AlexDS69

Why the hell would NBC make such an asinine request for the Parade of Nations? They're not even going to show the blessed thing live!

I support a total ban on Russia competing, not just in Rio 2016 but in Pyeongchang 2018 - both Olympics and Paralympics. Would the overall level of competitiveness be affected? Of course. But it would nice to see someone win gold in rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming who isn't Russian. Not that there's any doping in those sports, but if Russians can manipulate the judging in figure skating... The turnover in synchronized swimming was rather quick, don't you think? The USA had won gold in Atlanta, but between then and Sydney, they just disappeared in favor of the Russians. It was as if they didn't even matter anymore.

I'm not naive. I know that this happens all the time around the world. I've been watching the Olympics since 1992. Still, NBC's coverage, even by broadcasting standards, is ridiculous and takes all the fun out of watching the Olympics. Often I have to press the mute button on my remote control, even during the Olympic Trials broadcasts. NBC can praise everyone on Team USA to the high heavens, and paint a gifted but resource-limited runner from Chad or Myanmar as a worthless peasant if they wish, but they forget (at their own peril) that the Olympics are for the whole world, not just their personal gold medal hoarding ground.

So, I've been watching NBC's coverage of the US Olympic trials. As is the case with anything combining the Olympics and the Peacock Network, it's sickening, especially in the swimming coverage. I couldn't believe it - they were making the swimmers out to be these pure, holier than thou, humble do-gooders who deserve to win every gold medal in the pool because they are pure, holier than thou, humble do-gooders. "Katie Ledecky is so humble, and yet she's going to Stanford!" Ugh. Give me a break, Ambrose. Even Michael Phelps was portrayed as this god now that he has a son. The commentators are going to be insufferable come Rio. On the one hand, this is to be expected from NBC. On the other hand, it smacks of bad sports coverage.

I didn't know about the time difference in the summer. Fortunately I edited my spreadsheet.

I am following the Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer. Yeah, I know that some people think that they're just BS, but I like seeing potential stars of the future taking part in these events. The cultural and educational events also add a lot of gravitas. I also like the fact that these athletes HAVE to stay for the duration of the Games, even if they've already completed the events. Of course, they're mostly minors. It probably wouldn't work for those over 18. Could you imagine elite athletes at the Olympics being forced to stay and attend conferences and such? Many would beg the nearest volunteer to smuggle their asses out. "I'll give you this worthless bronze medal which you can flog on eBay, use as a coaster, or fashion into a coke spoon if you can get me out of here! If I have to attend one more damn seminar on the side effects of drugs, I'll kill somebody!"

So, I made a spreadsheet of the scheduled finals in each of the 300+ medal events in Rio (except for badminton, sailing, and tennis, for which I couldn't get concrete times). I didn't just do the local times, I did what times they would be on the West Coast (where I live) and the East Coast. I discovered that many of the blue-ribbon events, such as in swimming and athletics, would take place just after 10 PM Rio time. This would mean that if NBC showed them live on the East Coast, this would be around 7PM ET (4PM PT). I bring this up because I'm not sure how NBC is going to air their showcase prime-time show each night. In addition to athletics and swimming, their Summer Olympic prime-time shows always include taped coverage of diving, gymnastics, and depending on what happened during the day, a look at a significant gold medal win for Team USA (such as in rowing). Will they do it live in all time zones, like they did for Atlanta 1996? Or will it be live for those in New York and Chicago with tape-delay for Denver and Los Angeles? I'm also curious how they're going to show the athletics finals (aside from the marathons and race walking events) that would take place during the day. For Rio 2016, those are the women's 10,000m, men's discus throw, men's hammer throw, women's 3,000m steeplechase, men's triple jump, women's discus throw, and men's 400m hurdles. I suspect that with the exception of the men's triple jump (where American Christian Taylor is the incumbent Olympic and world champion, and the favorite to repeat in Rio) and maybe the men's 400m hurdles, the closest that they'll get to prime-time will be the late night show, unless the US scores medals in the mentioned events - then they could get prime-time mentions.

I'm still annoyed that South Africa refused to let Sive Speelman compete in Sochi.

I thought that it stood for "I Love Tokyo". That being said, I can understand why people would hate it, but I like it.

Yeah, I did forget Hong Kong. Sorry about that.

Why not have one IOC member per country/territory? This way, every country/territory has a say (however small) in the major decisions of the IOC.

