2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

[Tony208]

February 4 - 20

[Tony208]

My favorite events are figure skating, snowboarding and alpine skiing.

[R3P0]

Any event where judges cant screw them up

Hockey, Luge, Ski Jump, Bobsled, Track etc

[unberechenbar]

Kind of sad seeing people mess up their jump and others reacting by high-fiving each other.

[ChadFL]

Am I the only one getting a kick out of this? The American born and raised skater who wasn't good enough to make team USA literally changed her name to sound ethnically Chinese, renounced her U.S. citizenship, and moved to China to join their team. Now her performance is such a disaster she's widely disliked in her new country and apparently cannot speak the native language very well. I realize she's young, but she made some very adult decisions (namely renouncing U.S. citizenship), which I'm guessing she will regret real fast.

If you aren't good enough to make the national team for your country, practice harder, get better, and try next time.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/06/sport...hnk/index.html

US-born figure skater Zhu Yi under attack after fall on Olympic debut for China

Making her Olympic debut for Team China, California-born figure skater Zhu Yi was eager to prove herself to the Chinese public.

Instead, the 19-year-old is facing a firestorm on Chinese social media after she fell flat on the ice and finished last in the women's short program team event Sunday.

On Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, the hashtag "Zhu Yi has fallen" gained 200 million views in just a few hours. Many questioned why Zhu, an American-born skater, was picked to represent China at the expense of an athlete born in the country.

"This is such a disgrace," said a comment with 11,000 upvotes.
By Sunday evening, the hashtag appeared to have been censored. It is unclear why.

Zhu was the first to compete on the second day of the figure skating team event, gliding into the ice rink to loud cheers from the mostly Chinese crowd at Beijing's Capital Indoor Stadium.

But she tumbled and crashed into the wall after a failed jump in the opening combination, and missed another jump later in the program, finishing with the lowest score of the event.

China consequently fell from third place to the fifth in the standings -- just enough to progress to the next round of competition.

[DVD Phreak]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Am I the only one getting a kick out of this? The American born and raised skater who wasn't good enough to make team USA literally changed her name to sound ethnically Chinese, renounced her U.S. citizenship, and moved to China to join their team. Now her performance is such a disaster she's widely disliked in her new country and apparently cannot speak the native language very well. I realize she's young, but she made some very adult decisions (namely renouncing U.S. citizenship), which I'm guessing she will regret real fast.

This goes two ways. Tons of Chinese athletes compete under other countries' flags too. In the Summer Olympics you see a lot of Chinese table tennis players compete for other countries -- because they couldn't get on the super-competitive Chinese teams. Becky Hammon was the same way; she couldn't get on the US women's basketball team because it was stacked with super-stars. Some people just want to live the Olympic dream, you know. It's either live your dream, or give up your dream so you would face less scorn from people like you. A no-brainer choice if you ask me, one that anyone like her would gladly do it again. Wouldn't you?

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by DVD Phreak

This goes two ways. Tons of Chinese athletes compete under other countries' flags too. In the Summer Olympics you see a lot of Chinese table tennis players compete for other countries -- because they couldn't get on the super-competitive Chinese teams. Becky Hammon was the same way; she couldn't get on the US women's basketball team because it was stacked with super-stars. Some people just want to live the Olympic dream, you know. It's either live your dream, or give up your dream so you would face less scorn from people like you. A no-brainer choice if you ask me, one that anyone like her would gladly do it again. Wouldn't you?

Someone like Becky Hammon and someone like Beverly Zhu aren't remotely comparable. Hammon gave up nothing to compete for a foreign country - all she did was add Russian citizenship to her U.S citizenship. Beverly Zhu gave up her entire life as she knew it - had to surrender her United States citizenship, literally change her name to sound more ethnically Chinese, move to China, etc. Hell, she doesn't even speak Chinese very well. And she did all of that to fall flat on her face on the biggest stage, almost universally disliked in her new homeland. She might be one fall away from "disappearing" after this Olympics is over.

[DVD Phreak]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Someone like Becky Hammon and someone like Beverly Zhu aren't remotely comparable. Hammon gave up nothing to compete for a foreign country - all she did was add Russian citizenship to her U.S citizenship. Beverly Zhu gave up her entire life as she knew it - had to surrender her United States citizenship, literally change her name to sound more ethnically Chinese, move to China, etc. Hell, she doesn't even speak Chinese very well. And she did all of that to fall flat on her face on the biggest stage, almost universally disliked in her new homeland. She might be one fall away from "disappearing" after this Olympics is over.

EVERYBODY does whatever it takes to get to the Olympics, buddy. They don't have to do it in ways that you approve, as long as they don't break the rules. Every country tries to "recruit" athletes to their side; it's nothing new. If you're cheering for her to fail, then know that she is living the dream, and YOU AREN'T, and neither are tons of American skaters. In sports and life, the are winners, losers, and sideline boo birds. Who do you think are the saddest of the three?

