Winter Olympic Ramblings

Thoughts while watching a couple of Russians dancing around in fake plants to the sounds of Didgeridoos...

Eddie Maguire may have gotten in trouble for making fun of figure skaters, but he incessant ranting during the snowcross made one thing perfectly clear to me: most commentators at a niche sporting event like the Winter Olympics are just there to avoid silence. They don't know enough about the sport, so it sounds like someone doing a race call, and little else.

Why do we have a Winter Olympics anyway? Imagine if the real Olympics was just "summer" sports?

"That was great action from the sandcastle making finals. Coming up later tonight, beach volleyball as the Brazillians take on our Aussie girls, but first the Surf Lifesaving preliminary rounds, after this break."

And another thing ... it seems the great majority of sports are judged. Doesn't that sort of make them pseudo-sports? Figure skating, ski jumping, moguls, aerials, half-pipe & ice dancing all rely on judges viewing the contest and handing out a score to determine who wins.

Sorry guys, but in a real sport, you either go faster, jump or throw something further or higher, lift a greater weight, put something in a goal more often, hit a target more often, or beat the crap out of someone else. These are real sports.

While I agree that these pseudo-sports have a significant physical component, the judging rules it for me.

However, both versions of the Olympics are the only places where one can see athletes as varied as figure skaters and ice hockey players competing at the same event. Yeah, I said it.

Recently added to the list of things that are offensive: being a ridiculous looking Russian couple on skates.

Recently removed from the list of things that are harmless fun: luge.

Least envied body part at the Winter Olympics: Moguls competitor's knees. Second least envied: aerial's competitor's head.

When it is all said and done, the Biathlon is my favourite Winter sport invented by the Nazis.

Winner of the Martin Vinnecombe Award for Australian (!) Athlete most unhappy at winning a Olympic Silver Medal: Dale Begg-Smith.

And finally, does anyone remember what the Winter Olympics were like before they became the Winter X Games? Me neither, but it has something to do with Eddie The Eagle and Katarina Witt.