2010 Winter Olympics

[Formaldehyde]

NBC only carried 7 or so downhill runs. Grrr.

And that was nearly a great agony of defeat moment for the Canadian. I can't believe he saved it the first time.

 

[Adria]

For some reason the American and Canadian stations are counting medal totals, as opposed to the way I'm used to (# of gold medals first, then silvers, then bronzes)

Has it always been like that? or am I just crazy..

I thought it was always medal total, with ties broken by number of gold, then silver. I haven't been paying attention to how they're tallying them this year (too early in the games to watch medal counts).

 

[Formaldehyde]

In the US, it has usually been which way makes us look better.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

I've always seen it as total medals. The IOC lists it by gold on their site, but doesn't have an official policy on which one is 'correct', so either way works.

"I believe each country will highlight what suits it best. One country will say, 'Gold medals.' The other country will say, 'The total tally counts.' We take no position on that."
—IOC President Jacques Rogge Wiki link

 

[Camikaze]

It's always, always been by gold medals here. The Australian media laughed it's head off at the American media during Beijing when they were listing it by total medals won instead of gold medals won, which put them ahead of China. Listing by total medals won would be a new innovation here. If the American and Canadian media are doing that, well, the differing ranks of countries under the two tallies is a fair indication of why.

 

[azzaman333]

Although that sucks for Australia. AFAIK, Dale Begg-Smith (who got silver) was Australia's only real gold medal hope...

that he was born in Vancouver, though.

Someone might yet do a Bradbury.

 

[holy king]

For some reason the American and Canadian stations are counting medal totals, as opposed to the way I'm used to (# of gold medals first, then silvers, then bronzes)

Has it always been like that? or am I just crazy..

apparently thats how they count it in northern america.

 

[Grisu]

For the Beijing Olympics that ordered them by gold medals won. I'm not sure if that is the common practice but i prefer a count of total medals.

counting only the total is silly, IMHO. surely a country winning 5 gold is more successful than a country winning 6 bronze...

the most sensible approach would be some gold to silver to bronze conversion.

 

[willemvanoranje]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this already, but the organisation of the speed skating competition is really a disaster. The ice is of inferior quality, causing athletes to almost get stuck in it. On the very first day they already had to organise an extra break to do some maintanance, and yesterday both machines that are supposed to do that job broke down... meaning the athletes that did not have their races right in the beginning had to deal with a rink that was just abysmal. Not only is it a huge disadvantage, it is also a severly increased risk of injuries. Couldn't they have hired the guys from Calgary for this???

 

[warpus]

I thought it was always medal total, with ties broken by number of gold, then silver. I haven't been paying attention to how they're tallying them this year (too early in the games to watch medal counts).

Apparently the Canadian stations have started doing it the American way - ranking countries by number of medals won, as opposed to listing the country with the most gold as first. Even the official site does it the American way.

IMO a gold medal should be worth a lot more than a bronze, but meh

 

[warpus]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this already, but the organisation of the speed skating competition is really a disaster. The ice is of inferior quality, causing athletes to almost get stuck in it. On the very first day they already had to organise an extra break to do some maintanance, and yesterday both machines that are supposed to do that job broke down... meaning the athletes that did not have their races right in the beginning had to deal with a rink that was just abysmal. Not only is it a huge disadvantage, it is also a severly increased risk of injuries. Couldn't they have hired the guys from Calgary for this???

From what I've heard there are only 2 problems at play here:

1. the zamboni machines breaking down.. which is just embarassing - we should have the finest zamboni machine technology in the world!

2. skaters kicking out one of their skates at the finish line - sometimes leading to the ice being kicked, leading to a hole in the ice that needs to be patched up, etc.

 

[Darkness]

From what I've heard there are only 2 problems at play here:

1. the zamboni machines breaking down.. which is just embarassing - we should have the finest zamboni machine technology in the world!

2. skaters kicking out one of their skates at the finish line - sometimes leading to the ice being kicked, leading to a hole in the ice that needs to be patched up, etc.

Actually this is not the issue at all.

For starters, it's not just at the finish line that the problems occur. Also in the turns and at the start.

But the big issue is mismanagement.
Prime example, men 5000 meters:
Always, and then I do mean always (World Cup, National Championships, European Championships and World Championships), the machines are deployed after every 5th pair to clean and repair the ice. Which is needed because you can actually see the hard reflection of the ice diminishing, meaning that the surface is less even and softer (making it more difficult to skate).
But at the 5000 meters race they decided to deploy the machines after the seventh race. Stupid of course, and a real disadvantage for the people in the 6th, 7th, 13th and 14th race. And a big advantage for the people in the 8th and 9th race.
The result was unequal competition. Fabris, Bokko, Hedrick and the Russian (I forgot his name ) were really disadvantaged by this.

Why change something that works great in every other 5000 meters race ?

 

[warpus]

I was watching one of the IOC dudes (president?) getting really peeved at a recommendation by someone that one of the speedskating races be postponed due to the ice conditions (or something like that). In the end the race went on.

I don't know that much about the sport, but it's a shame if the event isn't fair to some competitors.

 

[Grisu]

I don't know anything about speed skating, but doesn't the 'normal' way to clean (every 5th) disadvantage the 5th runner as well? so it's just shifting who gets bad luck?

 

[Darkness]

I don't know anything about speed skating, but doesn't the 'normal' way to clean (every 5th) disadvantage the 5th runner as well? so it's just shifting who gets bad luck?

True, but the difference between 5 and 7 races is 4 additional disadvantaged skaters. Which becomes even more of an issue if the stadium is packed with people, resulting in warmer temperatures and more moisture in the air (which accellerates the deterioration of the ice).

The silly thing is, this same stadium was used last year for the World Championships, when they did clean/repair the ice after every 5th pair (as is normal with speedskating). And then the stadium was only half-full with spectators...

 

[willemvanoranje]

..and of course the disadvantage being far more severe for the 6th and 7th than the 5th could ever be.

 

[Grisu]

ah, thanks for the clarification

another question (not speed skating related): why is mogul skiing called that way? why the 'mogul'? is there some meaning to it that I don't grasp?

 

[Fetus4188]

Those bumps are called moguls.

 

[holy king]

comes from austrian german.

 

[kronic]

Germany is now the leader in the all-time Winter Olympics medal table (by all counts).