Sochi Olympics

[troutman]

http://www.sochi2014.com/en

Didn't find a thread for this. Here we go:

The Jamaicans have qualified for Sochi in bobsled!

#coolrunnings2

[Fire]

More like #coolrunnings5

Any chance Canada can lead the Olympics in gold again?

[Mango]

Just a few thoughts not focusing on hockey:

One athlete who has quietly had a fantastic last month or so is Alex Harvey. Four World Cup podium finishes in the last 30 days. It's perfect momentum and I think he'll surprise a lot of people.

I can't wait to see Kaillie Humphries. What a gem. She's one of Canada's best athletes, period.

Although I'm not a huge fan of Jennifer Jones, it would take some sort of a miracle for another country to take the gold away from her team. On the men's side of curling, Brad Jacobs and his boys are young, but they are coming off a massive 2013 season. They got a little flustered at the final of the Worlds and ended up getting silver, but the way they played at the Road to the Roar and Roar of the Rings was something for the ages.

[craigwd]

If he didn't race in the Skiathlon on Sunday, Alex Harvey would be my pick for flagbearer. Not saying he couldn't do both but my assumption is the COC goes with Charles Hamelin.

[GirlySports]

Wickenheiser's never carried the flag. Seeing that it's her last games. I think it should be her.

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by Mango

Although I'm not a huge fan of Jennifer Jones, it would take some sort of a miracle for another country to take the gold away from her team. On the men's side of curling, Brad Jacobs and his boys are young, but they are coming off a massive 2013 season. They got a little flustered at the final of the Worlds and ended up getting silver, but the way they played at the Road to the Roar and Roar of the Rings was something for the ages.

I actually do like Jones, but it wouldn't be at all surprising if they don't get gold. Great Britain (Muirhead) and Sweden (Sigfridsson) both have really good chances. For what it's worth Bodog has Jones favorite at 5/4 while Sweden is 7/4 and Britain is 3/1.

I agree with you on Harvey's chances to surprise. I also think we could pull out a luge medal for the first time in ages (ever?). Alex Gough in the women's singles has medalled three times this season and there is a new "team relay" event where our women have been strong. Most of our medals should come from the usual sports: freestyle skiing, snowboarding, short track, bobsled, hockey and curling. Might also get some in figure skating, skeleton, long track and alpine skiing but those are less certain.

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Arsenal14

I actually do like Jones, but it wouldn't be at all surprising if they don't get gold. Great Britain (Muirhead) and Sweden (Sigfridsson) both have really good chances. For what it's worth Bodog has Jones favorite at 5/4 while Sweden is 7/4 and Britain is 3/1.

Interesting. I hadn't looked into that.

I totally agree. Muirhead is currently one of the best curlers in the world and she was excellent in Vancouver. I can only image what the last four years of development have done for her.

At the same time, I wonder if the lack of parity in her part of the world might impact her play. The benefit of being a Canadian curler is the fact you can play in a bonspiel basically every single weekend and you're facing the country's best. If you win something like the Scotties or the Roar of the Rings, you really are the best of the best.

I could totally be wrong though, because Sweden is always strong at the Olympics. There are wild cards too on the women's side: China trains in Canada with a Canadian coach, Germany is good.

My dislike of Jones basically comes from the dumping of Cathy Overton-Clapham and how it all played out. It's just a personal thing on my end, but I'll certainly be the first to say she's a damn good curler and skip. The Homan foursome are good, but for some reason, I feel more comfortable with Jones in Sochi. Given her experience, I don't think she'll be overwhelmed and she'll challenge for the top of the podium.

[Arsenal14]

Most of the top curlers these days spend most of the year touring in Canada so that's less of a factor than it once was. You're right about the strength of the Jones team - they have so much experience that they usually find a way to win the big games. Homan's team probably is stronger but if they were the Canadian rep I'd probably put them behind Muirhead right now.

I'd personally rank the curling as:
Mens: Canada, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain, everyone else
Womens: Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, China, everyone else

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by troutman

Didn't find a thread for this. Here we go:

The Jamaicans have qualified for Sochi in bobsled!

#coolrunnings2

I believe the Australians have as well.

[Montana Moe]

I'd like to be the first (I think) to apologize for the fact that Team USA can't even think of their own merchandising gimmicks, and stole the Team Canada mittens.

The Canada ones were cool, and unique in 2010. Now, the USA ones seem like a cheap knockoff marketing ploy.

Spoiler!

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by fotze

AM I missing something? Is it called Skiathalon or is this a Russian thing to remove Bi from an event?

Apparently it's a cross country skiing event that combines freestyle and classical techniques. I don't remember that from Vancouver 2010.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by Arsenal14

Apparently it's a cross country skiing event that combines freestyle and classical techniques. I don't remember that from Vancouver 2010.

It's a new event. Usually for Cross Country they alternate classical and freestyle (skate) techniques for the big distances in each games. In Sochi most events will be freestyle except for the Skiathlon which has a leg of both with an equipment change in between.

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Wickenheiser's never carried the flag. Seeing that it's her last games. I think it should be her.

Wick gave the athlete's Oath in Vancouver so I assume that puts her out of the running. Also since Danielle Goyette was the flag bearer in Turin I doubt it would be given to another ice hockey player.

Still, would be a great choice.

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I believe the Australians have as well.

Australia has been competing in Bobsleigh for as long as I can remember. The men's team lives and trains here in Calgary. Currently headed by Heath Spence, good guy.

