2022 Beijing Olympics

[givethepigeye]

I meant to add that two of these guys were long time coaches of hers. Both felt that having had this very public failure, and looking/sounding like she’s better than
OK, this may be a huge growing experience. Got it.

So what if she moves forward with ZERO fear of failure and no “fear” of disappointing anybody…like her Mom. She’s crashed badly and is just fine.

MS racing being comfortable pushing the limits, hammer down, taking more risk?
Now that could be very interesting. Ahe’s always skied within herself.

I’d take some DNF’s mixes with 2-3 second winning margins!

Great analysis and hope this is true. ^ I think many of us can relate in a certain way to this, esp if you grew up a bit of a “free range” child. Whether in our work, relationships or whatever, sometimes you have to crash and burn to know it doesn’t end you. #lifelesson.

 

[4ster]

I also would have liked the NBC coverage tonight not to focus so exclusively on Shiffrin potentially winning a medal but instead on the team, which all the other people are really, really good too

I think much of the general public expects & wants this kind of coverage but it is why we watched almost exclusively the world coverage with commentary by Britt Janyck & the British guy. It was unbiased, without too much drama & covered all the racers equally. Last night we were stuck with the USA coverage & I found it annoying & I like Steve Porino.

Course setting is an art, lasers don’t cut it.

They should hire a professional survey crew to place the gates.

This is essentially what they do & therein lies the problem. It will never be perfect but with some artistic license discrepancies can be anticipated & accommodations made. Slight differences in the snow or pitch from one side of the hill to the other need to be taken into account. There was obviously a trouble gate on the Red course & a fast area on the Blue. A change in gate placement of only a few inches in the correct spot can make a huge difference.

 

[crgildart]

Has anyone ever tried to have the same forerunner ski both courses several times and tweak it to the point where the times are within a half second or less between the two with the same skier running them?

 

[4ster]

Has anyone ever tried to have the same forerunner ski both courses several times and tweak it to the point where the times are within a half second or less between the two with the same skier running them?

I have set literally 100’s if not more dual courses over a 40 year span & this was always standard procedure. Of course the 2 tracks will deteriorate differently but again if you know the hill & the snow, accommodations can be made. On a 20 or 30 second course 1/2 a second is a lot. 1/10 to 2/10 is a more acceptable difference.
& yes the only fair solution is for racers to switch courses & have a dual on each.

in this day and age the rangefinder is a useful tool but instinct should also be part of the equation.

 

[Muleski]

Has anyone ever tried to have the same forerunner ski both courses several times and tweak it to the point where the times are within a half second or less between the two with the same skier running them?

I posted about 12 posts ago that MORE and better forerunners, with a pause to tweak might be a bit of a solution. But…..

As 4ster has, I have set more of these than I can begin to think of. It’s virtually impossible to get them all that close, let alone identical…..and as soon as the number of runs mount up, one course deteriorates more than the other…and perhaps in critical places. Ruts and shelfs develop. And….the critical time is when the final bracket, the two finalists or team finalists ski. One course is almost more trashed.

The only possible way that I know of is to have everybody ski BOTH courses. For the Olympics, I hear that it takes too much time. Screws up TV, etc. Which is understandable but doesn’t make for great racing.

The way it’s run really does add a dose of strategy. Which racer on which course…depends on who the opponent is. How to to BOTH get to three points AND have the fastest combined time combo.

More to it that I think most realize. Heck, didn’t the Germans substitute for Linus Strasser in the semis? And he tends to be fast at this…

Also spot on that a half second difference is a lifetime on these courses.

Could be better, I guess ; still fun to watch, IMO.

 

[scott43]

Well..that shitshow is over..here's to 2026 with our friends in Italy...

 

[Primoz]

Shitshow? From personal experience or just because "it's in China so it has to be bad"? Because I have several friends who were there, from athletes, coaches to servicemen or media, and pretty much everyone said it was amazing. Only pity was due covid restrictions that you weren't allowed to go anywhere out of your hotel/olympic village. For everything else, they all said it was perfect.

 

[Muleski]

@Primoz, I have heard much the same. I have heard over and over about how wonderful the people were. How well most everything was planned and executed. I did hear some comments that suggest that they felt "walled off" from a lot of the real Beijing. Like some of what might be considered "bad" of offensive was essentially hidden. I don't think that's unique to this OWG's.

