Making the Olympic Team

[benski]

I assume that the Israeli figure skaters with Russian names are not born in or from Israel, but are jews who have a right to citizenship

There team is really just team Jew, lol. Out of 10 3 live in Bergen country. 1 Boston 2 cali, 2 Ukrainians who moved to Israel at a young age, 1 person who lived in Israel his full life there, 1 Ukrainian who previous represented Ukraine and one brit who grew up up Switzerland and Israel. This is ridicules.

 

[Glenn]

Speaking of the Olympics and skiing..... Why do skiers wear GS suites in slalom? I don't see much wind resistance on a course that's comprised of tight turns.

 

[Hawkshot99]

Speaking of the Olympics and skiing..... Why do skiers wear GS suites in slalom? I don't see much wind resistance on a course that's comprised of tight turns.

You dont see much, but there is some. When a race can come down to such small time differences everything matters.

 

[BenedictGomez]

You dont see much, but there is some. When a race can come down to such small time differences everything matters.

The skier cross competitors wore far more aerodynamic clothing than the snowboard cross competitors, who wore baggy clothing.

Reinforcing the common knowledge that on average, skiers are smarter than snowboarders. ;-)

 

[gmcunni]

Reinforcing the common knowledge that on average, skiers are smarter than snowboarders. ;-)

OR . . . snowboarders have a better fashion sense

 

[VTKilarney]

OR . . . snowboarders have a better fashion sense

Which gets you nowhere closer to winning a medal.

 

[Funky_Catskills]

Which gets you nowhere closer to winning a medal.

Nobody wants to wear those tight suits...
Besides if everyone doesn't wear them then whats the issue?

 

[VTKilarney]

Besides if everyone doesn't wear them then whats the issue?

The issue is that the first person to wear one will have a distinct advantage!

 

[x10003q]

Why bother having countries at all then if we're just going to allow people to compete for whichever one they want as long as that country says ok? Allowing this to continue simply weakens the meaning of "country" in the Olympics.

Why do you care and how does this matter?

Sarah Schleper competed for Mexico because she married a Mexican. Does this diminish Mexico's sovereignty for you?

 

[cdskier]

Why do you care and how does this matter?

Sarah Schleper competed for Mexico because she married a Mexican. Does this diminish Mexico's sovereignty for you?

Poor example. She took the time to officially become a Mexican citizen through the right process and also actually lives in Mexico part of the time. In that scenario I see no issues with her competing for Mexico.

 

[Jcb890]

They took our jerrrbbss

 

[BenedictGomez]

They took our jerrrbbss

Coal mining and truck driving are not exactly jobs of the future!!!!!

 

[Jcb890]

Coal mining and truck driving are not exactly jobs of the future!!!!!

Clean coal baby! Its gonna be YUGE!!

 

[abc]

Here's another Olympic sham athlete. Apparently he only learned to ski last year, and it shows.

I found this in an article mentioning that there are actually a LOT of people who have no business being in the Olympics; maybe this sort of thing really is getting out of hand.

Why is he a sham athlete?

He's nowhere as good as the podium boys. But that doesn't make him a sham athlete. If no other better athletes from Mexico want to go to the winter games, what's so wrong about him going and "participate" in it, which for better or worse, WAS the stated purpose of the game.

 

[gmcunni]

I hadn't seen this about Elizabeth Swaney before"

"I just love challenges and I love how skiing is kind of a whole different world," she explained to Hoda Kotb. "I wanted to share that with others, so I became a ski instructor and just fell in love with freestyle skiing."

 

[BenedictGomez]

Why is he a sham athlete?

It's a gimmick.

They're making a mockery of the system (which, I guess to some extend deserves mocking it's so bad as others have pointed out), and often, for attention, fame, and personal fortune. I dont believe that's the "stated purpose of the games".

 

[abc]

It's a gimmick.

They're making a mockery of the system (which, I guess to some extend deserves mocking it's so bad as others have pointed out), and often, for attention, fame, and personal fortune. I dont believe that's the "stated purpose of the games".

I guess I miss what's so bad about it. Was there not a qualifying standard? Was there no time check that he had to pass to continue without being disqualified?

 

[SkiFanE]

People move around the world a lot. So always be legit competitors who have second citizenship. But I think the criteria should be "you did not become citizen to join Olympic team". Similar to getting residency in a state to get in-state college tuition. Some states say you can't if your move was solely for your education, even if you do "reside" there.

One i I have trouble with is the German figure skating pair who won gold - the woman has tried many time to win with a different partner, and newest just got his German citizenship right before olympics. Guess there were no good skaters in Germany lol.