[murd0c]

Since they started yesterday with the Canadian woman's hockey team beating the Swiss 12-1 I thought a new thread is needed.

Let's hope covid is controlled so things don't get out of hand in China and all of the athlete's are safe.

[unit]

watch, the athletes are all gonna throw up those gang signs and piss off china

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/beijing-winter-olympics-xinjiang-score-for-rights-1.6332234

[GLOW]

i'm imagining someone at the pub not knowing chinese signaling a hand gesture to get a drink/beer, and then get arrested for making the political statement. :pokerface:

[Traum]

Fun fact -- 11 out of the 24 Chinese Olympic hockey team players are Canadians! So perhaps in addition to cheering for the Canadian team, we should also cheer for the Chinese team LOL~

Apparently CBC Gem (https://gem.cbc.ca/) will stream the Winter Olympics for free.

[teggy604]

Fun fact -- 11 out of the 24 Chinese Olympic hockey team players are Canadians! So perhaps in addition to cheering for the Canadian team, we should also cheer for the Chinese team LOL~

Apparently CBC Gem (https://gem.cbc.ca/) will stream the Winter Olympics for free.

Ya, I read an article about that. I think its not right they waived the Chinese national team aside.

[Razor Ramon HG]

My friend is on the Chinese hockey team.

He was laughing because for some of the players on the team, they changed the spelling so it's in pinyin pronunciation and putting that on the jerseys.

e.g. Jeremy Smith is now Jieruimi Shimisi

My friend is a white-washed halfer, so he doesn't have a Chinese name. When he went to China for the first time, they apparently asked him for one. He said he didn't have one so they made one for him. We were joking he should've gave them another friend's Chinese name because as it turns out that would've been on the jerseys instead.

[Teriyaki]

Can someone explain how/why the parameters of choosing to represent another country? Since China doesn't recognize dual citizenship, how are Canadians or other citizens from countries like the US getting to just choose to represent a different country? Do you just need an Asian face and, bam? Or even worse, are there no real rules about your country of representation and a country can just "buy" their athletes?

[CivicBlues]

I don't really think there's any rules at all. Say you're a middling Olympic skating hopeful in the Canada, but then you find out your Grandmother was from Jamaica and now boom, you immigrate there, get citizenship and now you're a shoe-in for their Olympic team. Whereas if you stayed in Canada you'll probably get cut from the team. I'm sure some countries offer pay-for-play service as well. I mean 2 olympics ago this Korean guy decided he wanted to compete for Russia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_An
Ahn trained in Russia and received Russian citizenship to compete for Russia in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Ahn's father stated that the decision was due to lack of support from the South Korean skating association.[28] Prior to moving to Russia, Ahn did not know the Russian language and had no familial ties to Russia. He had considered competing for the United States, but found that the process for gaining Russian citizenship was much easier. He chose "Viktor" as his Russian name as it derived from Victory,[29] and to pay tribute to Viktor Tsoi, a Soviet rock star of ethnic Korean descent.[30]

In South Korea, a furor erupted over the loss of Ahn to Team Russia, after his participation in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Several newspapers reported the scorn of the South Korean public and newspaper editors on the actions of the skating federation. The minister of sport and president of South Korea both promised action in rooting out corruption and feuding at the organization that may have led to his "defection", in a bid to clean it up in preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. The South Korean public is generally supportive of Ahn.[31][32][30] In September 2018, Ahn announced his retirement from short track and moved back to South Korea.[33]

[Traum]

Can someone explain how/why the parameters of choosing to represent another country? Since China doesn't recognize dual citizenship, how are Canadians or other citizens from countries like the US getting to just choose to represent a different country? Do you just need an Asian face and, bam? Or even worse, are there no real rules about your country of representation and a country can just "buy" their athletes?
That's exactly what China and the IOC refuses to talk about. For this to work, one of the following has to happen:

1) The player / Olympic athlete either renounces his original citizenship and get naturalized as a Chinese citizen

2) The IOC grants the exception to allow a non-Chinese citizen to represent China in the Olympic Games

3) China disregards or grants an exception on its dual citizenship rule by allowing these players to retain their original citizenship while naturalizing them as Chinese citizen

My bet is they are doing #3 while conveniently sweeping all the messy details under the rug. Eileen Gu -- this all-star snow sports skier -- is representing China in the Winter Olympics despite being an American citizen (with a US dad and a Mainland Chinese Mom). Some US department is supposed to publish on an annual basis a list of all former American citizens who have renounced their US citizenship. People have looked into those records in the years prior to the Olympics, and they have not see this Miss Gu on the US citizenship renunciation list. And she conveniently coins the line that "When she is in China, she is a Chinese citizen, and when she is in US, she is American."

Representing another country in these national level games is hardly new. But I don't recall the same degree of sloppiness in following through the proper naturalization process in the past.

[GLOW]

it's like the reverse where asians immigrating to north america and were given anglo-sized names, like someone named Leung could be Leon :lol

[EvoFire]

That's exactly what China and the IOC refuses to talk about. For this to work, one of the following has to happen:

1) The player / Olympic athlete either renounces his original citizenship and get naturalized as a Chinese citizen

2) The IOC grants the exception to allow a non-Chinese citizen to represent China in the Olympic Games

3) China disregards or grants an exception on its dual citizenship rule by allowing these players to retain their original citizenship while naturalizing them as Chinese citizen

My bet is they are doing #3 while conveniently sweeping all the messy details under the rug. Eileen Gu -- this all-star snow sports skier -- is representing China in the Winter Olympics despite being an American citizen (with a US dad and a Mainland Chinese Mom). Some US department is supposed to publish on an annual basis a list of all former American citizens who have renounced their US citizenship. People have looked into those records in the years prior to the Olympics, and they have not see this Miss Gu on the US citizenship renunciation list. And she conveniently coins the line that "When she is in China, she is a Chinese citizen, and when she is in US, she is American."

Representing another country in these national level games is hardly new. But I don't recall the same degree of sloppiness in following through the proper naturalization process in the past.

This is nothing new, China granting honorary citizenship for people who would further their world standing. It's not just China that does it really as a lot of countries do it for different reasons.

It came out a few years ago when Jeremy Lin was the hot thing in NBA that China tried to buy his citizenship but he told them no.

[Hondaracer]

Look back at the closing ceremonies of the last olympics and look at Qatar and the UAE, they are all Australians etc.

[68style]

Fun fact -- 11 out of the 24 Chinese Olympic hockey team players are Canadians! So perhaps in addition to cheering for the Canadian team, we should also cheer for the Chinese team LOL~

Apparently CBC Gem (https://gem.cbc.ca/) will stream the Winter Olympics for free.

Adam Cracknell, who was on the Canucks before, was going to be on the Chinese Olympic team... but now he is on the Canadian one lol...

This writeup on the Athletic is quite detailed about how China is doing it:

Being an Olympian in 2022 has long been part of Adam Cracknell’s plan. It’s just how he arrived at this point that’s unlike anything he could have imagined.

After signing with the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star in 2019, Cracknell intended to continue playing for them through the Olympics. That way one of hockey’s ultimate journeymen would have some job security and could have been eligible for the Chinese men’s national team.

A lot has changed since then. Instead of yellow stars on his red jersey, Cracknell will wear a maple leaf after he was officially named to Team Canada on Tuesday.

“It wasn’t my goal just to play for the (Chinese) Olympic team,” Cracknell said. “It was nice to have a job for a couple years and be somewhere where I was relatively comfortable. COVID just threw a wrench in it like everyone else’s lives.

“Now, I’m going to take advantage of the opportunity and hopefully represent my country as best I can.”

Rather than leading the way in Kunlun, Cracknell is amid his second season with the Bakersfield Condors, the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL affiliate. He signed a two-way contract with the Oilers for 2020-21 and an AHL-only deal this season to return to Bakersfield.

Cracknell was on Hockey Canada’s radar when it was announced in late December that NHL players wouldn’t be going to the Olympics. He got the blessing to take a leave from the Condors from Oilers GM Ken Holland, who was part of the management team with NHL players.

Cracknell is third in Condors scoring with 23 points in 28 games but brings more to the team as the oldest player, 36, and an alternate captain.

