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Winter Olympics

Tough Rules

Zip your top up properly, leave the wig and false mustache in your chalet and, whatever you do, do not sip the wrong kind of cola. Doping aside, there are plenty of weird and wonderful ways to get yourself disqualified from the Winter Olympics and at times the rules and regulations governing each sport read like a pedants' manifesto. In ski jumping, for example, a competitor who fails to zip his suit up to the very top risks more than catching a cold.
Ref. https://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060221/od_nm/olympics_rules_dc

Olympics Winter

I am sure most, if not all of these rules came into being because at some point in time, them not being there caused confusion or helped an athlete do better in his/her sport. The rules do sound very rigid and pointless at times, but rules are rules, and it is the athlete's responsibility to know these rules, and adhere to them.

Winter Olympics Sports & Fashion Music Movies

I think that through the history of the winter olympics, the more pedantic rules were designed around safety during extended exposure to colder climates. As technology has changed and competitor safety is not as much an issue, some of the older rules now seem to be over the top.

Olympics Winter

Here were the final medal counts from the 2006 Winter Olympics



Country Total Medals Gold Silver Bronze
Germany 29 11 12 6
United States 25 9 9 7
Canada 24 7 10 7
Austria 23 9 7 7
Russia 22 8 6 8
Norway 19 2 8 9
Sweden 14 7 2 5
Switzerland 14 5 4 5
South Korea 11 6 3 2
Italy 11 5 0 6
China 11 2 4 5
France 9 3 2 4
Netherlands 9 3 2 4
Finland 9 0 6 3
Czech Republic 4 1 2 1
Estonia 3 3 0 0
Croatia 3 1 2 0
Australia 2 1 0 1
Poland 2 0 1 1
Ukraine 2 0 0 2
Japan 1 1 0 0
Belarus 1 0 1 0
Bulgaria 1 0 1 0
Great Britain 1 0 1 0
Slovakia 1 0 1 0
Latvia 1 0 0 1

Japan was a big surprise only winning 1 medal. On the flip-side, Canada had its best showing in a Winter games raking in only one medal short of the US total. More countries won medals in this games than any other.

Olympics Winter

Was anyone as dissappointed as me at Sasha Cohen's falls? She skated SO beautifully the night before, it was pretty much tragic! However, I do acknowledge that the first place winner skated beautifully as well. I would imagine it would be quite empowering and liberating to find out that your hardest competitor for gold would no longer be quite so hard, especially after all the work they put into their sport.

Offtopic but, You know, I just think that's the problem with competition. I know we can all be good sports and have a team spirit, etc, but for someone to win, somebody else has to loose! Kind of sad in my opinion.

Winter Olympics

Yes Dimavo, I was disappointed in Sasha's fall, but let's say I wasn't surprised. She has yet to prove that she can handle the pressure of being a top skater. It seems she is best when lurking behind the shadows and not the favorite. The last US nationals showed that she can win the big one if she puts her mind into it. I suspect she is young enough to make it to the next Olympics in Vancouver, and compete at a high level. Hopefully by that time, she will have the mental part of her game straightened out as well.