Thread: Olympics

Just out of curiosity, what is the general / basic feeling about the current Winter Olympiad? My Russian / Ukrainian / Belarussian "net-pals" seem entirely disinterested in them. I've been told there is very little coverage of them on television, while there is 26 hours a day average here in US (yes, I DID say 26 hours, spread over a few different sub-networks).
I think they are pretty cool, Russia missed a medal today in Biathalon, US placed in top 10 which is a major accomplishment.
Do I just miss the 'Cold-War' era 'Jock-War' ?

Originally Posted by capecoddah

Just out of curiosity, what is the general / basic feeling about the current Winter Olympiad? My Russian / Ukrainian / Belarussian "net-pals" seem entirely disinterested in them. I've been told there is very little coverage of them on television, while there is 26 hours a day average here in US (yes, I DID say 26 hours, spread over a few different sub-networks).
I think they are pretty cool, Russia missed a medal today in Biathalon, US placed in top 10 which is a major accomplishment.
Do I just miss the 'Cold-War' era 'Jock-War' ?

I'm not sure about Winter, but I know for instance that АиФ had a pretty nice issue with all kinds of photos, etc. after the 04 Summer Olympics dedicated to coverage of the victors. I do think the TV coverage was signifcantly less than the states, though. As far as individuals go, I don't know, but this was emailed out in the latest JRL:

#3
Olympics - 75 percent of Russians to watch Turin Games

MOSCOW, February 10 (Itar-Tass) -- 75 percent of Russians will watch Turin Olympics, which is a six percent growth compared to the Winter Games in the United States four years ago, according to a poll by the Public Opinion Fund.

Twenty-two percent of over 2000 respondents in 100 towns and settlements polled in early February said they are not interested in the Olympic Games at all.

Russians are mostly interested in figure skating (46 percent), ice hockey (34 percent), cross-country skiing (31 percent), and biathlon. Every sixth respondent is interested in Alpine skiing.

Only one percent of the polled said they would watch such exotic sports for Russia, as curling, skeleton, and short-track.

An 84-percent majority is convinced the Russian team will perform successfully in Turin, while 46 percent said the Russians will top the medal list. 70 percent pin their medal hopes on figure skating, a third ­ on skiing and biathlon, and every fourth respondent ­ on ice hockey.

“Even in Alpine skiing, where the Russians seem to have no medal chance, six percent of the respondents hope for success”, the Fund said.

Athletes will compete for 84 medal sets in 15 sports at the Turin Olympics, which begin on Friday and close on February 26.

Russian Olympic Committee Vice President Vladimir Vasin believes the national team may hope for 25 medals, including six gold ones. However, the favorites, according to him, are the Germans with expected 14 golds, the Norwegians with 11, the Canadians with 10, and the United States with nine gold medals.

He agreed with the respondents that most Russian medals will be won in skiing, biathlon, and figure skating. In ice-hockey it would be difficult to win gold, as there are 19 NHL players in the team who will have “to play at sight”.

********

Out of my own curiosity, why did you use "Olympiad?" I think that IS the actual usage, but typically people in the US say "Olympics." Just wondering...?

And on an unrelated note, I refer you to this little snippet, which I found amusing (we have taught our new Capitalist bretheren well ):

"A team of lawyers has been sent to Turin ahead of time to address anything that could be used against our national team," Tyagachyov [ ROC Head] said, Interfax reported.

Я с радостью ожидаю фигурного катания на коньках! Я люблю смотреть на всех хорошеньких фигуристок!

Я тоже люблю хоккей! Болею за Россию!

I flew to Moscow on the opening day of the Athens Olympics. I saw quite alot about it in the newspapers, and the opening ceremony was on TV at he airport. But other than that I didn't watch much TV when I was there.

I would have thought Russia would be interested as it does well.

Barmaly gets 10 points for a great response. (why did I use Olympiad as a time reference? I thought it was cool, I get to use it every 4 years (don't argue)).
my "net pals" in former Soviet states don't watch, but their parents do...

25% of the Belarussian team is women on skis with guns.... I would like to say publicly "I love all my friends from Minsk. Don't kill me!"

The Games are a nice thing to get away from the day-to-day of diffences.

It is good to be a champion...

#2
Mosnews.com
February 15, 2006
Russian Olympic Champions to Get Up to $200,000 for Their Victories ­ Paper

Popular Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda published an article, which answers the question ­ how much will Russian Olympic champions receive for their victories in Turin? Before the start of Olympic Games the Russian sports authorities tried to keep the prize sums secret, although it was clear that the athletes were well aware of the figures. At a press conference in Turin the head of the Russian Federal agency for physical culture and sport Vyacheslav Fetisov said only that Russian Olympic champions will receive larger sums than athletes from other countries.