“I would characterize him as team-first, glue guy, someone who brings it every day,” Condors coach Jay Woodcroft said. “He is the type of player teams win with.”

Cracknell is ready and willing to do whatever he can to help Canada reach its goal of a gold medal.

But he’s also looking forward to touching down in China again and playing in a place he and his family were coming to enjoy.

“Maybe me being the only one that’s been to Beijing, I might be able to help guys out,” he said. “We all have the same goal and we’re all going to contribute in different ways.”

His first stint in China was a great life experience for Cracknell, his wife, Teresa, and their two young daughters at the time, Lynde and Bryde.

But it was also a whirlwind season filled with mentoring younger players, endless travel and stress and uncertainty as a pandemic began — factors that put Cracknell’s well-regarded leadership skills to the test.

Cracknell was running out of options.

He’d had a fine 2018-19 season for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and San Diego Gulls, recording 38 points in 46 games. He’d even gotten NHL time with the Ducks and appeared in two games. But after 16 years bouncing across the pro hockey scene in North America — which included 210 NHL games, eight for the Oilers in 2015-16 — Cracknell had no contract offers.

He started to wonder if his career might be over.

But two of his Gulls teammates, Trevor Murphy and Andrej Sustr, had signed to play for Red Star. Their coach was Curt Fraser, an assistant when Cracknell played for the Dallas Stars in 2016-17.

Thankfully, Cracknell had some connections, too, and he signed on July 4, three days after NHL free agency opened.

“This is a perfect player for us,” Fraser thought when he heard Cracknell was available. “We were fortunate to get him.”

Cracknell left his offseason home in Cranbrook, B.C., in late July to attend training camp. Teresa and the girls joined him two months later and they lived in an apartment in downtown Beijing.

Kunlun’s rink was 45 minutes outside of the city, so attracting fans wasn’t always easy. Red Star games usually saw between 1,000 and 2,000 spectators in attendance.

“It was like an old factory,” Cracknell said. “It wasn’t the biggest arena. They ran it professionally.

“The experience with the people was always great. They were very friendly. We really enjoyed it. My daughters had fun at the games. It was just a long ride home.”

On and off the ice, Cracknell was one of the leaders on a team that was sometimes out of its depth.

Cracknell would help some of his teammates and those in the VHL (like the Russian league’s AHL) learn the finer points of the game such as forechecks and proper body positioning.

“It was fun to talk with them about how we do things in North America and teach them the game away from shooting pucks,” Cracknell said. “We had an instant bond through the game of hockey.”

“He took charge,” Fraser said. “He knew that we needed him to do that because we had a lot of kids who weren’t ready to play in the KHL. He worked with them every day in practice. He was always a guy you could really count on.

“When things got tough, he dug in. When things were good, he was your best player.”

Cracknell missed 10 games that season due to injury. “It killed us,” Fraser said.

But the situation around the team overall really worsened in December. Players started to get sick and run down. A couple of them ended up in the hospital for a week in January due to illness. It seemed like no one had any energy.

The team was preparing to leave for a road trip before the end of January when Red Star officials were told at the airport they might not be allowed back in China because Wuhan had been shut down. The coronavirus has been spreading in Wuhan, a city 1,160 kilometres south of Beijing, since late December.

They never went back to China.

“We ended up travelling for six weeks in Russia,” Cracknell said.

Luckily, Teresa and the kids got out of the country a couple days after Red Star’s road trip commenced. They went to Bali, Indonesia. Teresa’s parents were visiting in Beijing but they continued on to their planned vacation in Hawaii.

“They basically got out of there in the nick of time before they started doing the lockdowns,” Cracknell said.

Red Star had some of the worst travel in the league with flights as long as 12 hours that span eight time zones. The last few weeks before their season wrapped up at the end of February outside of the playoffs were far from easy.

Cracknell was the team “ace,” Fraser said. He kept the mood light, trying to keep his teammates’ minds off the lousy situation.

“When the COVID problem hit, that really put a damper on everything. But still, the boys played hard, and Adam was a huge part of that,” the coach said. “We made the best of it. It was a good thing we had guys like Adam on the team. Otherwise, it would have been really tough.”

Cracknell joined his family in Bali once the season was over. They stayed for a few weeks because their home in Cranbrook was being rented out.

“I brought my gear to Bali, but there was no ice,” he said, jokingly.

That type of quip is what Cracknell is all about. Though he’s a driven competitor, he’s easygoing in the dressing room and away from the rink. Deep down, he’s a kid at heart. That heart is big, too.

That’s part of the reason why teammates love him, and why many people have a favourite story about him.

Oilers forward Devin Shore was a rookie when he was teammates with Cracknell in Dallas in 2016-17. It was Cracknell who showed Shore the ropes and made sure he was adjusting well to the NHL.

So, Shore happily recalled Cracknell recording his only NHL hat trick against San Jose. Cracknell wore a stuffed shark hat with the teeth around his head during postgame interviews.

“He was pumped, and the guys on the bench were pumped for him,” Shore said. “It wasn’t like it was Jamie Benn or Tyler Seguin getting a hat trick. That was memorable for me.”


Fraser thinks back to a road game against one of the KHL’s top teams when Cracknell skated down the left wing, stepped over the blue line and ripped a howitzer of a wrist shot off the crossbar and in. The goal spurred Red Star to an unexpected victory.

“The entire building took a breath — and then everybody stood up and cheered,” Fraser said. “I don’t know if they’d ever seen a shot like that.

“If you would have seen this shot, it would have made all the highlight tapes for the NHL. It was absolutely incredible.”

Oilers assistant coach Glen Gulutzan was part of Vancouver’s staff when Cracknell was with the Canucks for part of the 2015-16 season. He also coached him in the ECHL with the Las Vegas Wranglers in Cracknell’s first two pro seasons.

Back then, Cracknell was “leading the brigade” to the Palms Casino, Gulutzan said. Cracknell, ever the social butterfly, had connections to clubs and shows and always put his teammates first.

“He did all these things that brought people together,” Gulutzan said.

That rings true for Woodcroft, his present-day AHL coach. Cracknell is the guy who organizes team meals on the road and makes sure no one is left alone during a holiday in Bakersfield.

“He has a knack for pulling people in rather than pushing them away,” Woodcroft said.

In a short-term tournament like the Olympics, creating positive team dynamics can be important.

But Cracknell isn’t going to Beijing to be just a cheerleader or mental skills coach.

“I like to have fun at the rink, but when it’s game time we’re trying to push each other,” he said. “You have to find a way to bring guys into the fight. That starts by leading by example.”

It’s easy to look at Canada’s roster — which features the likes of top 2021 NHL draft picks Owen Power and Mason McTavish, along with three-time NHL 40-goal scorer Eric Staal — and not notice Cracknell’s name.

However, Cracknell is the “perfect Swiss Army knife of a player,” said Oilers centre Ryan McLeod.

Cracknell isn’t known for being the fleetest of foot, but the Olympics are being played on NHL-sized ice. He can play all three forward positions and both special teams.

“He has so much in his bag of tricks,” said McLeod, Cracknell’s teammate in Bakersfield for most of last season. “You can throw him anywhere and he’ll be successful.”

That’s how Fraser describes Cracknell’s role with the Stars five years ago. Cracknell was generally a fourth-liner but was the forward who often got moved up the lineup in the event of underperformance or injury of a teammate. He had 10 goals and six assists in 69 games in 2016-17 — all season highs for him in the NHL.

“I’d take Adam on my team any day,” Fraser said.

It’s not hard to find people who are overjoyed by Cracknell making the Olympic team.

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar has known Cracknell since he was 20. Cracknell’s family billeted Bednar when he played his one season for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders. He also coached Cracknell for three AHL campaigns.

“I love the story. I’m really happy for him,” he said. “Whenever you see a guy that worked at something for so long to get the recognition that he deserves … that’s important.”

One of those seasons was in 2011-12 with the Peoria Rivermen. Defenceman Shaun Heshka was on that team and said Cracknell going to the Olympics warms the heart of every journeyman.

“We’re pretty proud to see him out there,” Heshka said.

