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Maysho
climber
Soda Springs, CA
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Feb 14, 2010 - 10:45pm PT
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That Nordic Race was awesome!!! 3 americans in the top 6, unheard of...maybe will boost our sport a bit?
Can't wait for the nordic races to come, but first must wax for my local 15k race tomorrow...
Peter
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Feb 14, 2010 - 10:50pm PT
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hahahaa that it's a Quebecker who won the "first gold on Cdn soil". Of course it's no surprise. Quebec puts WAY more money into the foundation levels of competitive sports then does the RoC.
Hmmm, I think that's pretty different from the way US athletes are sponsored, I don't think much if anything happens at the state level, I think it's all national.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Feb 14, 2010 - 11:00pm PT
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I gotta get one of those biathalon rifle slings for my .22. Maybe I'll get a bunch of them and put one on each one of my long guns.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 15, 2010 - 01:07am PT
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I'm fairly sure that US athletes get no direct funding from their federal government. Canadian ones, at least the elite, do. Although as Tami says, sport funding here is very inconsistent from province to province and sport to sport. There's lots of indirect funding, e.g. for fields and facilities, and of course school-level things. But there could probably be more at the recreation and development levels. The troubles of being a wealthy country...
They interviewed Alexandre Bilodeau tonight on television, and eventually brought in his whole family. Including his older brother Frederic, who has cerebral palsy - Alexandre says that Frederic is his inspiration. Frederic goes to many competitions with Alexandre, and was at the finish line today. Really very charming.
Otherwise, Bilodeau is a Canadian who happens to be from Quebec City. No more need be said on that difficult subject here.
In other news, Norway won its first medal of this Olympics today, a silver in the men's 10 km sprint biathlon, won by Emil Hegle Svendsen. Overall Norway has more medals than any other country in the winter Olympics, and needs only two more golds to have 100.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Feb 15, 2010 - 01:16am PT
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Bilodeau deserved his gold but Colas got screwed IMHO; I think he
deserved 3rd not 6th.
I'm so pissed at NBC. We have to watch a bunch of BS instead of
watching Olympic history - the Nordic Combined.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 15, 2010 - 01:32am PT
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Prior winter Olympics medal-winners, by country:
# 1 Norway: 263
# 2 United States: 193
# 3 Austria: 162
# 4 Finland: 142
# 5 Germany: 125
# 6 Sweden: 108
# 7 Switzerland: 103
# 8 Canada: 96
# 9 Italy: 89
# 10 France: 72
# 11 Netherlands: 69
# 12 Russia: 58
# 13 Japan: 31
# 14 United Kingdom: 26
# 15 China: 22
# 16 Korea, South: 20
# 17 Liechtenstein: 9
= 18 Poland: 6
= 18 Hungary: 6
= 20 Czech Republic: 5
= 20 Belarus: 5
= 20 Bulgaria: 5
= 20 Kazakhstan: 5
= 20 Belgium: 5
= 25 Australia: 4
= 25 Croatia: 4
= 25 Spain: 4
= 28 Ukraine: 3
= 28 Slovenia: 3
= 28 Estonia: 3
= 31 Luxembourg: 2
= 31 Korea, North: 2
= 33 Romania: 1
= 33 New Zealand: 1
= 33 Denmark: 1
= 33 Uzbekistan: 1
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/spo_win_oly_med_all_tim-winter-olympic-medals-all-time
Which, considering that Norway has a population of about 4.5 million, and wasn't a very wealthy country until the oil and gas started to flow in the 1970s, is rather interesting. It may explain why the king, queen, and crown prince will all be here.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Feb 15, 2010 - 01:41am PT
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It may explain why the king, queen, and crown prince will all be here.
Anders, they'll be up to see yous guys after they put in the obligatory
stop in Ballard! Get your priorities straight!
Of course, in Norway the best athletes either go into skiing or skating.
I'm not saying our skiers and skaters aren't great athletes but they're
not coming from the same talent pool. We gotta build some Holmenkollens
in Detroit and Chicago.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 15, 2010 - 01:59am PT
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Funny that no one else has noticed the strange resemblance between the 'official' Olympic emblem, the inukshuk, and trolls. The latter of course come from Norway, and are stone creatures. I mean, connect the dots. My theory is that in fact the inukshuks are Canadian cousins of the Norwegian trolls, and that they're all working together. There's even one in my front yard.
