Lindsey Vonn bags Sochi

[steamboat1]

I saw her a couple of weeks ago on the Letterman show. She blamed her original knee injury in Austria last year on the people running the race. She said the race was delayed because of weather & when the race was finally run in the afternoon the snow had softened. She blamed her injury on the soft snow & said the race should've never been run that day.

 

[drjeff]

I saw her a couple of weeks ago on the Letterman show. She blamed her original knee injury in Austria last year on the people running the race. She said the race was delayed because of weather & when the race was finally run in the afternoon the snow had softened. She blamed her injury on the soft snow & said the race should've never been run that day.

In her defense about that, there was controversy about the race officials and their call to run the race that day due to warm weather and overly soft snow. They had waited, and were literally down the the last few minutes they had to make the call to either start the race or cancel it for the day and they went with the start. Lindsey wasn't the only racer to crash because of the poor snow conditions on the course that day, and the race was called off after her injury and the course officials saw that the snow conditions weren't safe to have athlete's going 60+ mph on them. This isn't a simple case of her complaining because she was the only one to crash that day. There was plenty of controversy both before, during and after the race that day about the actions of the course offcials

 

[drjeff]

Here is the story I saw in the Huff Post

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Picture this for the Sochi Olympics: Bode Miller not allowed to defend his super-combined title, Lindsey Vonn limited to two events and other medal contenders held out of some of their favorite disciplines.
It's a scenario that top skiers are calling "absurd" but that could become a reality — at least, that's how the big Alpine nations are interpreting the International Ski Federation's (FIS) complex new Olympic qualifying rules.
"We're waiting for FIS to clarify what it means and how it works," U.S. Ski Team men's head coach Sasha Rearick told The Associated Press on Monday — three weeks before he has to name his team for Sochi. "It's critical that we have a fair solution and the top athletes can compete in the events they deserve to."
At issue are rules put in place last year to help smaller nations gain Olympic qualifying spots. In the fine print, the rules require skiers to finish a certain number of races in a discipline over last season and this season — up to Jan. 19 — to qualify for that event in Sochi. It's five races for the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, and three for the speed events of downhill, super-G and super-combined.
For the men's super-combined, those rules mean Miller, American world champion Ted Ligety and Austrian standout Benjamin Raich could all miss out. And the injured Vonn — if she decides to compete in Sochi — would be limited to just two events — downhill and super-G.
Miller took off last season to let his surgically repaired left knee heal, Vonn has not raced much since crashing at last season's worlds and subsequent knee surgery. And while Ligety won gold medals in super-G, super-combined and giant slalom at last season's worlds, he did not finish the only two World Cup super-combined races last season.
Raich and fellow Austrians Anna Fenninger and Kathrin Zettel also don't have enough results in super-combi.
"It's stupid. It's not a good rule," said Peter Schroecksnadel, the president of the Austrian ski federation. "The strongest nations should be able to have the strongest athletes."
FIS men's World Cup director Gunter Hujara is promising a last-minute change.

"We will handle it at the end," he announced at a team captain's meeting Sunday. "There may be some adaptations done in the next few days. That's the only answer I can give for now."
FIS secretary general Sarah Lewis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The rules states that the previous results don't have to come in a World Cup race, but could also be in the lower-tier Europa Cup and other FIS events.
That's why the Austrian ski federation set up FIS super-combined races on home snow in Innerkrems last week — one of which was won by Frederic Berthold, the son of Austria men's head coach Mathias Berthold. The Austrians were initially planning to enter Raich and other top athletes but then withdrew them, expecting a rule change.
Still, women's super-combis are scheduled for Innerkrems this week.
"It's crazy if you have to manipulate the system like that and implement races so you get starts," U.S. Alpine director Patrick Riml said.
With his gold-medal performance at the worlds as his only result, Ligety still needs two super-combined finishes to qualify. He could get one in the super-combi in Wengen, Switzerland, on Jan. 17, but would need one more.
"If they don't let the best guys race then it would be absurd," Ligety said. "It wouldn't be an event. ... They'll get it figured out. They'll make it so the best guys can race. It wouldn't make any sense otherwise."
Ligety, Miller, Vonn and the Austrians would still qualify for the Olympics in other events.
Another issue is the number of racers that the big teams can bring to Sochi. Usually, for teams like Austria, Switzerland and the U.S. it's 22. But for now, Austria and Switzerland are at 20 and the U.S. is only at 19.
But the numbers will go up once the small nations give back the spots they don't need — or can't fill.
"The big nations should not wait for small nations to give spots back so we can have our top athletes performing," Riml said. "They have to rethink the whole system. It's not right."
___

