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JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

WINTER OLYMPICS

Luge competition produces its 1st gold medalist

Sports Feb. 15, 2010 - 06:42AM JST ( 11 )

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11 Comments

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BurakuminDesFeb. 15, 2010 - 12:28PM JST

I believe this event is nicknamed "skeleton" - for good reason! It is likely you will be a skeleton by the end of the run!
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HumbledCatFeb. 15, 2010 - 12:42PM JST

Another gold medal was scheduled to be won later Sunday, in men’s moguls

Sooooo glad Begg-Smith didn't win gold. He's such a douchebag
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BurakuminDesFeb. 15, 2010 - 12:44PM JST

Sooooo glad Begg-Smith didn't win gold. He's such a douchebag

That may be true, but he has been good value for us since we purchased him from Canada : 1 gold and 1 silver! Always good to see the Aussies on the podium in any Olympics!
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haoushokuhakiFeb. 15, 2010 - 01:37PM JST

Glad to see no incidents happening on the course. I was appalled to hear a lot of the Canadian lugers complaining that their "homefield" advantage is lost because of the lowered starting point and flatter track.
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smithinjapanFeb. 15, 2010 - 02:31PM JST

Burakumin: I know you probably know this, but skeleton and luge are different events. The skeleton is even deadlier, and of course, as you suggested, hence the name.

haoushokuhai: "I was appalled to hear a lot of the Canadian lugers complaining that their "homefield" advantage is lost because of the lowered starting point and flatter track."

Where have you been hearing this? I've heard quite a few people complain about that in general, and some say they are relieved by it. Either way, it was the right thing to do, clearly. If people are whining, let them do just that, whine. If they lose that's all it will be seen for.
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BurakuminDesFeb. 15, 2010 - 03:20PM JST

Actually Smith I thought it was the same event - can it get any scarier than luge? Those guys have b*lls I tell you.....
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haoushokuhakiFeb. 15, 2010 - 04:08PM JST

Where have you been hearing this?

smithinjapan: One of the articles I read was this one;

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=txluglugetrackreaction&prov=st&type=lgns

“That home-track advantage? It’s basically gone,” Canadian women’s luger Regan Lauscher said.

Overall, most lugers are not happy with the changes, but respect them
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JunnamaFeb. 15, 2010 - 04:10PM JST

I would think it would be possible to create home-track advantage without killing people...
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stirfryFeb. 15, 2010 - 05:12PM JST

if you're winning medals because your "home track advantage" consists mainly of not letting other countries get in enough practice time, doesn't it cheapen the value of your medals ?
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xpompey8Feb. 15, 2010 - 07:35PM JST

Sooooo glad Begg-Smith didn't win gold. He's such a douchebag

Agreed, and not because he defected to the Aussie side. This douchebag has profited from creating and distributing malware/spyware on our computers.
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BrandedFeb. 16, 2010 - 02:12AM JST

"if you're winning medals because your "home track advantage" consists mainly of not letting other countries get in enough practice time, doesn't it cheapen the value of your medals ?"

Absolutely ! The news wires are hot on this ever expanding "scandal"-

-the Georgian luger who had just 26 practice runs down the course – as opposed to the 200 enjoyed by the Canadians.

-Such an imbalance, perhaps predictably, has brought fierce criticism, most notably from the Americans, but there was no hint of any concessions from the home team of three riders, most conspicuously the 14th-placed Jeff Christie. He could, it seemed, only lament the dissipation of his and his team-mates' advantage built up over two years before the opening of the Games.

-He said: "The changes certainly haven't helped us. I've had 200-plus runs from the top. We put a lot of time, money and effort into coming here to slide off the top and they decided to move it down... yes, it's definitely a disadvantage. I have had all those runs from the top and I have the rhythm down. It's mentally tough to be able to switch that rhythm and come down from the ladies' start. It's going to be a grind for the next two races."

Ouch- that was cold !

-Christie's team-mate, Ian Cockerline, in 21st place going into the last two runs, was a little more equivocal, saying: "Luge isn't fair. There's no fair system. There are home tracks for everybody. If we'd given everybody a lot of runs, we would have got in trouble for doing that because there is pressure on us to win medals."

Fortunately,

-The head of the American luge team, Ron Rossi, has been especially cutting. He says: "The Canadians have to be answerable for their position on training. A track like this demanded the weaker athletes get more time. I'm going to propose some changes, more training for the athletes. It's a terrible tragedy that has happened here but I hope that maybe in the end we can change some rules and never see anything like this ever happen again."

-"They knew they had problems from day one. They had people hitting the wall and going airborne. If you were already concerned about it and you already raised the wall, why didn't you keep going? And why didn't you protect the [metal] posts at the chance that maybe something could happen? I'm not the one to answer but that's the kind of question that needs to be asked."

OH Canada !