The sum was finally disclosed by the president of the Russian Olympic Committee Leonid Tyagachev after biathlon victory of Svetlana Ishmuratova. Tyagachev said: “Every Russian Olympic champion will receive $50,000 from the government and $50,000 from the Olympic Committee.” This means that gold medalists can count on receiving $100,000, silver medalists will receive $60,000 and bronze medalists ­ $40,000.

But this money is far from all. The athletes can also count on receiving prizes from their athletic societies which they represent, from the authorities of cities and regions where they live and from private sponsors. In addition to this the athletes will be greeted in Russia with valuable presents such as cars, apartments and diamonds. In particular, Russia’s uncut diamond monopoly Alrosa has promised to present each Olympic champion with a diamond. Altogether this means that Russian Olympians will be about $200,000 richer when they return home from Italy.

In addition to one-time prizes, Russian Olympic champions can count on monthly grants. Recently 11 Russian businessmen have created a special Fund for support of Russian Olympians. The fund was created on special insistence from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. The fund will provide Russian Olympic champions and their coaches with monthly grants of 150,000 rubles (more than $5,000). The most talented and successful athletes can also count on a special Presidential grant. The sum of this money prize has not been specified yet, but certain sources say that it is no less than 1 million rubles ($35,700).

Well, they're over...
I saw the Russian women's Biathalon team win (I was up that morning).
I wonder what the Vegas sports bookies would have placed the odds on Russia, Canada & USA hockey NOT getting a medal.

Really sorry for our hockey players (( Was ready to cry, after they've been defeated by the Finns.
BTW, is their something shorter standing for "a hockey player"?

Originally Posted by Stranger

Really sorry for our hockey players (( Was ready to cry, after they've been defeated by the Finns.
BTW, is their something shorter standing for "a hockey player"?

Nothing "official" immediately pops into my mind. Alot of times you'll hear things that are kind of "slangy", their team name, or just their positions. For instance, maybe you'll hear "hockey star" or just "star." Or it could be "Ilya Kovalchuk plays winger (or right-wing) for Russia." Or perhaps it would be "Thrasher Ilya Kovalchuk" or "Devil Martin Brodeur" or "Islander Rick DiPietro."

Originally Posted by Barmaley

Nothing "official" immediately pops into my mind. Alot of times you'll hear things that are kind of "slangy", their team name, or just their positions.

One of my dictionaries gives the following variants: hockeyist, stickhandler, stickman (just like in Russian - "клюшкари" )), puckster... Could you comment on them, please?

Approach my answer with a grain of salt, since I haven't been a hockey fan for a long time, but "hockeyist" is very bland sounding. A stiff-arse Victorian gentleman would use a word like that. I've never heard it. Stickhandler, I've heard, but not very often? Puckster just sounds like a made up slang word to me. But again, I'm not the authority on these things. There may be some life-longer hockey fans who will contradict me -- it could even be a regional thing too; Canucks, I would expect, have a few of their own choice terms...

Hockey Player is the best term for a single person playing the sport.

You could say, to make things shorter: "I feel really sorry for our team" and we would all understand just as well as if you had said "I feel really sorry for our hockey players"

Be glad you don't live in NZ where field hockey is the predominant form. Therefore we have to say "ice hockey player."

By the way, those other words sound foolish to me.

Kalinka_vinnie blesses himself for not living in NZ

Lol, I didn't know it was possible to bless... oneself!

In Russia we say хоккей на траве (hockey on grass), I know in N.Z. the number of ship is the biggest on the planet. I wish I could send our government there to N.Z. under control of local herders, to be grazed for a while, since the intellectual level of the governmanet meets the situation.

I see what you mean, but it'd be a bit difficult to get a massive oil tanker into a appropriate sized field where it can graze...

Originally Posted by basurero

I see what you mean, but it'd be a bit difficult to get a massive oil tanker into a appropriate sized field where it can graze...

Oil tankers? Are you smoking your socks again?

Mishau wants to send his government to graze in the NZ fields with the other sheep (or ship as mishau likes to call them )

Originally Posted by capecoddah

Just out of curiosity, what is the general / basic feeling about the current Winter Olympiad? My Russian / Ukrainian / Belarussian "net-pals" seem entirely disinterested in them. I've been told there is very little coverage of them on television, while there is 26 hours a day average here in US (yes, I DID say 26 hours, spread over a few different sub-networks).
I think they are pretty cool, Russia missed a medal today in Biathalon, US placed in top 10 which is a major accomplishment.
Do I just miss the 'Cold-War' era 'Jock-War' ?

Ever since Olympics turned into a competition of boosting-drug technologies, I've completely lost my interest. In addition, very soon there won't be any more athletes, only lawyers suing each other for medals. Such a disgrace.

Ever since Olympics turned into a competition of boosting-drug technologies

Olympics turned into a competition of boosting-drug technologies a long time ago... The just haven't been paying attention to the fact until now.