The fact that this new, screwed up rule could very well affect some major marquee AUSTRIAN stars and keep them out of Sochi medal potential means that it will be "fixed" and the stars will all be racing next month

 

[Nick]

http://www.denverpost.com/olympics/ci_24860180/lindsey-vonn-miss-sochi-olympics

Sent from my SCH-I545 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[croninovative]

Well now we just need Julia Mancuso and Ligety (and aging Bode) to pick up the slack!

 

[drjeff]

Well now we just need Julia Mancuso and Ligety (and aging Bode) to pick up the slack!

Ligety is a legit threat for at least 3 medals (GS, Super G, and Super Combined)

Michaela Shriffin is a legit threat for at least 2 medals (Slalom and GS)

Mancuso isn't skiing with her "A" game right now, but she's always had the reputation of being a big event skier

Bode had some solid early season results, and once again has a big event skier reputation

The rest of the women's squad has some serious speed event talent with Stacey Cook, Alice McKennis, Laurenne Ross and Leanne Smith all having either speed event victories or podium finishes last season on the world cup tour, and all are skiing well this year too. The women's speed team marquee name is Lindsey Vonn, but she isn't by any means the only threat to medal in speed events for te US Women! :flag:

The men's team, while not as impressive on paper with past podium results by as many athletes, has also always had the reputation of having a skier step up and get his first career podium in big events. Once again, as with the womens team, the "best" chance of that happening would be in a speed event, once you get past the likes of Ligety and Miller.

The US team should be bringing home a few medals from Sochi, even though Vonn won't be zipping up her race suit

 

[BenedictGomez]

At issue are rules put in place last year to help smaller nations gain Olympic qualifying spots.......Usually, for teams like Austria, Switzerland and the U.S. it's 22. But for now, Austria and Switzerland are at 20 and the U.S. is only at 19.
But the numbers will go up once the small nations give back the spots they don't need — or can't fill.
"The big nations should not wait for small nations to give spots back so we can have our top athletes performing," Riml said. "They have to rethink the whole system. It's not right."

Just more of the recent global trend of the scourge of what's ironically being called "fairness" being enforced and "competition" being marginalized.

 

[xlr8r]

Hopefully some of the media attention will be spread out to the rest of the team now. If Vonn ended up skiing, NBC would just be covering her non stop and ignore the others. Now Mikaela, Ted, Bode, Julia, and others will get more of the spotlight they deserve heading into the games. The general public has no idea who Mikaela and Ted are, even though they are the two best skiers on the team right now.

 

[ScottySkis]

She just adopted a dog that was missing a leg. Very cool to hear.

 

[billski]

It's Qburke...

Qhuat?

 

[Domeskier]

In her defense about that, there was controversy about the race officials and their call to run the race that day due to warm weather and overly soft snow. They had waited, and were literally down the the last few minutes they had to make the call to either start the race or cancel it for the day and they went with the start. Lindsey wasn't the only racer to crash because of the poor snow conditions on the course that day, and the race was called off after her injury and the course officials saw that the snow conditions weren't safe to have athlete's going 60+ mph on them. This isn't a simple case of her complaining because she was the only one to crash that day. There was plenty of controversy both before, during and after the race that day about the actions of the course offcials

I find it highly unlikely that she was not acutely aware of the snow conditions that day. If she thought it was not safe to race, she should have pulled out. If she decided to ski knowing the conditions, she has only herself to blame. I guess she wanted to preserve her point count for the season, or something, but I think it is a bit tacky of her to blame the officials.