In the interest of brevity, I will only list the existing Olympic countries that have competed in the Winter Olympics since they first started in 1924, and I will use their names according to the International Olympic Committee. The name that follows is the transliteration of each country's Korean name (unless the English and Korean transliterations are the same). First Country: GREECE - Geuriseu GHANA - Gana FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA (Macedonia) - Gu Yugoseullabiaui Makedonia Gonghwaguk GUATEMALA - Gwatemalla GUAM - Gwam SOUTH AFRICA - Namapeurika NETHERLANDS - Nedeollandeu NEPAL NORWAY - Noreuwei NEW ZEALAND - Nyujillaendeu DENMARK - Denmakeu DOMINICA - Dominika GERMANY - Dogil TIMOR LESTE (East Timor) - Dongtimoreu LATVIA - Rateubia RUSSIAN FEDERATION (Russia) - Reoshia Yeonbang LEBANON - Rebanon ROMANIA LUXEMBOURG - Ruksembureugeu LITHUANIA - Rituania LIECHTENSTEIN - Rihitensyutain MADAGASCAR - Madagaseukareu MEXICO - Mekshiko MONACO - Monako MOROCCO - Moroko MONTENEGRO - Montenegeuro REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA - Moldoba Gonghwaguk MALTA MONGOLIA - Monggol UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - Miguk UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS - Migungnyeong Beojin Aillaendeu BERMUDA - Beomyuda VENEZUELA - Benesuella BELGIUM - Belgie (pronounced bell-gee-eh) BELARUS - Bellareuseu BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA - Boseunia Hereuchegobina BOLIVIA - Bollibia BULGARIA BRAZIL - Beurajil SAN MARINO SENEGAL SERBIA - Sereubia SWAZILAND - Seuwajillandeu SWEDEN - Seuweden SWITZERLAND - Seuwiseu SPAIN - Seupein SLOVAKIA - Seullobakia SLOVENIA - Seullobenia ARMENIA - Areumenia ARGENTINA - Areuhentina AMERICAN SAMOA - Amerikansamoa ICELAND - Aiseullandeu IRELAND - Aillaendeu AZERBAIJAN - Asereubaijan ANDORRA - Andora ALBANIA ALGERIA - Aljeri ESTONIA - Eseutonia ETHIOPIA - Etiopia GREAT BRITAIN - Yeongguk BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS - Yeonggungnyeong Beojin Aillaendeu AUSTRALIA - Oseuteurallia AUSTRIA - Oseuteuria HONDURAS - Onduraseu URUGUAY - Urugwai UZBEKISTAN - Ujeubekiseutan UKRAINE - Ukeuraina ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN - Iran Iseullam Gonghwaguk ISRAEL - Iseurael EGYPT - Ijipteu ITALY - Itallia INDIA - Indo JAPAN - Ilbon JAMAICA - Jameika DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA (North Korea) - Joseon Minjujuui Inmin Gonghwaguk GEORGIA - Jojia PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - Jonghwa Inmin Gonghwaguk ZIMBABWE - Jimbabeuwe CHINESE TAIPEI (Taiwan) - Chainiseu Taipei CZECH REPUBLIC - Chekeu CHILE - Chille KAZAKHSTAN - Kajaheuseutan CANADA - Kaenada KENYA CAYMAN ISLANDS - Keimaen Jedo COSTA RICA - Koseutarika COLOMBIA - Kollombia CROATIA - Keuroatia KYRGYZSTAN - Kireugiseuseutan CYPRUS - Kipeuroseu THAILAND - Tai TAJIKISTAN - Tajikiseutan TURKEY - Teoki TOGO TONGA TRINIDAD & TOBAGO - Teurinidadeu Tobago PARAGUAY - Paragwai PAKISTAN - Pakiseutan PERU PORTUGAL - Poreutugal POLAND - Pollandeu PUERTO RICO - Puereutoriko FRANCE - Peurangseu FIJI - Piji FINLAND - Pillandeu PHILIPPINES - Pillipin HUNGARY - Heonggari Last Country: REPUBLIC OF KOREA (South Korea) - Daehan Minguk

The Paralympic mascot looks a bit like the Brazilian soccer player David Luiz. Considering what happened this past summer, I wonder if this is a bit of shade on the part of the designers.

I'd rather have the Winter Olympics in Borat country than another penis-measuring contest in China, Russia, or the USA. But I wouldn't be surprised if the IOC one day decides to hold all the Summer, Winter, and Youth Olympics in only those three countries and only lets those countries compete.

