8 replies to this topic

[SoxFanSince57]

MOSCOW— The president of Russia’s Olympic Committee has become the first official to heed President Dmitri A. Medvedev’s demand for resignations after the poor showing by Russian athletes at the Winter Games in Vancouver.

Leonid V. Tyagachev, the president of the Olympic Committee, tendered his resignation on Wednesday, the committee spokesman, Gennadi Shvets, said on Russian television. Mr. Tyagachev said he was “prepared to heed the call of conscience or that feeling of guilt peculiar to the Russian person, even though the Olympic Committee does not answer directly for athletic results,” Mr. Shvets said.

Russians brought home only three gold medals out of a total of 15 medals from Vancouver, a far cry from the glory days of the Soviet Union when Russians dominated international athletics. This week, Mr. Medvedev denounced the state of Russian athletics and called on officials to “have the courage to submit their resignation.”

http://www.nytimes.c...4russia.html?hp

Edited by SoxFanSince57, 03 March 2010 - 06:22 PM.

[Fred not Lynn]

Not sure if this goes here, or maybe V&N, or in the other thread where we predict how badly the Russians will cheat in 2014, but this still comes from the flim part of the Sochi 2014 presentation during the closing ceremony at Vancouver;



I think it's pretty signifigant that they're bringing back the work tools...maybe not QUITE as sinister as if the Germans brought back the Swastika, but certainly some pretty heavy symbolism. Inclusion of those images was surely not a decision taken lightly - in fact I'd say it's a pretty big and deliberate middle finger to the rest of the world...

[dolomite133]

The Russian games are going to be a shitshow (and, on a side note, is it time to retire that phrase yet or what?). Remember those stories, about how the Canadians were self-conscious about "wanting to win?" That's not going to be a problem at Sochi. Those Russian athletes are going to compete with (figurative ... or maybe literal?) guns aimed at their heads.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure the Olympic cauldron will be lit by a burning Gary Kasparov, catapulted into a vat of Russian natural gas, with "Gazprom" written on the side of the tank in big cyrillic letters.

Edited by dolomite133, 16 March 2010 - 09:25 AM.

[DukeSox]

Not sure if this goes here, or maybe V&N, or in the other thread where we predict how badly the Russians will cheat in 2014, but this still comes from the flim part of the Sochi 2014 presentation during the closing ceremony at Vancouver;



I think it's pretty signifigant that they're bringing back the work tools...maybe not QUITE as sinister as if the Germans brought back the Swastika, but certainly some pretty heavy symbolism. Inclusion of those images was surely not a decision taken lightly - in fact I'd say it's a pretty big and deliberate middle finger to the rest of the world...

What the hell is that background? This popped into my head:

[barbed wire Bob]

What the hell is that background?

It's the Fortress of Solitude.

[Maalox]

I think it's some kind of drawbridge.

Apropos of nothing, the Russians are cleaning up at the Paralympic Games.

[Clemente38]

I think it's some kind of drawbridge.

Apropos of nothing, the Russians are cleaning up at the Paralympic Games.

Hey the USA sled hockey team won the gold and the Canadian's were not very happy about it. The Canadians all carried Japanese flags and rooted hard against the USA, but USA prevailed.

I might add that a UNH student, Taylor Chase won most valuable defensive player in the Olympics and was the backbone of the USA team. The goalie was certainly solid, and played extremely well, not allowing a goal for the entire competition, but Taylor was phenomenal.

Taylor was going to play standup hockey for UNH before his injury on the ice rink, he came to UNH, learned to play sled hockey through Northeast Passage and this is his second Paralympic team. Great story.

Here's a link for a story on Taylor:

http://unhmagazine.u...high_hopes.html

The conditions on the slopes wrecked havoc with the skiers and trying to fine tune their equipment. USA team suffered some serious crashes due to equipment issues.

[SoxFanSince57]

What the hell is that background? This popped into my head:

To be fair, the Russians built a very nice monument in NY to the victims of 9/11.
http://www.snopes.co...es/teardrop.asp
http://www.911monument.com/
http://www.911monume.../dedication.cfm

France gave us the Statue of Liberty. Now Russia has given us “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism,” another XXL, in-a-class-of-its-own monument. If you have not seen it, that may be because you haven’t recently approached New York City by ship. For those coming in from the Atlantic, through the Narrows, the Russian gift now heaves into view well before Lady Liberty. That is intentional, according to Zurab Tsereteli, the Moscow-based sculptor who created the monument. “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism” stands at the end of a long, man-made peninsula in Bayonne, New Jersey, and it looks from a distance like a giant tea biscuit. As you get closer, however, you will begin to make out an immense, stainless-steel teardrop—the Tear of Grief—hanging in a jagged crack that runs down the middle of the main slab. That’s when you’ll know that you’re not looking at some ordinary bronze-sheathed, hundred-and-seventy-five-ton afternoon snack.

Read more: http://www.newyorker...n#ixzz0lZwz0VAG

[Maalox]

It evokes a giant clitoris hanging over a vaginal opening. Is that why they got Clinton to unveil it?

I feel dirty just using the word "unveil" there.