Cracknell left California on Monday for Switzerland where the Canadian team is gathering before flying into Beijing next Wednesday.

There are concerns about returning to China, a place he had to leave because of a pandemic that’s still ongoing. Cracknell said he didn’t contract COVID-19 while he was in China but got it recently — at the end of November — so he hopes he’s in the clear during the event.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little bit worried,” he said. “We know the risks going over.

“I hope I can get away scot-free and have a great tournament, we do well and come home with a gold medal and everything’s perfect.”

There won’t be any culture shock about being in Beijing, Cracknell said. He should be at least somewhat used to his surroundings.

One difference is his wife and three girls — his youngest daughter, Sophie, was born last May — won’t be joining him this time due to the tight restrictions for the Games.

He’ll have lots of stories to share with Lynde, Bryde and Sophie in the years ahead, though; how he went over to China, could have played in the Olympics and then ended up at the Games with Canada in the end.

“When they get older, I can tell them about the experience and the things that we got to go through and they’re going to be very proud,” he said.

For one final twist, Canada is also in the same group as China.

That means Cracknell will play against some of his ex-teammates — people he led and taught not so long ago.

“To play against those guys, it’s going be a lot of fun for myself and I hope for them, too,” he said.

[winson604]

That's exactly what China and the IOC refuses to talk about. For this to work, one of the following has to happen:

1) The player / Olympic athlete either renounces his original citizenship and get naturalized as a Chinese citizen

2) The IOC grants the exception to allow a non-Chinese citizen to represent China in the Olympic Games

3) China disregards or grants an exception on its dual citizenship rule by allowing these players to retain their original citizenship while naturalizing them as Chinese citizen

My bet is they are doing #3 while conveniently sweeping all the messy details under the rug. Eileen Gu -- this all-star snow sports skier -- is representing China in the Winter Olympics despite being an American citizen (with a US dad and a Mainland Chinese Mom). Some US department is supposed to publish on an annual basis a list of all former American citizens who have renounced their US citizenship. People have looked into those records in the years prior to the Olympics, and they have not see this Miss Gu on the US citizenship renunciation list. And she conveniently coins the line that "When she is in China, she is a Chinese citizen, and when she is in US, she is American."

Representing another country in these national level games is hardly new. But I don't recall the same degree of sloppiness in following through the proper naturalization process in the past.

Ahh thanks I've been randomly seeing tons of videos on my youtube feed on Eileen Gu and was wondering how it worked. Didn't care enough to look obviously though lol.

[StylinRed]

Read a story saying half of canadians (or those polled anyway) are making a conscious effort to not watching the Olympics given china's human rights violations and the fact they kidnapped the two Michael's

I don't normally watch the Olympics so I'll probably miss it anyway, but what are your guys thoughts?

[murd0c]

I will watch because I honestly love the winter Olympics and for support for Canada. I agree about the human rights violations and think it shouldn't be held in China but this is about the amateur athlete's who have been training all of their lives to get here which is all I really care about.

[SkinnyPupp]

It's weird there... They're basically in a bubble, like an actual strict one unlike Tokyo.


https://twitter.com/selinawangtv/status/1488709488249081857

Everything is constantly being sprayed down with lysol to the point where the floors are always slippery. Everyone is in hazmat suits with Olympic logos on them, including all staff like bartenders

https://twitter.com/saitomri/status/1489151047507800064

Some places employ robots instead, many of which malfunction, because it's 2022 Earth not 2370 on the Enterprise

https://twitter.com/jgriffiths/status/1488815635098664971

I found this amusing - some hotels have special hotspots with VPN so travelers get access to banned services

https://twitter.com/suilee/status/1489184868244279302

[Hondaracer]

Huge fan of the olympics in general but not going to go out of my way to support this one and all the grossness that goes with it.

[Teriyaki]

It's a shame because generally I much prefer watching the Winter Olympics over the Summer Games.

Just fyi, for legal streams, seems like both CBC Gem and Amazon Prime Video are covering it.

[Tim Budong]

Winter games > Summer Games for me

It's a big year for Canadian Sports, the men's football team is most likely to qualify for the world cup too.

[teggy604]

So what happens after the Olympic with these players? Can they call themselves Chinese citizens? Or will China take away their Chinese citizenship? Lol

[Teriyaki]

So what happens after the Olympic with these players? Can they call themselves Chinese citizens? Or will China take away their Chinese citizenship? Lol

Only if they win and bring glory to the motherland.

[underscore]

I stopped watching a couple years ago. The Olympics sounds more absurd every time it happens. All the corruption and bribery, the constant doping issues, the wastefulness of building these huge facilities from scratch every few years (half the time with some ethical shenanigans involved), China and their bullshit hosting it again and now it sounds like half the athletes aren't even from the countries they "represent." Not to mention nobody gives a shit about most of these sports the rest of the time so people are spending years of their lives and tons of money training just for this one thing.

Why do we still bother with this?

[68style]

^
Cuz it makes some people a fucking TONNE of money

[SkinnyPupp]

Dutch journalist removed by security in the middle of his live report

https://twitter.com/NOS/status/1489578149507698689

News anchor: "We're going to China, to correspondent. Sjoerd, you're standing near the stadium. What will China show the next few hours?

*scuffles*

Sjoerd in Chinese to security: "wait a minute, we're broadcasting"

Sjoerd in Dutch: "We are, as you can see, being pulled away. We already were removed from another spot just now. I am afraid that we will have to get back to you later."

News anchor: "let's move on to the next topic"

...

News anchor: "Let's go back to our correspondent Sjoerd den Daas. He was just at the stadium.

Look, he is now finally here, without somebody to keep him company, in peace.

Sjoerd, strict measures because of the covid pandemic. What have you noticed?"

[Eff-1]

China pays foreign hockey players quite well. Six figures to play. In some cases it's a lot more they'd make here. Especially female players. So it's tempting to go overseas and make a comfortable wage playing hockey full time, whereas in Canada it's not possible for many talented players.

[SkinnyPupp]

My friend is on the Chinese hockey team.

He was laughing because for some of the players on the team, they changed the spelling so it's in pinyin pronunciation and putting that on the jerseys.

e.g. Jeremy Smith is now Jieruimi Shimisi

My friend is a white-washed halfer, so he doesn't have a Chinese name. When he went to China for the first time, they apparently asked him for one. He said he didn't have one so they made one for him. We were joking he should've gave them another friend's Chinese name because as it turns out that would've been on the jerseys instead.
Do you know what their expectations are in the tournament? Are they just hoping to finish higher than previous years?

[SkinnyPupp]

Putin sleeping during Ukraine's entrance

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FKwbM8VVEAAhPAS.jpg

[Hondaracer]

Putin don’t wear a mask period.

[SkinnyPupp]

Joe Rogan masturbating to that picture of Putin without a mask

"what an alpha" :fappery:

[keifun]

Saw highlights of Womens' Hockey. What a Shocker! JPN beats SWE . Didn't see that coming.

[Razor Ramon HG]

Do you know what their expectations are in the tournament? Are they just hoping to finish higher than previous years?

I can't speak for the team, but I would say that they're pretty aware that they're the weakest team in the tournament and are facing extremely talented teams in the group stages.

[SkinnyPupp]

I can't speak for the team, but I would say that they're pretty aware that they're the weakest team in the tournament and are facing extremely talented teams in the group stages.
I guess the goal might be to not be completely embarrassed with a 12 Goals Allowed average or something like that

[Tim Budong]

the women's hockey team put up 11 against finland and 12 against the swiss the other night.

I guess for China, it's to enjoy the experience. some of those guys would never be able to represent Canada, so this is definitely special.

There are some former NHL draft picks and players on KunLun, so its not all bad.

[winson604]

I remember just prior to NHL pulling out they had to have Team China play a KHL team to measure how bad they were because if they couldn't keep from getting embarrassed they may have had to not allow them to play or something.

[teggy604]

I remember just prior to NHL pulling out they had to have Team China play a KHL team to measure how bad they were because if they couldn't keep from getting embarrassed they may have had to not allow them to play or something.

