quarterfinals Date & Time (GMT +9) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 February 17th 2018, h. 12:10 (16:40) Olympic Athletes from Russia 1 Switzerland February 17th 2018, h. 16:40 (12:10) Finland 2 Sweden [/hide]

after a very busy Olympic day, now it's time for some Europa League football (soccer)... tomorrow, my Olympic highlights would be Alpine and Cross Country Skiing and Snowboard in the morning, Speedskating and Curling + Hockey (all of them delayed) in the afternoon... of course I'll try to watch also the other medal events here and there throughout the day (at least in summary, if just I can't do it in full because of the lack of time)...

he was talking about Bloemen...Ghiotto does train in Italy (with Tumulero, Giovannini and the rest of our team...Marrit Leenstra included )... and of course nobody expected him to be a medal contender after realizing that our team basically is totally out of shape (except for Tumulero...and Leenstra)... but before the Games, yes, many people in Italy thought he could be right on Bergsma and Bloemen's shoulders (since he skated 12.53 on the slow track in Stavanger in december, a 12.43/12.45 -at least- was reasonably within his capability)... unfortunately, his Games have been an epic fail (but he's young and relatively new to the sport, so he can still improve a lot in the next seasons), but Tumulero finally did make up for the rest of the team (waiting for Lollobrigida's Mass Start race, of course)...

not exactly the day I expected and above all not the day I'd have liked... Alpine Skiing: the definition "disappointing" doesn't give the idea well enough... among the women, Brignone lost the silver rather than won the bronze medal...and once again Moelgg and Bassino proved to be big time losers... among the boys, Paris' 4th place (and Fill's 6th) are well in order with the season's goings, but still it's a very, very bitter outcome...and it's also a wasted chance, imho... moreover, the race in general was really boring and the course is just not good for an Olympic event (shame on the organizers and on the track designer for that)... Biathlon: the men were just a disaster (expected, by the way)... the girls, instead, were once again really disapponiting...they just can't stand the pressure of the Games and can't match the expectations... the men's race, at least, was quite exciting till the end, the women's race was frankly almost unwatchable, of a very low level overall (the only good and somehow exciting thing it's been Oeberg's surprising success)... CC Skiing: beautiful race with an unexpected winner... I'd have really liked to see Diggins on the podium, but unfortunately it didn't happen... Luge: what a wasted chance for a medal by Italy...and once again it was D-Fisch the traitor of the Country...after Robatscher wonderful run (second only to Gough and the untouchable Geisenberger), he made so many and remarkable mistakes that cost our team at least the bronze, probably also the silver medal... overall, never in doubt the German success, theres been a good fight for the other top placings...and this was quite entertaining (even if the men's singles final run was something that will remain unmatched for a long time)... Snowboard: the worst upset of the day for Italy...shameful performance by our 3 outsiders, I don't even want to spend a word of Visintin's second unlucky and undeserved early exit in a row at the Games... after having seen how lucky and not in his best shape was the eventual back-to-back champion Pierre Vaultier, our regrets are as big as nopbody can imagine...Omar today was surely better than all the field of the starters, but thanks to Eguibar's senseless move he won't be able to enjoy a more than deserved success... overall, it was not a good and entertaining competition...the track has too few parabolic curves and to many dangerous straight jumps, it's not so technical and moreover there were too many falls and very few fights in the various heats (thanks to this track and also to the sh*tty format with 6 riders per run)... Speedskating: the only flash of light in the Italian day... personally I'm really sorry for Kramer (one of the greatest athletes in the world "pound for pound"), but at the same time I'm so happy for our small movement and especially for Nicola Tumulero, a young talent improving day after day, who absorbed really well the not-so-good performance over the 5000m and today made a small miracle (he improved his PB by about 8 secs) and gave us a really unexpected (and therefore particularly pleasant) medal... overall, I liked Hoon's crescendo and the Bloeman vs Bergsma battle on the edge of 29. secs lappings...imho, the most exciting event of the day... Curling: I never thought I'd have felt so happy for a curling match...but today it happened for the second day in a row...our guys are makin' us proud... we didn't expect them to be able to fight at the same level of powerhouses like CAN, SUI and USA..but they did it...and they also won 2 of those 3 matches (vs SUI and USA)... very, very well done, guys! Hockey: the best from today's action came from the women's tournament, with the classic clash between CAN and USA... and I said it all... and if I can't enjoy these Games even watching Hockey, it really means that more than something's not working as it should be... I hope in 2 years time in Tokyo my feeling would be a lot different...otherwise it would mean that I'm really losing my interest in the Olympic sports and in the Olympic Games...

