... and suddenly my love-hate relationship with the brothers gallagher is all love. FORZA ITALIA! around monday, i will be updating this blog with pics of the victory celebration on commercial drive. cant say im surprised he hangs around totti and del piero, either :)
have fun watching the game, all you waspy italian-haters from toronto. we are going to bring it!
dont i feel silly speaking about the ladies field in terms of cohen and slutskaya... arakawa is back and skated so beautifully i couldnt care about the rest of the competition.
in mens ice hockey, im cheering for finland tomorrow, for ethical reasons. yeah, the medal count is nice and all, but i dont really care that canada got eliminated. firstly, unlike many of the awesome winter olympic sports, hockey is on all the damn time. secondly, pat quinn and wayne gretzky ... um, has anyone seen the leafs and the coyotes lately? we had this coming, man.
this is really quite ridiculous - me making so many posts on sports merits a trip to the lolcano.
so the russians won gold in pairs, dance, and men's figure skating. trifecta, sure, except there are four medal events in figure skating.
the women are in the midst of doing their respective technical programs as we speak. world champion and russian lady irina slutskaya just finished, and her only serious mistake was doubling the second jump on what was meant to be a triple-triple combination. this lady works hard as fuck and it shows. her spiral sequences arent as good as sasha cohen's, so she ups the ante by working the bielmann into them. shes skated bloated and pale from heart medication. she has been at it for a while despite skating "experts" (perhaps the word is bribe-taker?) labelling her as lacking charisma on the ice. bullshit, man. irina slutskaya radiates with energy and passion. (especially if you know her backstory).
there is a skater that rivals my fandom of irina slutskaya. sasha cohen rules because she has a level of artistry that is so above and beyond the rest of the competition. she can be so engrossing you forget to laugh at her costume. the pressure is on for cohen because the ladies skate is an event americans are used to winning.
american women have won the last two olympics with some shitty but consistent skaters. yeah, i cant skate, but im going to sit here and tell the world that tara lipinski and sarah hughes and their triple jumps executed like 4 cm in the air were not that impressive or goldworthy. i grew up in the era of midori ito and surya bonaly and their explosive jumps and now i have to sit here and watch them give gold medals to people for not falling. wtf.
if sasha cohen doesnt fuck up (she has bad nerves), then id be glad to see the gold go to her. she is an excellent skater and she deserves it. still, id have to say slutskaya is definitely my sentimental favourite.
why is that the bottom line?
the popularpierre bourque of bourque newswatch links to a table of athens 2004 medals per country with the phrase "CANADA: ONE MEASLY MEDAL"
im sure heymans and hartley would love to hear "ONE MEASLY MEDAL" in conjunction with their synchro diving bronze.
the canadians ive watched compete who have placed in the top ten have made me proud as a canadian and satisfied that the government has invested in amateur sport. it's obvious there can be more progress in funding for top athletes as canada was criticized by an aussie swim coach who described the effectiveness of merit-based funding as opposed to our current problem of spreading funding too thinly to help anyone.
it frustrates me to see people treat our athletes and coaches this way. they put enough pressure on themselves and the peanut gallery venting like this serves no real purpose. ive always been a dismal athlete and will always be so, no matter how often i go to the gym cos i have the coordination of a total drunk. i have nothing but respect for anyone who makes it to an olympic final. only three competitors medal in each event, and fractions of seconds/points/etc determine who comes 1-3.
(i believe machiavelli refers to this x-factor as fortuna.)
yes, medalling at the olympics has positive consequences for national morale and interest in amateur sport; however, i dont think canada's lack of medals should engender an national outcry or abandonment of amateur sport support. the olympics are a celebration of sport and international cooperation. we gather together to watch records being smashed and sport history being rewritten in real time. surely canadians can be a bit more cosmopolitan and just sit back and enjoy the games.
this country has contributed greatly to the history of sport and will continue to create legends if we establish solid support programs. this debate ought to be raging when funding is allocated and the house of commons is sitting, but it tends to be front page news mostly when the olympics are being televised.
