[Pete]

For those of you following the olympics, here is the list of the top 5 countries and the number of medals they have won so far (bronze, silver, and gold):

1. Germany 15 medals
2. USA 11 medals
3. Austria 10 medals
4. Norway 10 medals
5. Russia 7 medals

Right now our Canadian neighbors to the north only have 3 medals, but that we still have 10 days of competition left.

[panini]

I just heard the Canadians have been given a co-gold medal!

[Athenaeus]

And the athletes accepted the charity??? Poor Olympic Games...

Let's focus to the good news, the North of the States gave to the country another golden medal
Congradulations

[panini]

Athenaeus,
I'm not quite understanding you post. The medal was charity? I'm assuming you don't think that they deserved it.
I was watching MSNBC and the IOC is really focusing on that nut from France. They weren't even going to make a descision until mon., but after her declaration the reversed immediately.
Does Greece hace a curling team? I love this sport!! I watched it last night. What a hoot!
I grabbed the mop from Paco this morning and told him to send the bucket across the kitchen. I mopped in front of it. Paco was on the phone after that with his wife explaining in spanish that the grande jefe finally lost it.

[Athenaeus]

Grande Jeff

In my opinion, part of the Games is a wrong judgement or a bad judgement.
From the beginning of this story I found hard to believe that a country with a tradition in ice skating like Russia, needed to buy the jury comittee in order to obtain the golden medal.
Maybe this thing happened.
Bribery since antiquity, since the first Olympics in Olympia that we are going to visit together when you come, was something very common.

But,If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't accept the medal AFTER the contest.

It's a matter of pride.For me pride is everything in this world.

If I were them I would send the medal to this French judge that they say that she accepted pressures.


And there is a second issue here. Maybe is the only issue.

Why to share the medal?

If the Olympic Committee has the guts , all it has to do is take the medal from the Russians and give it to the Canadians.

Simple things

Curling team? We have nothing that has to do with ice
I went to the beach today BTW and I swam because it was very hot

[Pete]

Even though Canada has been awarded a co-gold their medal count is still only at three, since all that happened was that their silver was replaced by a gold.

[Risa]

If one of my goals of participating in the Olympics was so I would forever be acknowledged as a gold medalist, then I would definitely accept the gold medal even after what happened. In 20 years, many of the younger generations will not know of what happened this past week and will only hear them being referred to as Olympic gold medalists Sale and Pelletier. For example, the Fratianne skating incident from 1980 has been brought up several times this week. I didn't know anything about figure skating back then and I had only heard of people referring to Linda Fratianne as an Olympic silver medalist. In the many years of watching skating since then, I did not hear once about how she really deserved a gold and that there was a huge scandal during those Olympics. That's a huge disservice to a great athlete.

I'll admit to bias since I am a Canadian, but I honestly believe that Canadians have been treated badly by skating judges on more than this single occassion. Even if bad judgement, wrong judgement or bribery has been part of the Olympics, those judgements should be corrected once identified so that the hard-working and deserving athletes can be properly recognized.

As for the Russians having to resort to bribery, that's not all that surprising to me since their athletics programs are no longer of the same calibre as 20 years ago. Their athletes are no longer as invincible as they once were. They do not have the same quality of training, facilities, funding and special citizen status. Many of the skaters now train in the US or Canada with their American and Canadian competition. Their coaches may still be Russian, but those same coaches are also coaching and improving the quality of American and Canadian skaters. It's getting more difficult for the Russians to always win based entirely on merit, yet they still have the same pressures to win as before.

[Pete]

I have not followed this very closely, but I have been following this. I haven't heard anything, really, about the Russians bribing anyone. I heard that the French Skating Federation pressured the judge due to the fact that the Russians have been a dominate force for 40 years and people did not want to see that change. Did I miss something, somewhere along the line?

[marmalady]

Pete - what I heard re the Russians initially (then it was all hushed up rather quickly) was that the Russian Federation went to the French Federation, and told them that if the French judge voted pro-Russia in the pairs, then Russia would vote pro-French in the ice dancing. This was all hushed up pretty fast, and the focus was centered on the poor French judge with a 'fragile emotional state'. Then the man who's the head of the ISU, when asked during a press conference, said that investigations would be ongoing, but he was not free to discuss any details. Then the Canadians got their medal, and everything has sort of faded into the distance.

BTW, I do not feel it was fair to have the Russian pairs on the podium when the Canadian couple got their medal; they already had their spotlight and this was the Canadian's night. Oh well.

Also BTW, did anyone see the medal ceremony for the three young Americans who swept the snowboarding competition? My husband and I burst out laughing - it was like 'Bill and Ted Go To the Olympics' ' duuude!!!!

I really hope Michelle Kwan takes it tonight; she's got so much spirit and guts, not to mention beauty and grace.

[Pete]

Yes, the snowboarders kill me!!

[Kimmie]

Ditto for Michelle Kwan!

[Shimmer]

I didn't watch the ice dancing final skate, but I did notice the French did indeed win. Did they deserve it, or was this the final aspect of the hush-hush agreement between the Russian and French judge?

I have been missing most of the events, because I get home at 11:30 PM, but they usually replay them from 1-3 AM if I can stay awake. The snowboarding was incredible, I think that impressed me the most. These athletes are incredible.

~~Shimmer~~

[marmalady]

Shimmer, IMHO, yes, the French did win; it overall was not a very exciting program for any of the skaters; quite a few of them made noticeable errors, or fell, or stunted their program. But the French couple danced with an excitement and ease that was not there for the others.

Go Michelle!!!