China is going to get embarrassed one way or another. They still have the women's team. That's why I think China should just allow the mens national team to play. At least they represent the country and no one can fault them if they lose 20-0. Everyone knows hockey is still developing in China.

[punkwax]

China should be embarrassed.

[Hondaracer]

After vowing not to watch I was sucked into womens slope style last night

Uhg pains me to watch especially when some of the women coming down are either heartbroken or super pumped and the second they take off their board you hear the gross usher outside “ok come for health check!! Mask! Mask!” :/

[danned]

https://i.imgur.com/PHI9M0y.jpeg

[SkinnyPupp]

https://twitter.com/julianku/status/1490150569239105537

I haven't watched anything yet, not sure if I will. Summer games were fun though, following both Canada and HK, which won a huge record number of medals

[whitev70r]

Yah, I'm kind of not interested or uninvested in this ... haven't watched anything either.

This just reeks of the shitty Olympics brand ... less and less countries even wanting to put on these debt generating games so they give it to China again after the 2008 Summer games. IOC cronies.

Russian proven/documented state sponsored doping athletes ... oh, so we'll punish them by banning them for 4 years but they can send athletes, we'll just call them Russian Olympic Committee ROC ... and won't play the Russian anthem if they win the gold medal ... WTF ??!!

While the whole world calls China out for the way they handle HK, genocide of Uighurs, colonialism of Africa, and their eff you imprisonment of the 2 Michaels.

While all the amateur athletes put on a show, drama, and great stories who don't get paid diddly.

Where the hell is the integrity of anyone at any level?

[Traum]

Is it appropriate to discuss the indigenous-led bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics here in this thread?

An issue that has come up in a couple of news reports regarding the current Beijing Winter Olympics is availability of snow to support the outdoor events. The TL;DR version of this story is -- Beijing and the nearby vicinity is actually a very poor location to support outdoor winter sports because it doesn't really have enough snow. Man-made snow is used extensively as a result, and that in turn results in a a gob ton of issues, including but not limited to athletes complaining about the quality of the man-made snow, as well as the ethical issues on competition for drinking water and how (non-green) energy intensive it is to create that man-made snow.

Thinking back to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, we ran into a similar issue as well because the weather didn't cooperate during the time when the Olympics was held. Given the myriad of climate-related issues that we ran into last year, and the known projection that the overall global temperatures are going to rise, it just adds to another viability problem for us to host the Winter Olympics again.

[SkinnyPupp]

Have the Winter Olympics in Texas in 2030 KEKW

[Gumby]

Have the Winter Olympics in Texas in 2030 KEKW
Why not, there’s a ice hockey team in Las Vegas…

[twitchyzero]

Man-made snow is used extensively as a result, and that in turn results in a a gob ton of issues, including but not limited to athletes complaining about the quality of the man-made snow, as well as the ethical issues on competition for drinking water and how (non-green) energy intensive it is to create that man-made snow.



snowmaking is probably not even a drop compared to china's manufacturing footprint

never mind the impact of flying all the athletes/teams in..

[AzNightmare]

I personally just never was all that invested in the Olympics.
Too many sports I generally don't care about to begin with.
Now that NHL players aren't even involved in hockey, I don't even follow Olympic hockey anymore.

[BlackV62K2]

What's with CBC's potato feed compared to TSN/Sportsnet. Lower res and choppy

[BlackV62K2]

Watching the Canadian women's hockey game and wtf they are wearing masks while playing :fulloffuck:

[Traum]

snowmaking is probably not even a drop compared to china's manufacturing footprint

never mind the impact of flying all the athletes/teams in..
IMO, the energy requirement bit from artificial snow making is a lesser problem compared to the water needs for artificial snow making. Esp in Beijing, fresh water shortages and droughts are already a recurring thing.

Coming back to the issue of our 2030 Olympic bid, we certainly get a lot of precipitation in the winter months, so the water usage needs is less of an issue. But the energy need is still there, and it just adds to another reason of why hosting the Games might not be such a good idea.

[68style]

Watching the Canadian women's hockey game and wtf they are wearing masks while playing :fulloffuck:

Russian team didn’t get their covid results before the game started, Canada refused to play, then said they’d play if both teams wore masks which they did…

Russia stopped wearing them at some point tho…

I don’t understand why it was on the Canadian team to police this, where’s the IOC in all this? Total BS.

[El Bastardo]

Have the Winter Olympics in Texas in 2030 KEKW


https://i.imgur.com/YiMgx5H.jpg

We've already lit our Olympic torches.



Usually the Olympics is over-saturated here but I think they're taking the boycott seriously. There are no ads for it. You usually see billboards, bus signs, and cardboard standups at grocery stores reminding you of your patriotic duty to buy Cool Ranch Doritos and watch every event while drinking Bud Light.

I didn't even know the Olympics had started before I saw this thread talking about it. I guess people officially don't give a shit this year.
They're also competing against the hype of Superbowl which, is somehow more "meh" than last year.

[pastarocket]

Go Canada go! Our men win the gold and bronze in the men’s slope style event for snowboarding.

Max Parrot wins gold and Mark McMorris wins the bronze medal.

I watched the qualifying round and snowboard finals. Max and Mark did great in their jumps.

The kid Su YiMing of China also did great. The 17 year old won the silver medal. The kid can really spin with his backside 1800s and frontside jumps.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220207/845db95c9e3a0831145a57d006408dac.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hondaracer]

The russian womans hockey team refused to release their covid test results so canada refused to play, then they wore fucking masks to play the game after an hour delay? lol fuck..

[GLOW]

wonder what happens if some canadian athletes get covid now

[quasi]

Wait, the winter Olympics are on? Lol, seriously I had no idea.

[murd0c]

wonder what happens if some canadian athletes get covid now

They get tossed in isolation which I heard is horrible with even worse food.

[murd0c]

Go Canada go! Our men win the gold and bronze in the men’s slope style event for snowboarding.

Max Parrot wins gold and Mark McMorris wins the bronze medal.

I watched the qualifying round and snowboard finals. Max and Mark did great in their jumps.

The kid Su YiMing of China also did great. The 17 year old won the silver medal. The kid can really spin with his backside 1800s and frontside jumps.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220207/845db95c9e3a0831145a57d006408dac.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


The incredible thing about Max winning gold is he had cancer 3 years ago. Beat that being cancer free and wins the gold. Talk about a perfect made for TV movie right here!!

[68style]

The incredible thing about Max winning gold is he had cancer 3 years ago. Beat that being cancer free and wins the gold. Talk about a perfect made for TV movie right here!!

McMorris too with the bronze, he had a snowboarding accident just 11 months ago that left him with a fractured jaw, ruptured spleen, internal bleeding, multiple broken bones and a collapsed lung.

[Hondaracer]

*Trump voice* Chynaaaa

https://i.imgur.com/i13NQBW.png

and yes it’s real lol

[highfive]

^I saw that and looked it up to see what it is. It's a former steel mill, closed before the 2008 olympics. They repurposed it to create an outdoor sports venue apparently...

[mikemhg]

*Trump voice* Chynaaaa

https://i.imgur.com/i13NQBW.png

and yes it’s real lol

:lol:lol:lol

What a fucking joke. Been skipping these entire Olympics.

Don't bring this shit here in 2030.

[Spectre_Cdn]

*Trump voice* Chynaaaa

https://i.imgur.com/i13NQBW.png

and yes it’s real lol

That Beijing 2022 logo painted on the silo is a nice touch, very tasteful. 4Head

[GLOW]

if only they made it so you could slide off one of the silos for extra points

[CorneringArtist]

I don’t understand why it was on the Canadian team to police this, where’s the IOC in all this? Total BS.

They in the back and couldn't hear anything over the money counters going.

[pastarocket]

Team Canada women vs Team USA tonight. The hockey rivalry continues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pastarocket]

Canada scores on the power play!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Alpine]

The American women's team is definitely better...

[pastarocket]

The American women's team is definitely better...


