Olympics a Bust?

[TheEarl]

I've only really watched the events with British contenders for medals (which narrows it down quite a bit!) that have been on when I'm not at work (which leaves Skeleton Bob and Curling!).

I thought the women's skeleton bob was fantastic. Big crowd raucously cheering on the athletes (especially the Italian who held onto the gold medal spot for longer than form should've dictated), immense skill from every athlete and a thoroughly enjoyable race. Topped off I think by Shelley Rudman's sheer obvious delight at her silver medal - bouncing around on the podium, hugging anyone within hugging distance and that scream of delight when she realised she'd got a medal.

We don't win enough Winter Olympics medals to get blase about them, so to see someone really enjoying themselves was very refreshing.

The Earl

 

[Colleen Thomas]

according to interviews I have seen with other members of that team, that scene is pretty close to the real event, close enough it might as well be considered accurate if not completely verbatim.

Eruzione himself denies it ever happened.

I also once wanted the pros, to offset the soviet bloc's tactics...now I long for the amatuers again sometimes...

there are still good examples out there though...pure joy moments, good people. The "pros" may overshadow them, but they don't erase them...

The original participants in the Olympics were pros on the soviet modle. They were all state sponsored, held no job and trained year round, supported by their particular city-state. You'll almost always see winners denoted as Agemenon of <insert sponsor state>. that's because there was so much civic prestige in having your guy win.

Our pros, however, don't spend any time training for the olympics, they train for their respective seasons. they don't spend large chunks of their time with the U.S. team, sharing the hardships and bonding, they show up just before the games begin for a shoot around or two. I think allowing pro players in the olympics was a bad idea from it's inception. I understand why it was done, not just because the Rusians had an advantage, people the world over wanted to see MJ play B-ball.

There's a lot of give and take involved, but I do think it was more exciting when the athletes trained four years with just the goal of winning a medal, as opposed to just showing up.