Vancouver Olympics Discussion
- Thread starter tomalak301
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Just turned on the TV. Congrats Team Canada. 
Just saw her get her medal.
I enjoyed Rouchette's performance. That poor little Japanese girl looks stressed. I hope she isn't treated like shit for winning a silver medal.
Rouchette was good but at the risk of sounding unpatriotic or insensitive, wasn't the Amercian's (she who skated last) performance tighter and superior?
It made me wonder with the delay before the final scores. What exactly was being debated there?
Bottom line: medals should have nothing to do with people who lose their mothers before they perform. If so, the olympics will soon have as much weight as the Academy Awards.
She'll be treated like a hero. Japan got one solitary medal in Torino (Shizuka Arakawa won a surprise gold for women's, she wasn't favorited for) so they are doing much better this time.
It made me wonder with the delay before the final scores. What exactly was being debated there?
Bottom line: medals should have nothing to do with people who lose their mothers before they perform. If so, the olympics will soon have as much weight as the Academy Awards.
She'll be treated like a hero. Japan got one solitary medal in Torino (Shizuka Arakawa won a surprise gold for women's, she wasn't favorited for) so they are doing much better this time.
I think the reason the American skater didn't make the podium was because she had to make her way up from sixth place, while Rouchette was already in third.
At least, that's what the optimist in me would like to say. But I have no doubt that politics are always at play in the Olympics, even in the judging, and it's quite possible that they decided a win for Rouchette would play better in the media, while the American is only 16 and has a good chance at her medal four years from now.
Either way, they both put in medal-worthy performances, and fourth place is nothing to be ashamed of. And it didn't look like she was.
At least, that's what the optimist in me would like to say. But I have no doubt that politics are always at play in the Olympics, even in the judging, and it's quite possible that they decided a win for Rouchette would play better in the media, while the American is only 16 and has a good chance at her medal four years from now.
Either way, they both put in medal-worthy performances, and fourth place is nothing to be ashamed of. And it didn't look like she was.
Back in 1988, French ice skaters Isabelle and Paul Duschenay did a short program tango and long program African "Savage Rite" that absolutely electrified the audience. Both programs were extremely sexy and very much in a new style of ice dancing that was very controversial at the time. Russian ice dancer Marina Klimova later bitched about brother/sister teams being allowed to do such sexy programs, and it just wasn't right simply because they were brother and sister... well, siblings Paul and Isabelle were entirely professional about their approach and execution of their programs and managed to convey exactly what they wanted to the audience. They proved that brother/sister teams could do as well as married or unrelated teams if they approached their programs with the right mindframe.Perhaps my favourite Olympic story ever:
That's Your Sister? Four of the ice-dancing pairs competing in Vancouver are siblings—and this year, there's a compulsory tango routine. How they get around the awkwardness.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703315004575073322907511564.html
Sometimes it actually might have to do with politics. In my above example of Paul and Isabelle, they are actually from Canada but skated for France (dual citizenship) because they weren't getting anywhere in Canada. At that time our best ice dancing team was Tracy Wilson & Rob McCall - unmarried and unrelated - in fact, Rob McCall was gay. Yet they managed to convey romance and sexiness when the program called for it, with no problem.
Would Paul and Isabelle have done better with other partners? My own opinion is that I doubt it. One factor that siblings have that others don't is a lifelong bond of trust. It takes tremendous trust in the other person for successful pairs skating or ice dancing.
*sigh* I just found some of Paul & Isabelle's programs on YouTube and have been reliving my favorites - their "Missing" program still sends chills down my spine...
Ew.
Yeah, something about drinking champagne and beer while they still had their team uniforms on. Who the hell would complain about that in a way that suggests they should lose their medals? The only ones I could think would be the US team, but I don't think they'd be that low. Strange world.
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