4-2 Canada! Captain Poulin scores on a penalty shot!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Alpine]

4-2 Canada! Captain Poulin scores on a penalty shot!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Of course, the second I say the American team is better, Canada scores 3 unanswered lol. But I stand by what I said. The American team is dominating 5on5 play. Passes are crisper, puck support is better, the puck moves the ice up much cleaner, offensive zone time is definitely favours team USA, etc..
Hopefully we win gold though :)

[inv4zn]

These Olympics are a fucking joke. China isn't even being subtle in their bullshit anymore.

The lunacy of hosting it in China at this point in time aside, they're defiling the sports in their ridiculous race to 'save face.'

Literally:
https://youtu.be/pWf5R7466_Y

[Tim Budong]

Canada and the USA has outscored the entire tournament for womens hockey.

I'm really hoping Japan wins later against the Czechs, they avoid US/Canada in the playoffs. Don't sleep on Nana Fujimoto the goalie.

Canada is getting the winner of Sweden and Denmark later.
USA is getting the Loser between Japan/Czech
Russia plays winner of Japan/Czech
The swiss and the finns play each other in the playoffs

[68style]

SO CHINESE... somehow doesn't have to relinquish her US passport like everyone else does at 18 because China doesn't allow dual citizenship to anyone that isn't winning medals for them I guess... lived her entire life in USA and going to Stanford next year...

Fuckin BS nationalism...............

https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=425,format=auto/sites/default/files/styles/768x768/public/d8/images/canvas/2022/01/20/474b37fe-7ca3-4133-86ce-ebc5e0304a2c_6b20a7ea.jpg?itok=dKX0Peck&v=1642671704

[teggy604]

same for that female figure skater Zhu Yi. She was born in US and gave up her US citizenship to represent China. She took the spot away from a legit China born skater. She fell in each of her programs, and now is in last place. Now all the people in China are ripping on her lol. I guess Karma is a bitch. I dont understand where is the integrity of these athletes. Its one thing to play in China or work in China, but to represent China when you are a citizen of another country is outright shameful and a disgrace.

[smoothie.]

SO CHINESE... somehow doesn't have to relinquish her US passport like everyone else does at 18 because China doesn't allow dual citizenship to anyone that isn't winning medals for them I guess... lived her entire life in USA and going to Stanford next year...

Fuckin BS nationalism...............

https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=425,format=auto/sites/default/files/styles/768x768/public/d8/images/canvas/2022/01/20/474b37fe-7ca3-4133-86ce-ebc5e0304a2c_6b20a7ea.jpg?itok=dKX0Peck&v=1642671704

she cute

[SkinnyPupp]

The russian womans hockey team refused to release their covid test results so canada refused to play, then they wore fucking masks to play the game after an hour delay? lol fuck..
https://twitter.com/CBCOlympics/status/1491048302015844355

[whitev70r]

Eff the Russian female hockey team ... is that why Putin went to China to talk to Xi Jinping? "Can we not Covid test the Russian athletes?" ...

Should disqualify the whole team. Imagine if they passed it on to one of our players!

I hate these friggin games already. Feel for the athletes who play by the rules and are trying to live their dreams.

[Hondaracer]

So obviously China and Russia in cahoots when it comes to the testing..

[whitev70r]

https://twitter.com/JoePompliano/status/1490711904913870856

[TOS'd]

Eff the Russian female hockey team ... is that why Putin went to China to talk to Xi Jinping? "Can we not Covid test the Russian athletes?" ...

Should disqualify the whole team. Imagine if they passed it on to one of our players!

I hate these friggin games already. Feel for the athletes who play by the rules and are trying to live their dreams.

During the opening ceremonies they panned to Putin and he was likely one of, if not the only one, to not be wearing a mask at his seat.

[quasi]

same for that female figure skater Zhu Yi. She was born in US and gave up her US citizenship to represent China. She took the spot away from a legit China born skater. She fell in each of her programs, and now is in last place. Now all the people in China are ripping on her lol. I guess Karma is a bitch. I dont understand where is the integrity of these athletes. Its one thing to play in China or work in China, but to represent China when you are a citizen of another country is outright shameful and a disgrace.

Knowing nothing about it she probably got offered a bag to do so $$$$$$

[68style]

^ She don't even need it, her daddy is raf

[quasi]

^ She don't even need it, her daddy is raf

That makes it a little more strange, lol.

[underscore]

Yeah but now they can put "Olympian" in their social media bios.

[TOS'd]

Could it be a chance that say the US ski team only had x amount of spaces for atheletes and if you don't get a spot then maybe you go to China for a spot on their team?

[SkinnyPupp]

She's something of a celebrity in China, with a huge social media following, endorsements, modeling, etc. Representing them probably provides more opportunities for her

This happens every Olympics, I'm not sure why people are up in arms this time

[CivicBlues]

...cuz it's China, duh.

Oh and she's pretty and passes for White

[Razor Ramon HG]

Representing them probably provides more opportunities for her.

This happens every Olympics, I'm not sure why people are up in arms this time

Pretty much.

My friend went to China to play hockey because the pay was substantially better in the KHL and the opportunities are way more than playing Canadian university hockey. Now he's in the Olympics, not many people get that chance.

[TOS'd]

Pretty much.

My friend went to China to play hockey because the pay was substantially better in the KHL and the opportunities are way more than playing Canadian university hockey. Now he's in the Olympics, not many people get that chance.

What caliber of play would your friend be if he stayed in Canada? like what league would he be playing in if he had the opportunity?

[Hondaracer]

What sort of pride do you get representing a foreign country based on the financial opportunities presented by that? Lol

Kinda just goes back to the sham argument of the olympics as a whole.

[Razor Ramon HG]

What caliber of play would your friend be if he stayed in Canada? like what league would he be playing in if he had the opportunity?

Not sure. Probably would still be playing in the CWUAA since he didn't get drafted into the NHL, so it's a huge upgrade for him.

What sort of pride do you get representing a foreign country based on the financial opportunities presented by that? Lol

Kinda just goes back to the sham argument of the olympics as a whole.

At least for my friend, I don't think playing in the Olympics was his main goal for going over to the KHL. It's just something that came with the contract.

If someone offered me triple my pay (for example) to play in Russia for a few years, I'd do it too. We all got families to raise.

[CivicBlues]

What sort of pride do you get representing a foreign country based on the financial opportunities presented by that? Lol

Kinda just goes back to the sham argument of the olympics as a whole.

You could say that about Professional Sports in general. Why aren't all Canucks born and raised Vancouverites?!? Or Canadians for that matter!!

[Hondaracer]

You could say that about Professional Sports in general. Why aren't all Canucks born and raised Vancouverites?!? Or Canadians for that matter!!

I guess but I think people build a connection to a professional team. Throughout professional sports there are the alumni groups that have long lasting connections to the city and the team.

Even the Canucks have so many alumni from 94 etc. that are still very closely associated with the team and basically live off the memory of those “good times”

An Australian competing for Qatar in high jump probably isn’t going to be old and grey holding up his medal thinking “damn I’m proud of Qatar” lol

[Teriyaki]

Step back a bit and I think we've all been sold this fairytale idea that you need to "represent" something or, specifically a country to have meaning in your personal achievement. If you think about it, representing country A, or country B, serves the interest of the IOC and the general idea and marketability of the games more than the athletes themselves. Yes, it could be the extra cherry on top to bring glory to your home country or what not. However, does it take away from anyone's personal achievement if we just recognize people's achievements for THEM, so athlete A vs athlete B pure and simple.

We've been conditioned to place so much emphasis on this country vs country thing, and are projecting it on to the athletes as well without even second guessing it. I'm sure as heck some of them don't give two pennies worth about who they're representing but its all just part of the song and dance.

I don't hate the players for working the system to their advantage. It's a complex and often severely unfair system in the world of professional sports.

[whitev70r]

China still has white envy ...

[Hondaracer]

Step back a bit and I think we've all been sold this fairytale idea that you need to "represent" something or, specifically a country to have meaning in your personal achievement. If you think about it, representing country A, or country B, serves the interest of the IOC and the general idea and marketability of the games more than the athletes themselves. Yes, it could be the extra cherry on top to bring glory to your home country or what not. However, does it take away from anyone's personal achievement if we just recognize people's achievements for THEM, so athlete A vs athlete B pure and simple.