In Vancouver Chris Spring was the main pilot, he's now Canada's top driver.

Astrid Radjenovic is the women's pilot, she doesn't train here but she's one of the best pilots I've seen. Unfortunately the Aussie teams suffer from lack of funding from their federation which leads to lower standard equipment.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by craigwd

Australia has been competing in Bobsleigh for as long as I can remember. The men's team lives and trains here in Calgary. Currently headed by Heath Spence, good guy.

In Vancouver Chris Spring was the main pilot, he's now Canada's top driver.

Astrid Radjenovic is the women's pilot, she doesn't train here but she's one of the best pilots I've seen. Unfortunately the Aussie teams suffer from lack of funding from their federation which leads to lower standard equipment.

Yeah I know one of the fella's as well really happy for him

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Fire

Any chance Canada can lead the Olympics in gold again?

Yep.

There are probably 20 or so shots at gold for Canada (a mix of either being the favorite or being a legitimate contender).

Bobsleigh (1): Humphries is the favorite.
Curling (2): Jacobs and Jones are legit contenders
Figure skating(3): Canada is poised for at least the team and men's gold. Virtue/Moir have a shot at gold as well.
Freestyle Skiing (7): Men's moguls favorites (whether Bilodeau or Kingsbury), women's moguls contenders (should be at least two Dufour-Lapointe's on the podium and Justine has stolen a couple from Kearney recently), men and women's halfpipe contenders, women's slopestyle favorites, women's ski cross favorites, men's ski cross contenders
Hockey (2): screw the haters
Short Track (1): Could win no gold medals, could win eight. We all know how this sport works. Men's relay favorites and a Canadian should be in the finals of most events.
Snowboarding (3): women's SBX favorites, men's and women's slopestyle favorites

So 19 events (not including guessing how short track will work out) that talk of winning gold isn't just media hype.

That leaves out some places where Canadians have been doing well but not consistent enough for me to consider them gold medal contenders even though they are podium contenders or athletes who have fallen off a bit in the last year but are still capable of putting in a good performance (Harvey, Gough, Guay, Nesbitt and pretty much the whole long-track team etc).


All in all it should be Canada's best overall medal performance at least, but talking about breaking the gold medal record is certainly not a pipe dream (though people do need to remember just how good 14 was and that it's a record for a reason so don't get all depressed if it isn't equaled or surpassed).

[Arsenal14]

I'd be a little more optimistic about the short track team - Charles Hamelin has a very real chance at 5 golds, but as you say, with the nature of the sport he's not likely to get them all.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Whitefish is on pins and needles waiting to hear if 15 year old Maggie Voisin is going to be the youngest US Olympian. She's a free skier

[GirlySports]

[19Yzerman19]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

Freestyle Skiing (7): Men's moguls favorites (whether Bilodeau or Kingsbury), women's moguls contenders (should be at least two Dufour-Lapointe's on the podium and Justine has stolen a couple from Kearney recently), men and women's halfpipe contenders, women's slopestyle favorites, women's ski cross favorites, men's ski cross contenders

Make that 8 - ABM is a legitimate contender for a medal in ski slopestyle. He's the only guy we're sending but he also might be the most likely guy to prevent an American podium sweep. Nick Goepper is the easy favourite but as to who the runner up is, opinion is somewhat split between ABM and Bobby Brown. The course will play into it. I actually think he has a better shot than anyone on our pipe team - Justin Dorey has a legitimate shot at gold, but hasn't been consistent in a while putting a run down. So it's sort of a "might finish first or tenth" situation there.

Not re: Canada, incidentally, but one of the bigger controversies the past couple of days for skiing has been the USA's decision to leave Tom Wallisch off of their Men's slopestyle team. The guy is basically the face of slopestyle skiing, and arguably the single best park skier on the planet. However, he didn't have the results some of the other guys did in competitions this season, leading to some speculation he might be nursing an injury (which would explain the selection). That said, USA has for the past two years or so basically used Wallisch as the face of their freestyle team, with numerous profiles and interviews, not to mention being the guy to unveil their olympic uniform.

A lot of people are pretty baffled and upset about this; it's sort of like if Toews slumped to start the NHL season and Canada left him off the hockey squad.

[troutman]

Goal for Canadian alpine skiers in Sochi is simple, end 20-year medal drought

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...ticle16425068/

He [Guay] punched the air with his fist after he crossed the finished line. He had beaten the world’s best, nailing his fourth career World Cup victory. “I wish Sochi [Olympics] was tomorrow,” he said, beaming.

On Jan. 12, Marie-Michèle Gagnon of Lac-Etchemic, Que., was all smiles, too. Competing in the super-combined event (super G and slalom), she won World Cup gold at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria, ending a 30-year medal drought for Canada’s women in World Cup combined events. “It was amazing. I was quite surprised,” she said.

At a Federation Internationale de Ski (FIS) race on Jan. 10, Erin Mielzynski proved her status as an under-the-radar skier may be short-lived.

Showing great speed, the 23-year-old from Guelph, Ont., won the slalom event.

Something good is happening to the alpine team, and it’s about time.

[Mango]

Originally Posted by craigwd

If he didn't race in the Skiathlon on Sunday, Alex Harvey would be my pick for flagbearer. Not saying he couldn't do both but my assumption is the COC goes with Charles Hamelin.

The announcement is going to be made tomorrow 8 am MT. Charles Hamelin is also my guess, but Kaillie Humphries has crossed my mind too.