More evidence of the conspiracy.
You have to admit that it was a brilliant tactic, passing themselves off as an Inuit symbol, and tying everyone up in politically correct knots so they didn't see the obvious.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Feb 15, 2010 - 06:43am PT
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At least you guys get to watch the Olympics in your own time zone.
Japan was my best followed by Europe, but Pacific time which is 8 hours and one day behind us, is killing me. I watched the Nordic combined here from 4-6 am. But it was worth it!
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Feb 15, 2010 - 06:44am PT
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As for trolls, how about the theory that the Norwegians taught the Inuit about them a thousand years ago?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 15, 2010 - 01:11pm PT
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Funny you should ask. Canadian archaeologist and historian Robert McGhee recently published a book which draws together the various sources to put forward the theory that there was considerably more contact between the Norse Greenlanders and the peoples of northeast North America than has been thought. That is, based on excavations in Kalaalit Nunaat (Greenland), Ellesmere Island, Baffin Island, Labrador, and Newfoundland, examination of the sagas, and consideration of the broader context. His argument, which seems quite convincing, is that there was repeated contact, and the the Greenlanders regularly visited North America for timber, furs, walrus and narwhal tusks, and other resources, from about 1000 CE to at least the 13th century.
The inukshuk was originally a man-like object, used in particular to guide migrating caribou (reindeer) to places they could be slaughtered. The animals would see and perhaps smell the inukshuk, think "humans", and turn the way that was wanted. But they now also seem simply markers. And they sure look like trolls to me.
Did I mention that some of my family came from near Lillehammer?
It looks like they should be able to run the men's downhill this morning.
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426
climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Feb 15, 2010 - 01:22pm PT
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I watched the whole Nordic Combined yesterday, it even motivated me to work out...maybe you were on USA or MSNBC watching womyn's hockey?
It was an awesome race!
I was amazed to see so many missed shots in the Men's 10k biathlon. Holy chokes! Must have been the conditions, looked crappy...
XC on now...
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Feb 15, 2010 - 01:36pm PT
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I'm thinking the wind was throwing off the shooters.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 15, 2010 - 04:35pm PT
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Norway now has two silver, one bronze. Lots more to come. Heiaa på Norge!!!
Canada being what it is, one of the articles in the paper today is titled "Canada's Olympic image is taking a beating in media reports".
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Canada+Olympic+image+taking+beating+media+reports/2565230/story.html What the news media in other countries are saying about Canada and the Olympics.
We just want to know that you really really like us. And we do care what other nations think of us, most of the time.
The other fuss is about the outdoor cauldron, with the flame. There are two cauldrons, one indoors at BC Place, one outdoors at Canada Place. So one question is what to call the contraption - it's stymied everyone. The other problem is that the outdoor cauldron is surrounded by a chainlink fence, which looked awful even before the usual suspects hung banners and flags on it, temporarily. So they're trying to decide what to do.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 15, 2010 - 06:37pm PT
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A Canadian named Mike Robertson has won a silver medal in something called snowboard cross. He was beaten by a Yankee.
(It would seem more Canadian to have an activity called snowboard happy, to me anyway.)
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Feb 16, 2010 - 12:44am PT
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So, Anders, wazzup with the messed up ice at the speedskating
oval? If we can't rely on yous guys to make decent ice who
can we trust? Next thing I know somebody is going to tell me
my congressman has suspect scruples!
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slobmonster
Trad climber
OAK (nee NH)
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Feb 16, 2010 - 02:11am PT
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I'm waiting to see my college friend Hedda Berntsen compete in Ladies Skicross... for Norway.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Feb 16, 2010 - 02:16am PT
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A mountaineering friend's daughter - from Whistler, too - is competing in the snowboard cross, and is in the top five in her event. So that could be fun to see.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Feb 16, 2010 - 04:45am PT
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I just read that the Canadian women's hockey team is playing the Norwegians on Wednesday. I guess either way it turns out, Mighty Hiker wins.
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