We've been conditioned to place so much emphasis on this country vs country thing, and are projecting it on to the athletes as well without even second guessing it. I'm sure as heck some of them don't give two pennies worth about who they're representing but its all just part of the song and dance.

I don't hate the players for working the system to their advantage. It's a complex and often severely unfair system in the world of professional sports.

We place emphasis on it because that is literally what the olympics is! Lol

It’s an interesting case study though for the athletes who actually have medal opportunities and choose to represent a different country as opposed to those who switch countries just to participate or earn a cheque

[underscore]

Step back a bit and I think we've all been sold this fairytale idea that you need to "represent" something or, specifically a country to have meaning in your personal achievement.

That's how they announce people at the Olympics. Then later they play the national anthem of the winner. Countries pay a bunch of money for people to train and travel just to represent them at the Olympics. Remove the rah rah national pride crap from the Olympics and nobody would care about most of these sports, as is evident by how most of them have little to no coverage the rest of the time.

If you want to say they're purely personal achievements then pull all the national funding from every Olympians training program and see how things go for them.

It's a complex and often severely unfair system in the world of professional sports.

Aren't the people at the Olympics amateurs? This is specifically not supposed to be professional sports.

[Gumby]

Aren't the people at the Olympics amateurs? This is specifically not supposed to be professional sports.
Tell that to the NHL players that wanted to go to the Olympics :p

[Teriyaki]

That's how they announce people at the Olympics. Then later they play the national anthem of the winner. Countries pay a bunch of money for people to train and travel just to represent them at the Olympics. Remove the rah rah national pride crap from the Olympics and nobody would care about most of these sports, as is evident by how most of them have little to no coverage the rest of the time.

If you want to say they're purely personal achievements then pull all the national funding from every Olympians training program and see how things go for them.

Aren't the people at the Olympics amateurs? This is specifically not supposed to be professional sports.

Yes, all of this is correct and really just reinforces my point that we've been sold this idea of "Country and Glory" or what have you. There's an invisible social contract that the athletes are signing on to. They know it, we know it. They have to represent the country and put on a dog an pony show for the rest of us. In return, they get the support whether that be through sponsorships, payment, purpose-built facilities, coaches, etc etc. The point being made earlier was would someone feel a sense of pride if they switched allegiances from country (a) to country (b) and look back on it years later and feel prideful. Think there's a whole spectrum to that, ranging from those that a) don't give 2 rats-asses about the country and patriotism aspect ( despite of course, putting on the show during the process ). and b) Full on retard patriot mode, accomplishing their life's mission by bringing the medal home. How they actually feel, we'll never know. Better to recognize it's a elaborate show, and daresay I say a proxy for a giant dick-wagging contest for countries on the world stage. The athletes are just the dressed up pawns in this whole thing. If they find a way to benefit and make a living from it, good on them.

As an aside, the line between professional athletes and amateur athletes are incredibly grey anyways. What's in a term. If your career is dependent on you doing this one thing, and the one thing is doing a sport. Does that make you a professional regardless of how the money is being provided? Either through sponsorships, training programs and facilities or a traditional paycheque as per the definition of a "professional". Doing really cool backflips in the air doesn't magically produce food on the table.

[J____]

China still has white envy ...

as someone actually in China, before they did, now not so much.

[J____]

Yeah but now they can put "Olympian" in their social media bios.

or maybe a free ticket into harvard due to the olympian title.

[SkinnyPupp]

https://twitter.com/tara_mulholland/status/1491342089938141184

[blkgsr]

Aren't the people at the Olympics amateurs? This is specifically not supposed to be professional sports.

uh?? think about that again...what would be the "pro" level of any of the sports other than hockey? their world cup series or what ever they may be called? their all in those too. olympics just brings them all together to compete at the same time for their countries.

[GLOW]

add a ton of seasoning, and it could be pretty good as beef jerky

[AzNightmare]

You could say that about Professional Sports in general. Why aren't all Canucks born and raised Vancouverites?!? Or Canadians for that matter!!

Olympics is different. It's literally about countries competing.

Pro sports like NHL is teams formed by different cities, where players getting signed from literally anywhere and traded from team to team is common practice. People aren't playing for anything more than the team they are being paid to play for.

[threezero]

something that is not discussed on any media outlet. the lives of regular people in China during the winter Olympics.

My partner's student in Shanghai made a short visit to Beijing for academic purposes. The moment she return to shanghai and got off the train, she was greeted by a team of police in hazmat suit and an ambulance to escort her to a temporal container box with literal prison bars on all windows for quarantine. All because she visited a "red alert zone". None of this was communicated to her before hands, nor was she told of the possible consequence for making such travel. Yet all of the agencies that sold her the necessary ticket, hotel stay etc help track her movement and report it to the authority.

Zero warning, zero chance for protest or even to inform her family this is happening until days later.

nooice China

[underscore]

uh?? think about that again...what would be the "pro" level of any of the sports other than hockey? their world cup series or what ever they may be called? their all in those too. olympics just brings them all together to compete at the same time for their countries.

It looks like they dropped the amateur thing back in the 90's. But originally yes, they were supposed to all be amateur athletes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_sports#Olympics

[will068]

Step back a bit and I think we've all been sold this fairytale idea that you need to "represent" something or, specifically a country to have meaning in your personal achievement. If you think about it, representing country A, or country B, serves the interest of the IOC and the general idea and marketability of the games more than the athletes themselves. Yes, it could be the extra cherry on top to bring glory to your home country or what not. However, does it take away from anyone's personal achievement if we just recognize people's achievements for THEM, so athlete A vs athlete B pure and simple.

We've been conditioned to place so much emphasis on this country vs country thing, and are projecting it on to the athletes as well without even second guessing it. I'm sure as heck some of them don't give two pennies worth about who they're representing but its all just part of the song and dance.

I don't hate the players for working the system to their advantage. It's a complex and often severely unfair system in the world of professional sports.

Agreed. Both players and national org for working the system. Either to get the best players/athletes or just be on that stage for personal gain. E.g. for other world sporting events like FIBA basketball world cup, the Philippines granting citizenship to foreign ball players so they can be in their national squad.

Can't knock the hustle for the athletes just wanting to be in the olympics by working the system.


Makes me wonder about Eileen Gu. I would think it would be the lower echelon athletes being recruited for by a country who is not normally a powerhouse at a certain sport. Makes me wonder what made her not choose to rep Team USA. Would like to know the reason(s).

[AzNightmare]

It looks like they dropped the amateur thing back in the 90's. But originally yes, they were supposed to all be amateur athletes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_sports#Olympics

I've always wondered how do you define the fine line of amateur and pro?

My idea is that if you get paid to play, then you're a pro. But I feel that's also an over simplistic view.

I only follow hockey, but besides NHL, even lower pro leagues like ECHL are still technically "pro" as players are getting paid.

How does it work for all these other events in Olympics? Are there leagues, for example, like speed skating, where these athletes can do it full time and get paid enough to make a living? Or are these athletes competing and training on the side while still doing a basic full time job to put food on the table?

[whitev70r]

For example ...ladies hockey. I got the impression that all of them had a main thing doing something else and only got together to train for tournaments and Olympics. Hockey isn't their primary income.

[teggy604]

Hard to say. Depends on if there is a league. Christine Sinclair play pro level soccer for Portland and she makes $300,000+ USD. She did mention she wanted Canada to have a pro level soccer league after winning gold.
Then you got the CFL. Average player makes $40,000CND so most of them do it for love of the sport or hoping to make it to NFL.

[Traum]

Damn I'm pissed... US men hockey steamrolled the Chinese hockey team 8:0. I knew I should have placed a bigger bet on the game LOL~

[murd0c]

Damn I'm pissed... US men hockey steamrolled the Chinese hockey team 8:0. I knew I should have placed a bigger bet on the game LOL~

did you win 50 cents on a 1000 bet? LOL

[BlackV62K2]

Watching the men's halfpipe on CBC right now. What's with this weird commentary dub over the normal commentary lol

[68style]

Watching the men's halfpipe on CBC right now. What's with this weird commentary dub over the normal commentary lol

They had this problem yesterday too, described video is on the primary for some reason… if you switch to the secondary audio it will get rid of it.

