XXI Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics have been absolutely fascinating. I have not seen them, really, since the 90's. My favorite event has always been figure skating, more on that later, but first I want to discuss Apollo Ohno. Apollo is a short track speed skater. I have never seen the sport until a few days ago and I have to say that it is absolutely fascinating. The way these guys skate is unbelievable, Apollo in particular. In his semifinal race he was in last place for about the first ten laps (there are 15 or 16 laps) until he made his amazing pass into FIRST place with five laps to go. I became a fan at that moment. It is something that you have to see to believe. The other American competing was J.R. Celski and he was quite amazing as well.

Both Apollo and J.R. made it to the finals. Unlike his semifinal run Apollo did not stay in the back for most of the race. He and J.R. tried to make their moves early on but they had three fierce South Koreans to contend with. Apollo would pass the but at the next turn they would get back in front. It all came down to the last lap. I was rooting for Apollo and J.R., Apollo almost passed the South Koreans but the three of them were in the top three positions. The skater were coming to the final turn, the South Koreans were in the medal positions with Apollo and J.R. in fourth and fifth, respectively. It looked as if the South Koreans were going to sweep the medals when making the last turn the two in second and third wiped out giving Apollo and J.R. the silver and the bronze. I could not believe it they actually got the silver and bronze! I was screaming and jumping for joy. It was at that moment that I realized how unpredictable this sport could be and I became a fan. I urge everyone to at least watch one game, you will not be disappointed.

On to figure skating. The first skating competition was the pairs. I know that I have not seen the games in a while but the skating sure is much different that it was in the 90s. I swear I have never seen so many people fall in one competition in my whole life. I love the figure skating for the beautiful art on the ice but while watching this competition I began watching to see who would fall. The pair that won, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China, really deserved to win. Their skating was beautiful and you could tell how passionate they were. Not only that but you could tell that they wanted to win. I think that when you have the talent and the drive there is nowhere to go but up. Their win also brought an end to the Russians' 46 year reign as the pairs champions and the first gold for China in Olympic figure skating. Pang and Tong from China won the Silver, their first ever Olympic medal. I am watching the men's short program now and it has been interesting so far.

The reason that I was compelled to write this blog is because of the NBC commentators. If I had the choice to send one group of people to a cave on an island in the middle of the ocean never to be seen again they would be in strong contention for first place. If the world was not full of murderers and child molesters the commentators would be in first place. I swear that these people are some of the most negative that I have ever had the displeasure of being forced to listen to in my life. There is a big difference between stating facts and being downright negative. I am so happy that the athletes can not hear what these people are saying about them because if they could it would seriously mess up their mental state during competition. When I am watching the Olympics I just want to watch the athletes perform, I don't want to hear about how awful they were in the last Olympics or their last competition. I don't want to hear about all of their technical difficulties the last time they skated. When I watch these performances I just want to see these athletes in the moment that they are competing because the only thing that matters is what they do in that moment. If a speed skater won their last ten competitions but they fall on the track during the one they are competing in then they lose. Nothing they did prior to that moment matters. The thing that I hate is that I can not watch the skaters and hear the music that they are skating to because the commentators talk and drown out everything else. I want to hear what is going on in the area that the competition is taking place and be able to feel the atmosphere. I just wish the commentators had an off button. I am done with my rant about them for now.

As I am typing this I am watching Johnny Weir skate and he is amazing. He is so cool on the ice and flawless. Once again the judges try to mar his performance with snide little remarks. I googled him before he skated and discovered that he is not liked by his peers but has a huge following all over the world. His fans were out in full force and he was very gracious to them.

I will probably write more about the Olympics in the coming days, until my next post, goodbye.