The Winter Olympics are upon us. The Olympics in general are a time of competition and a time that countries usually put aside their differences and come together. There has already been a tragic event at this year’s Olympic games; a Georgian Luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, only 21 years of age had a horrific accident during a practice run and passed away on Friday. This blog post will reflect on and question in the Winter Olympic “sports” are really sports and some other notable stories of this year’s games.
Apparently, Vancouver’s luge track is noted to be one of the fastest and most dangerous tracks in the world. The average speed of this luge track is around 15 miles per hour faster than other tracks (average speed ranges from 80-85 but Vancouver’s averages around 90-95mph). Now, if you are not familiar with luge I will explain a little bit about it. It is a “sport” that involves a sled going down a hill in a carved out path for the riders, which happens to be a sheet of ice. The riders have to be the fastest down the track (there are numerous competitors and they all go at different times). Some of the turns on the course are pretty sharp and are sloped so riders can use that to their advantage. Sometimes that advantage turns into a wipe out/crash. At Vancouver there were several accidents before Nodar took his final ride. Apparently the IOC and the officials did not think this track was too dangerous because they took no prior precautions. The day Nodar passed, the IOC and other officials decided to change the spot of the men’s starting point to where the original women’s starting point was supposed to be. This is so that the average speed will be reduced. They also “improved” the turn where the accident happened.
My main question is why were there precautions not taken care of beforehand? Granted, these precautions are a good thing. Unfortunately, this time the precautions had to come at the cost of someone’s life. My other question is this: is luge really a sport? Personally, I do not believe that it takes any athletic skill to compete in luge. Does it look fun? Of course, I would love to be on a sled that is going 80mph, but I do recognize there are serious risks. When someone explains to me that luge is really a sport, and no, stupidity does not count, I will continue to believe that luge is not a sport. However, my thoughts go out to the luge community.
There are a lot of “sports” in the Winter Olympics that people try to convince me are sports. For instance, the biathlon, skeleton, Nordic skiing, snowboarding half pipe, curling, and figure skating. I will give all of these “sports” some credit that it does take stamina to compete in them. However, I do not see any athletic ability in any of that. Last time I checked the only sports in the Winter Olympics would be speed skating, hockey, and cross country skiing. Blood, sweat, and tears should be a requirement of any Olympic games. Another thing that makes me real mad about the Olympics is they put on stupid figure skating more than hockey. Figure skating is a lot like watching golf on television: boring.
While I am on the subject with things that annoy me about the Winter Olympics I want to put all of you bandwagon fans of Apollo Ohno in your place. First off, I will give him kudos for tying the record for most American winter Olympic medals. However, Apollo Ohno is not a dominate speed skater! If he was so dominate, why does he not win a gold medal every single time? I will tell you why, because he gets lucky at best with coming anywhere near a medal! Yesterday, the Koreans had him beat but made a stupid mistake at the very end which gave him 2nd place. If you go back and look at all of his medal races, something crazy has happened in all but 1 race where he got a gold medal. He is not that dominate of an athlete. Get off the bandwagon.
I do think that the opening ceremony was pretty good but still not as good as Beijing’s opening ceremony in 2008. However, Beijing did not have the Great One lighting their caldron. Anyways, these Olympic games seem to be a very promising one for team USA. Currently, we are in the lead of the medal count with 6 (1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze). Personally, I am looking forward to hockey. I think we have a very good chance at winning gold. But, if I was putting money on this I would pick Canada, Sweden, or Finland. Any medal for the USA in hockey would be great.
My comments-
ReplyDeleteAlthough you can't see it on TV, luge does take some ability. When they're on the track, they're steering their sled with their feet. luge is all about steering your sled into the proper line so you get the fastest possible speed (plus getting a really good start). Plus you have to be crazy as fuck to get on a sled and slide down an icy death track at 90 mph, so that's a sport in itself.
In terms of that luger's death, If I were the track director, the exposed steel beams off of a tight turn would have been a red flag for me. They would have been covered right away. This isn't the first vicious wreck that has occured in luging. Most tracks have weird appendages and open space off the track where riders who lose control could have horrible crashes (and have before).
You want to talk about sports that aren't sports, how about bobsled. It's just like nascar, 90% of your ability is how well your sled is engineered. If you have decent drivers and the best sled, you'll likely win. But I think that you shouldn't rush to judgement when talking about these sports when you may not have even tried most of them. I'd like to see you try snowboarding or the biathalon and tell those athletes it's not a sport. regardless....GO USA!!!!