[BlackV62K2]

They had this problem yesterday too, described video is on the primary for some reason… if you switch to the secondary audio it will get rid of it.

Ohh. I've never listened to described audio before. Its the weirdest thing. "He takes off his board",. ". He raises his hands"

[underscore]

I've always wondered how do you define the fine line of amateur and pro?

My idea is that if you get paid to play, then you're a pro. But I feel that's also an over simplistic view.

I only follow hockey, but besides NHL, even lower pro leagues like ECHL are still technically "pro" as players are getting paid.

How does it work for all these other events in Olympics? Are there leagues, for example, like speed skating, where these athletes can do it full time and get paid enough to make a living? Or are these athletes competing and training on the side while still doing a basic full time job to put food on the table?

I think you're right though, if you're getting paid to play you're a pro. Most of them originally were doing it on the side, now I think some might be paid or at least all their living expenses are covered by the gov't when they're training. Some sponsors but I don't imagine that pays much when you're in a sport nobody watches.

[AzNightmare]

lol, I was watching USA China highlights and noticed team China's goalie was White but had a weird last name so I looked him up.

https://i.imgur.com/brGYfcr.jpg

lol. Jeremy Smith.
It also says Jierumi on his jersey, so technically his first name.

[TOS'd]

lol, I was watching USA China highlights and noticed team China's goalie was White but had a weird last name so I looked him up.

https://i.imgur.com/brGYfcr.jpg

lol. Jeremy Smith.
It also says Jierumi on his jersey, so technically his first name.

#6th post in thread, relevant info:
My friend is on the Chinese hockey team.

He was laughing because for some of the players on the team, they changed the spelling so it's in pinyin pronunciation and putting that on the jerseys.

e.g. Jeremy Smith is now Jieruimi Shimisi

My friend is a white-washed halfer, so he doesn't have a Chinese name. When he went to China for the first time, they apparently asked him for one. He said he didn't have one so they made one for him. We were joking he should've gave them another friend's Chinese name because as it turns out that would've been on the jerseys instead.

[whitev70r]

So ...is the curious case of Eileen Gu one where both parties are using one another? Is a larger global market share the reason why Gu chose to compete for China? Not ideologically driven but rather $$$ driven (or shall we say inspite of ideology). Is it that simple and shrewd?

[68style]

There's so much weird shit going on... like Kimberly Newell... was born in Nelson and grew up in Canada and played goalie for Team Canada as a U18 before going to Princeton... she's now Zhou Jiaying and isn't allowed to speak English in any interviews.

China is a fucked up place man.

[TOS'd]

Did some quick reading on Eileen Gu, seems like its more for exposure and potential future sponsors/income as she is also a model with current overseas sponsors.

China doesn't recognize dual citizenships, and she dodges the question whenever asked about it. Her response is: "I am American when I am in the US, I am Chinese when I am in China."

She also made the announcement to represent China when she was 15 years old, so most likely she had some other influence in her decision making (her mom, "expert in China investment at Fusion Investment in San Francisco").

This was pretty funny though, her post was shared on Weibo and subsequently blocked/censored shortly after:

https://i.imgur.com/aJyNUN8l.jpg

[teggy604]

Did some quick reading on Eileen Gu, seems like its more for exposure and potential future sponsors/income as she is also a model with current overseas sponsors.

China doesn't recognize dual citizenships, and she dodges the question whenever asked about it. Her response is: "I am American when I am in the US, I am Chinese when I am in China."

She also made the announcement to represent China when she was 15 years old, so most likely she had some other influence in her decision making (her mom, "expert in China investment at Fusion Investment in San Francisco").

This was pretty funny though, her post was shared on Weibo and subsequently blocked/censored shortly after:

https://i.imgur.com/aJyNUN8l.jpg


"I am American when i am in the US, I am Chinese when I am in China" LOL.
WTF is she talking about. Hopefully US blacklist her. She can't be trusted with any high clearance career with US. Obviously smart girl with SAT over 1000 and going to Standford.

[Gumby]

Yeah given her skill set, Eileen Gu will have way more opportunities in China/overseas compared to being in the US/North America, especially since she’s fluent in Mandarin.

[Traum]

ESPN specifically did an article on him and China's preparation for the Olympic hockey games -- it is quite a long but interesting read, and it's a very similar story to Razor Ramon HG's friend:

https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/33246445/winter-olympics-2022-odd-olympic-journey-china-men-hockey-team


It was the 2018-19 season, and Smith was a goalie for the AHL Bridgeport Tigers, an affiliate of the New York Islanders. It was the ninth minor league team of his career. He was getting older. Outside of 10 games with the Colorado Avalanche, his NHL dream hadn't been realized. He was in hockey purgatory. "I was an NHL bubble guy, always a No. 3 goalie," he said.

His career, and his life, changed with a phone call. It was his agent. Someone had offered Smith a contract for next season. It was a team based in the hottest of hockey hotbeds:

Beijing, China?

Smith, 32, initially laughed at the randomness of the suitor. "If you're joking, I'm waiting for the punchline," he recalled thinking. "But it was a two-year contract. They were serious."

There was more to the offer. The Kunlun Red Star in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League served as an incubator for the Chinese men's national team. Smith wasn't just being offered the chance to play professionally in the KHL; he was being given the chance to be the goaltender for the host nation in the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

...

"I told them I can't renounce my U.S. citizenship," said Smith. "They were like, 'Do not worry. We will not ask you. This is not what this whole process is about. It's about getting you qualified for the Olympics.'"


lol, I was watching USA China highlights and noticed team China's goalie was White but had a weird last name so I looked him up.

https://i.imgur.com/brGYfcr.jpg

lol. Jeremy Smith.
It also says Jierumi on his jersey, so technically his first name.

[will068]

ESPN specifically did an article on him and China's preparation for the Olympic hockey games -- it is quite a long but interesting read, and it's a very similar story to Razor Ramon HG's friend:

https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/33246445/winter-olympics-2022-odd-olympic-journey-china-men-hockey-team


That's awesome for him. Also common for semi pro athletes to get bigger $$ to play pro overseas.

Then for for him to be an Olympian. Good for him.



For Eileen, I thought winning gold as for Team USA would be $$$ galore. Then again, the Winter Olympics is not much popular for Americans. She seems like she will now be treated as royalty in China. She won't get that treatment in the US.

[StylinRed]

They're hating on her in the states

https://youtu.be/KQGpFxyDjYc

Supposedly in China they're hating on some of the "dual citizens" but only the ones who haven't medaled

[whitev70r]

Next Olympics Eileen Gu competes for USA. First person to win gold for 2 countries. Her bank account explodes!

[SkinnyPupp]

They're hating on her in the states

https://youtu.be/KQGpFxyDjYc

Supposedly in China they're hating on some of the "dual citizens" but only the ones who haven't medaled
I hate the internet

[Gumby]

I hate the internet
I agree… that was pretty gross. The sad part is that there’s an audience for that kind of stuff.

[Manic!]

Next Olympics Eileen Gu competes for USA. First person to win gold for 2 countries. Her bank account explodes!

I think it's happened before and you have kaillie humphries. She won for Canada in bobsled and is now competing for the US.

[winson604]

Lol I can't help but laugh about how people are so angry about the Eileen Gu scenario. Same scenario but she is representing Germany people won't give a shit, same scenario but she sucks people won't give a shit. People just going ape shit cause it's China, cause she's good, and cause she won't admit it's because of money if in fact it's about money which that audience seems to believe there no fucking way it's because she wants to rep her heritage and inspire others in China. This situation happens all the time in sports like literally. I'm done with the convo lets move on.

[SnK1800]

Lol I can't help but laugh about how people are so angry about the Eileen Gu scenario. Same scenario but she is representing Germany people won't give a shit, same scenario but she sucks people won't give a shit. People just going ape shit cause it's China, cause she's good, and cause she won't admit it's because of money if in fact it's about money which that audience seems to believe there no fucking way it's because she wants to rep her heritage and inspire others in China. This situation happens all the time in sports like literally. I'm done with the convo lets move on.