I DID hear a lot of frustration about the alpine ski racing. Almost all due to the weather....largely the wind. And how the climate affects snowmaking and course prep. The delays, etc. Some bitching that things were "not fair." Heck, these are outdoor sports and they did their best. I did hear, over and over again that the venues they created....literally out of rock....were just amazing. Which I guess is what's leading to "talk" of it becoming a regular WC venue {that and the size of the Chinese market.}

When my fellow Americans bitch about the weather and the alpine races, I chuckle and say that but for a great tailwind in the Canyon pushing RCS, we might have closed the games with ZERO alpine medals.

No fan of China, politically, economically, etc. But it seems to those who were there for the games, that it was pretty special.

 

[Tony Storaro]

Shitshow? From personal experience or just because "it's in China so it has to be bad"?

Look at it from another angle: It is Italy, so WE WILL BE THERE and watch LIVE!
Cant wait. Unlike China, Italy is like home.

 

[Primoz]

@Muleski that "walled off" was pretty much only complain I heard, but for that, officially there was good enough reason... covid-19. I have absolutely no idea how it would be otherwise, and if you could freely walk around wherever you would want to. Maybe they could, maybe they couldn't, but in current situation, as I heard from everyone it wasn't allowed to go anywhere out of your hotel, except to race venue, ski room and bus to/from there due covid-19 restrictions. It's pity as I would be really disapointed if I would be there and couldn't go and see some of things they have there. But then again, current regulations on World cup (far far away from China) are very similar... you can actually exit hotel, but it's not recommended and team chiefs don't like to see you do that, there's absolutely no visits in ski rooms, no people from other teams or media allowed to visit anyone in that hotel etc. So not all that much different then it was in China.
Conditions... well yeah it's outside sport. But people forget super easy how great conditions were in Vancouver for example, where things were in my mind 10 times worse, yet noone was really complaining about how games should never be awarded to these Canadians. Here they went through relatively easy with very very little program changes. Now was snow what everyone were used to? No, but neither is in Lake Lousie or Beaver Creek either. Everyone in Europe complain that snow is different then what they are used to, yet noone is ever talking they should cancel those WC races because of that. It's outside sport and conditions were more or less same for everyone. Some got a bit more luck, some got a bit less, but it's always like that.
Politics and economy... for politics I don't really care and for me personally they are just the same as US cowboys exporting democracy around the world with bombs. Economically... we will be fucked real bad because of this. But then again, we handed them over everything, and probably very soon, we will get huge boomerang back. And that time it will be way too late to do anything, so we will just need to swallow everything and every term they will offer us. But neither politics nor economics is in my mind not topic to discuss on ski forum, as these sort of things never end up nice, so we should rather concentrate on snow, wind and fast or slow skis
@Tony Storaro I hope I'm wrong, but I somehow don't think I will see them live either. I'm certainly not going there as spectator, even if Cortina is 2h drive from my home, and I'm pretty sure I will never see Olympics in some official role. Never did, and probably never will. I kinda accepted this by now

 

[Tony Storaro]

I hope I'm wrong, but I somehow don't think I will see them live either. I'm certainly not going there as spectator, even if Cortina is 2h drive from my home,

Ermmm.....why?

 

[pipestem]

I've been to Beijing for work, several years ago, and did not appear to have any restrictions on movement, other than getting lost. All locals friendly and helpful. I suspect restrictions were mostly about covid, but times are a bit different now as well. I was not exactly a security or media risk or person of interest

 

[Muleski]

@Primoz,

I'm really "apolitical" to a huge extent, and the global economy I can'r control or influence. My days in the corporate world, and as a business owner are in the rear view mirror. One of the BEST things that ever happened to me was growing up for eight of my childhood years, in Europe. And being the son of a guy who was a big time "global" business exec before it was "a thing".....so I saw a lot of the world. I had been to Asia, including China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong as a teen. I've been to almost all of Europe, and the former USSR. So, I can readily see how "clueless" and USA-centric many of my peers are. Sad. I have many friends, some very "well to do" who have never traveled outside of the USA.

So, yeah the perception of these "China Olympics" is a bit "off" in some parts of this country. And if your business here in the USA "tanked" because somebody could better engineer, manufacture and distribute what you were doing.....sorry, Pal, it happens!

As you've said, those on the ground, in my circle were all positive. And yep, it's an outdoor sport! And everybody has their bitches about almost every venue at some point. Vancouver? HaHa. That close to the Pacific Ocean? What could go wrong?

