The Olympics

[Greg]

I am an NBCOlympics Influencer.

[Greg]

Biathlon is on! USA is in bronze position.

[Greg]

A young woman from Fremont is in the women's figure skating program.

[Greg]

That was way too much mixed doubles curling, especially when the US keeps losing. I also saw the women's Slopestyle. Every time I see that sport, I figure I would go from the first jump to the ER. Saw a lot of Biathlon as well. The same event was on three times on different channels.

[Drunk Monk]

I watched a little. Peacock is a crapshow like last time. The streaming navigation is a mess and there's this overlay title that keeps flashing over the vids that's intolerable. I think I'm just going to watch snippets on NBC's YouTube. 

I liked what I've seen of the opening ceremonies. Saw some skiing, saw Schiffrin lose it, watched some skating.

And this blew me away:



Give me a heads up when the JA bobsled team go.

---

Then there's this...

U.S. figure skater Vincent Zhou tests positive for COVID-19 at the Winter Olympics

February 7, 202212:00 AM ET
JACLYN DIAZ


Vincent Zhou of Team United States skates on Sunday. Zhou tested positive for COVID-19 and may not be able to take the ice in time for his second competition on Tuesday.
Harry How/Getty Images
BEIJING — U.S. men's figure skater Vincent Zhou has tested positive for COVID-19 — putting his chance for another Olympic medal at risk.
"As part of yesterday's regular COVID-19 screening, Vincent Zhou tested positive," a U.S. figure skating representative said in a statement. "Under the guidance of the [U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee] medical staff, Zhou is undergoing additional testing to confirm his status."
The announcement comes on the day the U.S. figure skating won silver in the team competition. Zhou competed on Sunday in the team event as a substitute for three-time world champion Nathan Chen.
Zhou is supposed to compete again on Tuesday in the men's short program. If he tests negative in subsequent COVID tests, Zhou would still be able to compete.
If not, he will be placed in isolation, like other athletes who tested positive in Beijing, until he tests negative on two consecutive PCR tests.
This is the 21-year-old's second appearance at the Winter Olympic Games. He competed in Pyeongchang in 2018, but did not medal.

[Drunk Monk]

It's all about Kamila now.

[Drunk Monk]

Watched more figure skating, plus some speed skating g a skiing. Rather enjoyed a montage of the slalom and luge crashes. Started to watch a feature on Gu, the gal who is from here but is competing for PRC, but lost interest in the storyteller talking head who kept staring at me, plus some of the spliced in scenes to set the tone were annoying.

[Greg]

I still don't get Gu's story. She wants to empower girls? Don't we have girls here in the US?

I watched a lot of the Giant Slalom. It was really stupid at the end when they said these three guys have won but there are still skiers left to run but those other guys aren't going to win but we really need to get to the preliminaries of Men's Figure Skating. Also watched Big Air. That is the ugliest venue. Nothing sense winter sports like giant cooling towers in the background.

Caught the first few minutes of Women's Hockey Can vs USA.

[thatguy]

I haven't been watching, but just learned that the guy from American Samoa is competing in skeleton. The lack of snow at the games in China is probably a competitive advantage for him. 

--tv

[Drunk Monk]

I don't quite get Gu's story either. PRC grooms its olympic athletes to an extreme, like Russia. Plucked from childhood, it's a major vocation as long as they are competitive. That she could jump to the front of the queue for PRC, well, it feels more like a face move against the US - like a 'what's yours is ours' dig. How much money does the US owe China now?

I heard it was 100% man-made snow. Seems that is super slick with all the crashes. After Kamila, my fav reels so far are crash compilations. 

[Greg]

The fake snow has a high water content. It becomes extremely hard, like cement when extremely cold. At least that is what one prognosticator says. You can see the result in the skiing events.

The counter point to Gu is Zhu Yi, the figure skater who gave up her American citizenship to skate for China. Since she had a terrible program, instead of a gold medal, she is in big trouble. Which brings up another question or point of contention, Yi gave up her citizenship while it remains unclear whether Gu did. And China doesn't allow dual citizenship.

Bring on the women's hockey!

[Greg]

Just saw that a bunch of women are DQ from ski jumping because of the baggy clothing.

Also, I'm not a fan of this track they now get to ride in for the ski jump that locks the skis in place. How are we ever to get another "Agony of defeat" with that?

[Greg]

I feel really bad for Mikhaela Schifrin. So much pressure and focus on her. Saw a bunch more Big Air competition from the old steel mill near the Cooling Towers. That has to be the worst Olympic location ever. I'm betting it will be torn down the day after the event.

I saw a few minutes of the men's short program. I only saw Nathan Chen. That boy skates pretty well.

[Greg]

Another American representing another country. Although I think Ms. Spiteri did it to honor her grandfather. And she loves pork buns.

[Drunk Monk]

Saw that. Man, some of the stuff that makes olympic coverage is silly.

I confess, cha siu bao is way up there with bacon cheeseburgers as foods I really miss since going pescatarian. You've all had cha siu bao, right? OMG, one of the tastiest dim sum of all. 

I kinda dig the nuclear silos behind the ski jump. It's very post-apocalypse, very Hunger Games...