It's sad what happened to Greece in the aftermath of Athens 2004, and not just financially. Greece didn't win a single gold medal at either of the next two Summer Olympics. From Barcelona up to Athens, there was a resurgence of Greek sporting success. Pyrros Dimas, Paraskevi Patoulidou (the woman who famously took 100m hurdles gold in Barcelona after prohibitive favorite Gail Devers screwed the pooch at the last hurdle), Ioannis Melissanidis, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, Kakhi Kakhiashvili... Of course there were rumored drug cheats like Thanou and Kederis and Hawaii, but Greece was punching above its weight. Do you remember when that Greek duo won gold in synchronized springboard diving? The three teams representing the world's most powerful bullies/countries (China, Russia, and USA) bombed on their final dives, and the Greeks took advantage. That was an exciting moment. It's a shame that the economy in Greece has screwed everything up, including the potential of its athletes. Frankly, I prefer Athens' tasteful, classy opening ceremony to the overrated, indulgent orgy that took place in Beijing. NBC still acts like that was the greatest achievement I the history of mankind. Excuse me: Halkia...

Having said all that, I do have some favorite moments: The Netherlands annihilating the competition at speed skating; one of the greatest performances by any country in any sport in Olympic history Dominique Gisin (SUI) and Tina Maze (SLO) sharing gold in the women's downhill The Ukrainian women's biathlon relay team winning gold (the first Winter Olympic gold for Ukraine in 20 years) while their country is in a major crisis Any gold medal that Canada won (even though I'm an American born-and-raised) The Filipino figure skater Michael Christian Martinez placing 19th in the men's event, an achievement for a skater from a country with no real history in winter sports and where world-class athletes of any kind are hard to find (save for Manny Pacquiao); in fact, that was my favorite moment of the figure skating competition, which left such a bad taste in my mouth

I have never been more underwhelmed by an Olympics, summer or winter. The last time I felt this way was pretty recent: 2008 in Beijing. Every Olympics that I've followed since Barcelona 1992 riveted and inspired me, except for the pomposity of Beijing and Sochi. I guess that when it comes to the Olympics, for me, money can only buy you so much.

Oh, the 9/11 tribute WASN'T shown on the international feed? I didn't know that.

There is one thing that hasn't been discussed yet: Who's going to sing the national anthem? Will it be a soloist or a choir? I can't imagine "God Save the Queen" having the same emotional resonance sung by an individual as opposed to a group, but you never know. If I remember correctly, the national anthem at the past three Summer Olympics was sung by a group or choir: Human Nature and Julie Anthony's collaboration in 2000, some choir singing in 2004, and another choir singing in 2008. I know that Nikki Yanofsky sang in Vancouver (though IMHO they could have gotten someone else, as Nikki was already doing CTV'S theme "I Believe"), and some Italian girl sang 2/3 of the Italian anthem with a choir doing the rest in Torino. I don't even remember who sang the Star Spangled Banner in Atlanta and Salt Lake City. Did they even do the SSB in Salt Lake City? Because all I remember from those opening ceremonies was "God Bless America", which I was sick of when they first started singing it after 9/11. But that's another story.

I'm wary of whether Qatar can pull off the WC in 2022, but I'm even more warier of the possibility of the World Cup and the Winter Olympics clashing with each other. Unless the World Cup kicks off on New Years Day and ends a week before the scheduled start of the Olympics, wherever they may be, I don't see this as viable. I'd prefer that they organize the WC for March 2022. It shouldn't be THAT hot then, compared to June.

It wasn't Steven's fault that Jiajun Li clashed with Apolo Anton Ohno less than a lap before the finish. It wasn't Steven's fault that Hyun-soon Ahn, Mathieu Turcotte, and Apolo collided with each other and crashed mere feet before the finish line. Steven won the race and the Olympic gold medal fair and square.

I'm surprised that Yu-na Kim of South Korea is not listed as a potential "queen" of Vancouver 2010. Granted, she only has one medal event on her docket (women's singles in figure skating), but figure skating is one of the glamour events of the Winter Olympics. She is the reigning world champion, has not been defeated overall in over a year, and is the reigning world record holder in points in the women's division. Plus, she is as big a superstar as you're going to find in South Korea. How many athletes at the Winter Olympics (or even the Summer Olympics) can say that about themselves in relation to their home countries? And with Korean culture becoming more and more prominent on the world stage (the Korean wave, or hallyu), the timing is right for her fame to be global.

I personally wouldn't consider Serbia as a debuting country in Vancouver 2010. I consider it the successor state to Serbia/Montenegro, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and SFR Yugoslavia, for continuity purposes (just like I consider the Czech Republic the successor state to Czechoslovakia and Russia the successor state to the USSR). Of course, most of Yugoslavia's winter athletes came from Slovenia... But that's just me.

If they don't get Celine Dion for the national anthem, hopefully they can land either Deborah Cox or Tamia (a.k.a. Mrs. Grant Hill). Or better yet, a Celine Dion/Deborah Cox or Tamia duet.

So, how are they going to present the Parade of Nations? In English order? French? Chinese character order? Pinyin, even? I would like it if they did it in Pinyin or character order.