even if I care about "tradition", my opinion about E-Sports and the Olympics has nothing to do with that... it's just that those are NOT sports activities and therefore shouldn't even be counted nor recognized by the IOC. Point.

I never thought Italy could do this well in this tournament...a close dfeat against "the masters" and a win against our nighbours from witzerland...WOW!

shame and misfortune for the entire life to those who just "thought to think" about that...

so, the unpredictable finally happen... I'm so happy for SVK and SLO... SVK started very, very bad...but they've been able to reset quickly and take advantage of the usual Russian troubles...what a waste of talent they regularly are at the Olympics (maybe they will wake up after this -uselless, we have to say- loss, but their attitude is really horrendous...a shame of enormous proportions)... then, unfortunately, my internet connection left me alone for the rest of the afternoon (and for the next few days -knowing my provider, at least 10/15, I guess- I will have to cope with a 5Mbps ADSL), so I couldn't watch the other game of the day... and basically, I'm done for the rest of the Games...I'll only be able to follow those Games broadcasted on TV when no other medal event is on -because I don't want to lose the medal events of the other sports, of course)... no need to say that I'd really like to kill all the administration board members and all the technicians of my internet provider...I'm really looking for blood...

without any research, I can give you 2 male names...Yevgeny Grishin, URS (500m + 1500m at the 1956 and 1960 Winter Games -at that time there weren't the 1000m- and he didn't race in any 5000m+ race) and, of course, Eric Heiden, USA (he won all 5 the Olympic races he started, all at the Lake Palcid 1980 Winter Games)... among the women, I'd say also Lidya Skoblikova, URS (she competed between 1960 and 1964)...but I'm not sure if she won all the races she started (I know she won 6 Olympic Gold medals in total)...

goooaaaallll!!!!! SVK has come to life, finally... and on the contrary, the big Russian bear looks to have fallen asleep...

the olympic website has a larger picture of the shot-by-shot developing...

just gonna hate those USA vs SLO spoilers on Eurosport2 while watching RUS vs SVK... by the way, the Americans just got their first... and Slovakia shorten the distance!!!!

Italy 3-1 up against SUI after 5 ends in another low scoring affair... I didn't expect them doing so well...

naaa..Sweden and Finland (and hopefully also the Czechs) will give them more of a battle to beat them... and sooner or later I expect, as usual, something to go the wrong way in the Russian locker room, leaving them exposed to disappointing performances like it happened in Sochi (and many other times, especially at the Olympics)...

he's gonna be the real next Ovechkin... he just has a superior scoring instinct... p.s. however Konrad and the Slovak team are just looking worse than they actually are...I'm not liking their attitude at all...they look like Italy in some moments...

actually, in many races they are...

and that might generate some suspects, too (as if there weren't enough just yet)...

ouch! that hurts... first one is already in... I feel sorry for @hckosice

p.s. depressing empty hall for SVK vs RUS...

and here we go... Ice Hockey tournament is underway!!!

and Pittin once again wasted everything from the hill... also today he's the fastest by far on the skiing section...

he's gonna win the race...obvious as it looks... I'm surprised by Klapfer's flop in this last km...

if they (Frenzel and Klapfer, I mean) take Riiber with them, he's gonna give them a big disappointment...