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by unberechenbar

Kind of sad seeing people mess up their jump and others reacting by high-fiving each other.

This is why my favorite thing for the Olympics is the opening ceremony and the march of nations. Everyone is equal no matter where you are from. Noone has won a medal. Its about accomplishing something so few have accomplished making it to the games. But one country is no better then the other. The only thing I truly hate is the announcers and their political commentary. No matter what country they always have to inject politics somewhere into the ceremonies. Granted this year may have a bit more yes on them an unavoidability but they really should refrain from being journalists and giving opinions just talk about the athletes.

[DVD Phreak]

Here is a Mike Tirico's half-hour interview of historians Jing Tsu and Andy Browne, the two political commentators who appeared during NBC's broadcast of the opening ceremony. NBC only showed a short clip of this interview after the ceremony. The full interview is free to watch (at the moment) on NBC Sports website, but maybe geo-blocked in some countries (definitely won't be seen in China). It is informative, and the two historians offer balanced views on the current "new cold war" between US and China. Many topics are brought up including Peng Shuai, Eileen Gu, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Uyghurs, etc.

[dcowboy7]

I bet Norway under 19.5 golds.
Olympic capper said older team not all will come thru.

[dcowboy7]

Originally Posted by dcowboy7

I bet Norway under 19.5 golds.
Olympic capper said older team not all will come thru.

WINNER !!

Panned out just like he said - that dude knows his oly.

[unberechenbar]

I watched the men's downhill and the audio from my surrounds was pretty cool. I could hear all the snow moving and even some birds as the racers went down the hill. It kind of reminded me of Point Break where you can hear the air rushing around the athletes as they fly in wingsuits, although on a smaller scale.

[Lacit170]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Am I the only one getting a kick out of this? The American born and raised skater who wasn't good enough to make team USA literally changed her name to sound ethnically Chinese, renounced her U.S. citizenship, and moved to China to join their team. Now her performance is such a disaster she's widely disliked in her new country and apparently cannot speak the native language very well. I realize she's young, but she made some very adult decisions (namely renouncing U.S. citizenship), which I'm guessing she will regret real fast.

If you aren't good enough to make the national team for your country, practice harder, get better, and try next time.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/06/sport...hnk/index.html

China doesnt allow dual citizenship as far as i know, so she had to do all of those things to follow her dream of being an olympian...

Originally Posted by DVD Phreak

This goes two ways. Tons of Chinese athletes compete under other countries' flags too. In the Summer Olympics you see a lot of Chinese table tennis players compete for other countries -- because they couldn't get on the super-competitive Chinese teams. Becky Hammon was the same way; she couldn't get on the US women's basketball team because it was stacked with super-stars. Some people just want to live the Olympic dream, you know. It's either live your dream, or give up your dream so you would face less scorn from people like you. A no-brainer choice if you ask me, one that anyone like her would gladly do it again. Wouldn't you?

how do you feel about the American born skier, Eileen Gu? she has every right to do what she wants but feel all her comments so far sound a bit ignorant of the real world. she can claim to be apolitical all she wants, until she says something they dont like, we'll see if here tune changes. she may already be too high profile to for them to truly go after but time will tell i guess if she truly can remain neutral.

[R3P0]

So amazingly the top 4 Womens Ski jump countries all were DQ today after having no issues competing with their uniforms yesterday. This has got to be the BIGGEST farce of an Olympics ever. Imma watch my girl Chloe compete tonight and then I think im pretty much done with these Olympics.

[Tony208]

In these individual competitions it's about chasing medals and personal glory. Now if some hockey player defected to play for Russia or something that's different.

[DVD Phreak]

Originally Posted by Lacit170

how do you feel about the American born skier, Eileen Gu? she has every right to do what she wants but feel all her comments so far sound a bit ignorant of the real world. she can claim to be apolitical all she wants, until she says something they dont like, we'll see if here tune changes. she may already be too high profile to for them to truly go after but time will tell i guess if she truly can remain neutral.

American athletes and celebrities also have to grapple with saying things that certain people may not like, such as in matters regarding vaccines, BLM, Jan 6th insurrection, flat Earth, Me Too, abortion, and tons of other divisive issues. There is just no escaping that wherever they go as long as you are a celebrity.

[reaperx187]

I have been pretty much watching mostly Woman's Hockey ashamed US didn't get Canada last night but there going to end up meeting in the Gold Medal game i believe next Weds night so i will be checking that out when i get home from work.

[R3P0]

Chloe Kim dominating as always!

[HD Canuck]

How about that Big Air jump next to where Homer Simpson works?