XXI Winter Olympics - Men's Freestyle, Compulsatory Dance, Skeleton, Etc...

I finally saw the Mens' Freestyle skating program and wow! Evan Lysacek was incredible! He did an amazing routine, did flawless jumps, great music, everything was perfect! And he knew it - when he finished, he was grinning and then was pumping his fists and looked delighted. It was wonderful to watch.

I saw all of the skaters: Evan, who skated to Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade; Daisuke Takahashi, who skated to Rota's La Strada and had to have been heart broken when he fell on the first jump; Johnny Weir, who skated to various artists' Fallen Angel (I know I heard some of the music from City of Angels, which will rip your heart out - that, combined with excellent skating with so much feeling, was great; and Yevgeny Plushenko, who's music was okay and his skating was god, but he flubbed a landing and then went on to express some comments that gave away what a poor loser he is - not that a silver medal is losing! I was really disappointed with his comments after the medals ceremony.

And what made Evan all the more likable was how well he handled the commentary made by Mr. Plushenko!

I began watching the Olympic games of Friday, 19 February. Mens' skeleton was interesting, especially watching and hearing the chin piece on most of them scraping the ice as they sailed along the Whistler track. One guy clocked 90.5 miles an hour! What drugs must one be on to do this madness?! It was a hell of a competition to watch!

Then there was ski jumping, and now we have Compulsory Dancing. I'm not sure how this became an Olympic "sport". It is the same exact course, same exact music, same exact moves. The costumes were different. The skaters could vary slightly in the moves at the opening and the end of the number. But the commentator was unknown (I'm sure Scott Hamilton and the other two commentators for Mens' Figure Skating wouldn't touch this), the music was the same (GGGRRRRRRRRRR!) and this was dullsville. It was really quite dreadful.

Aaaahhhhhh - skeleton is back on! This is a sport I can completely enjoy! It is scary, amazing, death-defying (at least, we all hope so!) and speed-oriented. The only score is speed. If the rider flubs, well, that isn't good, but only because it slows the athlete down. This is an adrenalin junkie sport! I understand being an adrenalin junkie, so I understand wanting to do this. I wouldn't because my wussiness beats out my need for adrenalin, but I get it!

The women are not pushing 90 miles an hour, but even so, 86 miles an hour is close enough. I can't even imagine what this is like. For aerodynamic speed, you cannot lift your head too much... how does the athlete see where she's going? In fact, they are going so fast with almost no braking system, the Olympic person waiting at the stop point throws foam sheets out to stop the sledder. That is insane! Going 86 miles an hour in my car with excellent brakes is to me a little crazy!

They appear to steer with subtle body movements and some footwork. In luge it appears to be the opposite - the commentators find moving feet in luge to be quite offensive. I have no idea how they steer, but I suppose - except for the feet - it is the same thing. Little subtle body movements. Overt body movements will send the Olympiad off the track...

Wow! Gold for Great Britain's Amy Williams!

Tomorrow is the Closing Ceremonies. How disappointing. It is two weeks of incredible feats and amazing competition and just like that, it is over. I wonder how tomorrow's ceremonies will be. This year's Olympics were different all around... so many false starts, accidents, one fatality, acrimonious statements, poor sportsmanship, excellent sportsmanship, records broken and made!

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