Olympic Winter Games – 2014 Edition

I write this on the penultimate day of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. It seems like the right time to comment on the games as held as well as in general.

For the most part, I have to say that the Sochi games have been successful. I don’t have verifiable information of what happened behind the televised facade, but on the surface it looks to be about what you’d expect from any Winter Olympic games.

As is more common than not, the weather wasn’t extraordinarily cooperative. It was warm. Many of the snow events were either slush or frozen brine events, but the overall impact was no worse than when events are constantly being rescheduled due to unrelenting snowfall. I’d have preferred a more wintry venue, but in a period of climate change, that’s going to be an iffy proposition for the foreseeable future.

My only overt criticism of the games was the insane amount it went over budget. Awarded for US$12 billion, it ended up costing around US$51 billion; compare this to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the previous record-holder at US$44 billion — for a SUMMER Olympics. That is simply not acceptable. We need to rein in profligate spending that is ruinous more to the hoi polloi than to the elite. Organizers, don’t use Athens as your standard.

Alpine Skiing

More than most recent Olympics, I liked the courses. They had difficult, but not insane, runs down the mountain. I’d have preferred that the jump for the downhill for woman hadn’t been shaved down, but other than that, no complaints.

I’m not a big fan of how brightly painted the courses are. Being an old guy, I remember when all you had were the gates and a few hay bales.

Cross-Country / Biathlon

In the first week, especially, this was the group of events most effected by the warm weather. Not surprisingly, the Nordic countries did very well.

A great expression of the Olympic ideal came from this venue when a Canadian coach Justin Wadsworth replaced a Russian competitor’s, Anton Gafarov, broken ski so he could finish the race in dignity.

Freestyle Skiing / Snowboard

I’ve come to enjoy many of these X-games events. That said, I’m not a fan of Aerials — not because of the athletics per se, but because the event is simply too, well, simple. One jump per round seems rather thin for an Olympic-level event.

Despite it’s less-than-ideal name, I found Slopestyle to be very entertaining. It was like Aerials but with many jumps and decisions. That along with the ‘cross events and parallel slalom and GS are the x-sports I look forward to every Winter Olympics.

Personally, I still have a bit of a problem with skis in several of these events. So many of the events look to be built for snowboards more than skis + poles. That’s not to say that good skiing isn’t to be had, it just doesn’t work as well for me. Regardless of how silly snowboarders look when hopping around at the end of the run, they bring a clean aesthetic in the twisty-jumpies.

Mention of and good thoughts must be extended to Maria Komissarova who was severely injured during Ski-cross training.

Ski Jumping / Nordic Combined

Allowing for the historical importance of Ski Jumping, I find it, like Aerials, to be a little too one-trick-pony. Pairing it with Cross-country helps, but in a flood of other Cross-country events, it’s hard for me to get very invested in these events.

Curling

When it was introduced, I mocked this as much as anyone. Now, I look forward to it. That said, I think it could be fairly argued that it’s more game than sport. Even so, it does have the advantage that it is objectively scored.

There was much gnashing of teeth with the performance of the U.S. women’s team. It was so frustrating to watch with their high number of poor throws.

Ice Hockey

Well. As a USAian, I’ve had more fun Olympics experiences with Hockey. I’d looked forward to USA vs Canada in women’s hockey. They played a strong game, and then the US women did what so many other teams do: try to protect a lead. When will coaches learn that you put your team at more risk by milking the clock rather than playing how you got the lead in the first place? Augh!

Speed Skating / Short Track

The elephant in the room was the under-performance of the US athletes, especially on the long track. Early blame was placed on the new suits, but considering that the poor results continued even when they switched back to their old suits, I don’t think haberdashery was to blame. If you want to shift blame, you look at the skates; if you want to make it personal, you look at the athletes and training methods. Given the large margins of loss, it is very unlikely it was the suits.

Bobsleigh / Luge / Skeleton

What’s there to be said? These events are all hurt by how singularly important the start is. Yes, you can lose some time by making mistakes on the course, but there is little opportunity to make up time. Unlike skiing where a glider or a technician can use their skills to best advantage, on the ice track, it’s pretty much about those first few seconds.

Again…I’m an old guy. I still remember bobsleds flying off the track.

Figure Skating

This one’s easy: Yuna Kim skated beautifully, but she skated not to lose. I’m not saying that Sotnikova is the most graceful skater, but she built her program for points and earned almost everything she could…and probably got a point or two from the expected home-ice bump. Also, she had the skate of her life, which has spun many Olympic expectations on their heads over the years.

Closing Thoughts

The official Sochi 2014 site was very helpful for keeping up with scores. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the coverage provided by NBC. I watched network, cable, and online. My complaint was that it was sometimes a pain to find if an event was being shown on TV, but it wasn’t bad. Given the time delay, and the fact that my schedule has some flexibility, I was able to watch pretty much everything I wanted to.

For an Olympic Winter Games, I think it was about par. Except for the constant battle to keep the outdoor venues from melting away, the events were pulled off without much of a problem. Again, I don’t know how good or bad it actually was behind the scenes, but for the fortnight, it didn’t seem too far out of expectations for the people who don’t actually live in and around Sochi.

I think the Russian people have been gracious hosts and enthusiastic cheerleaders of their athletes. They have been great representatives. For the Games themselves, that is what it should be about. Politics can wait for a couple of weeks.

Спасибо, Россия. Спасибо, Сочи.