Best!

 

[neonorchid]

Well..that shitshow is over..here's to 2026 with our friends in Italy...

Shitshow? From personal experience or just because "it's in China so it has to be bad"? Because I have several friends who were there, from athletes, coaches to servicemen or media, and pretty much everyone said it was amazing. Only pity was due covid restrictions that you weren't allowed to go anywhere out of your hotel/olympic village. For everything else, they all said it was perfect.

 

[neonorchid]

 

[Primoz]

@Tony Storaro this will probably sound super weird to most of you, but I'm not really typical sport fan. To be honest, I would say I'm not sport fan at all. I love sport, and I love skiing, as it's simply big part of my life, and if I couldn't ski anymore, I could probably say, life without skiing is not worth living, but I have been in one or the other role to so many races and competitions, including World championships, but never Olympics, that I honestly don't have any wish to stand there and watch people race.
In these 2 years of covid times and with this related millions of restrictions, I'm much less around WC tour, and to be honest, I don't miss it at all. I miss seeing all those friends I have there, but with most of these guys I'm good enough friend, that we regularly meet also out of ski rooms and race courses, so I catch up with them elsewhere... or I join them on training and get few nice turns between their training gates myself, like I did few weeks ago in Kranjska Gora on some of their last trainings before leaving for Beijing. With less of me being on WC tour, it means I can ski way more myself, and it's certainly not bad thing to have about 70 days on snow by middle of the winter
So while I would still like to experience Olympics in some sort of official role, I have no wish to be part of this as spectator. But in all these years, I realized that it's not going to work to do it the way I would want to. I know that my times of athlete, coach or serviceman are long gone, and as photographer, I'm not in right position for such huge event, that agency for which I freelance will pick me over their staffers. Sure there's still 4 years until then and things might change, but I don't really count on that. I'm fine with this, and I don't feel bad because of this (anymore)

 

[Primoz]

@neonorchid I'm not gonna write this again, but you can read my comment about "ugly coach who made everyone cry with her attitude toward her athlete" in Shiffrin thread. I still think if she wouldn't be Russian noone, and certainly not IOC president, wouldn't spend a second on such "case". But that's just my opinion about this. Not to mention, it's thing between Russian (not even Chinese) coach and Russian (not even Chinese) athlet, pretty much unrelated to China, except that it happened at Olympics held in China. Or do I understand right, that this would be perfectly fine thing, if it would happen in 2026 when Olympics would be in Italy?

 

[Muleski]

The whole Gu show is complete bullshit. But, once again, it's big business. Her mom is genius. This girl's been raised in the very "upper crust" of San Francisco. Her mother is smart. Her daughter is beautiful, some say a supermodel. All good.

The games have changed a wee bit. My first to see live was 1964 in Innsbruck. Slight change.

I have heard very recently that her annual income was {past tense} estimated to be $35Mil, largely Western luxury brands now being sold in China. Now, after the medals, the guesstimates are perhaps TWICE that.

Do I blame them? Heck, no. Go for it. China agreed to bend their principles re: citizenship. They got medals and press. It worked. It's in many respects no different that American snowboarder and Olympian Louie Vito III coming back to the games to compete for Italy, the country that his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs Louie Vito, emmigrated from. Louie had a great experience, evidently, won zero medals and probably had no financial windfall! HaHa.

Gu's going to be just like any other Stanford freshman. Sure, she is!

 

[scott43]

Wow this blew up! I didn't mean overall statement! Just the MS show, the Russian skater/doping thing, the alpine conditions and lack of course prep. Not a political statement!

Remember Vancouver? Green grass at Cypress?? Can't help the weather!

 

[neonorchid]

@neonorchid I'm not gonna write this again, but you can read my comment about "ugly coach who made everyone cry with her attitude toward her athlete" in Shiffrin thread. I still think if she wouldn't be Russian noone, and certainly not IOC president, wouldn't spend a second on such "case". But that's just my opinion about this. Not to mention, it's thing between Russian (not even Chinese) coach and Russian (not even Chinese) athlet, pretty much unrelated to China, except that it happened at Olympics held in China. Or do I understand right, that this would be perfectly fine thing, if it would happen in 2026 when Olympics would be in Italy?

Really ... Béla Károlyi, Dr Larry Nassar, Mary Cain and team Nike, Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis, I'll stop there.