The point is she went from representing a democratic country to an authoritarian country. And she claimed Aung San Suu Kyi is her idol and supports human right movement but she kept quiet the whole time when other female athletes are voicing out about the Peng Shuai incident. On top of that she said that the people in china can freely access the internet if they've just downloaded VPN.. She clearly has no idea what shes doing.

[winson604]

The point is she went from representing a democratic country to an authoritarian country. And she claimed Aung San Suu Kyi is her idol and supports human right movement but she kept quiet the whole time when other female athletes are voicing out about the Peng Shuai incident. On top of that she said that the people in china can freely access the internet if they've just downloaded VPN.. She clearly has no idea what shes doing.

Perhaps, honestly every post or video I've stumbled across has only focused on money. This is the first time I've heard anything else.

[SkinnyPupp]

Article about the different reactions on China social media to the 3 big Chinese American stars in these Olympics

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/11/china/eileen-gu-zhu-yi-nathan-chen-comparison-intl-hnk-dst/index.html

While figure skater Nathan Chen is competing for Team USA, freestyle skier Eileen Gu and figure skater Zhu Yi opted to compete for China.

Gu and Chen both won gold, while Zhu faltered on the ice during two consecutive showings. The public responses they've received in the Olympic host nation also took different turns.

Gu was hailed as a national hero, winning hearts, fame and fortune; Zhu was abused online, accused of bringing "shame" to her adopted country; and Chen was labeled a "traitor," coming under nationalistic wrath for "insulting China."

I hate the internet.

[Gumby]

Is South Korea hating on Chloe Kim? :troll:

[Tim Budong]

Is South Korea hating on Chloe Kim? :troll:

Keepo

[mikemhg]

Honestly it can go both ways.

When Chloe Kim won gold, I remember hearing Americans say "she's not really American though, she's Korean". Meanwhile Michael Phelps is the face of a true "American".

At the end of the day, everyone is full of shit, we all carry racial dogmas, and only cheer for you when you're winning or have the image of being "like you".

Guess what, the France national soccer team are a bunch of Africans, when they win, they're beloved, when they don't, they're a bunch of black immigrant bastards trying to flood the country, and change the "French Heritage".

We're all fucking hypocrites, and money talks at the end of the day. We are all disposable at the end of the day.

The Olympics or any of these nationalistic events haven't been about the country for a long time now, it's about the athletes.

It's the same reason I never cheer for a given "team", an athlete will leave a team anytime if the money is right, a team can "relocate" to a new city based on economics, happens all the time. There is no affinity to that city of team, they don't care about any allegiance to you.

I cheer for the athletes that I like, in any given sport, at the end of the day, that's all it's really about.

[AzNightmare]

It's the same reason I never cheer for a given "team", an athlete will leave a team anytime if the money is right, a team can "relocate" to a new city based on economics, happens all the time. There is no affinity to that city of team, they don't care about any allegiance to you.

I cheer for the athletes that I like, in any given sport, at the end of the day, that's all it's really about.

lol, I actually just cheer for the team (Canucks). Whoever is currently on the team is part of the team. Once the athlete get traded, I stop following their career. I guess I see it differently. I'm not tied to any one athlete, even when they were my favourite one when they were on the team.

[teggy604]

Canada vs USA for female hockey. Feel like they should just waive them through every Olympics haha. Not one country is even remotely close. Even China team which is made up of non citizens for most part can't compete.

[iwantaskyline]

The point is she went from representing a democratic country to an authoritarian country. And she claimed Aung San Suu Kyi is her idol and supports human right movement but she kept quiet the whole time when other female athletes are voicing out about the Peng Shuai incident. On top of that she said that the people in china can freely access the internet if they've just downloaded VPN.. She clearly has no idea what shes doing.

So what? You have hollywood actors kowtowing to China and apologizing for saying Taiwan is a country.

She's only 18. Maybe it is just for the money or the fame - fact is she'd be a moron to admit that though and lose a lot of support from Chinese nationals.

[Tim Budong]

this men's hockey team is so fucking bad

[highfive]

So what? You have hollywood actors kowtowing to China and apologizing for saying Taiwan is a country.

She's only 18. Maybe it is just for the money or the fame - fact is she'd be a moron to admit that though and lose a lot of support from Chinese nationals.

Her sponsorship is close to 200million reminbi.

honestly all the power to her. Not the only american competing for another country.

There was an Iranian Chess Champion who was kicked off the Iranian team for not wearing the hijab and is not competing for USA.

Skinny is right, i hate the internet sometimes.

[iwantaskyline]

Her sponsorship is close to 200million reminbi.

honestly all the power to her. Not the only american competing for another country.

There was an Iranian Chess Champion who was kicked off the Iranian team for not wearing the hijab and is not competing for USA.

Skinny is right, i hate the internet sometimes.

Yeah happens all the time.

Another famous case is Naomi Osaka. She grew up in America since the age of three but chose to represent Japan for the sponsorships. She can't even speak Japanese.

[Razor Ramon HG]

this men's hockey team is so fucking bad

Probably would've been 3-2 Canada if Jeremy Smith didn't blow his knee out near the end of the first.

[Razor Ramon HG]

https://youtu.be/cpMjD5K2IEY

[whitev70r]

No Canada in Men's hockey medal round either! Beer league Canadian players couldn't score against Sweden.

[murd0c]

it's weird, normally I would be so pissed off but I don't even care about Canadian men's losing and not even getting a medal.

Don't forget the Canadian ladies play for gold against the Americans at 8:10pm tonight.

[MarkyMark]

I stopped caring about men's Olympic hockey once the NHL wasn't going lol

[Hondaracer]

Put the Coyotes in and they would win a gold in a landslide. What a sham of an olympics this whole thing has been. It’s somehow been worse than even expected with all the China BS etc.

[whitev70r]

Welp, it's fair ... no NHL players in other countries like Sweden, USA, Slovakia either.

[teggy604]

Not a fan of shooutouts to decide important games. I mean at least do 3 vs 3 or 4 vs 4 if you want to make it more exciting.

[AzNightmare]

I'm also not a fan of best out of one tournaments. Not just Olympic sports, but in general.
Maybe I'm too used to the NHL grind. But all it takes is one lucky bounce and it can break or make your moment.

Some people say it's more exciting cause everything comes down to that one game/moment, but meh, I feel like it's already done before my ass can even warm up the sofa.

Nothing beats a hard fought 7 game series with back and forth momentum swings.

[Tim Budong]

I ain't even shocked at the result last night. Mind you, the Goalie for Canada played amazing. The swedes played amazing. Canada was meh throughout.

Mason McTavish was invisible.
Eric Staal looked slow
Owen Power.. my god, they give this kid so much to do and started the tournament alright, but did not come through at all.

When was the last time Claude Julien was behind an NHL bench?

..my god, that turnover was quite a spectaclar, and the rest of the team just disappeared after that. The player that did the drop pass looked very shaken up afterwards.

[68style]

I’ve been trying to figure out why Owen Power is regarded so highly?

His career stats at all levels are not very impressive.

[pastarocket]

Team CAnada vs Team USA for the gold medal.

Oh fuck, video review.

Canada was offside. No goal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pastarocket]

Canada scores! Sarah Nurse gets the first goal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[whitev70r]

Maybe this is all it is when it comes to the Eileen Gu girl ...damn, rich girl!

$42 million truth emerges in Eileen Gu furore at Winter Olympics

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/winter-olympics-2022-42-million-truth-eileen-gu-furore-232629894.html

[pastarocket]

Team Canada wins the gold medal!

Captain Poulin with the winning goal.

The Americans finish second. LUL


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[spoon.ek9]

americans got close but i never had any doubt canada would get it done :fuckyea:

[teggy604]

Congrats to Canadian Women for Gold. Did they go undefeated this whole Olympics? The future looks bright for some of these upcoming young players.

[Tim Budong]

10 newcomers for this olympic squad.

Canada went 7-0
Smashing the competition 57-10

[whitev70r]

15 yo Russian figure skater at the center of doping scandal ... more evidence of the adult team around her as toxic. Joke that the team ROC is such because of Russian state sponsored doping scandal and here we are again. Scott Moir was quite blunt, calling Russian Olympic committee child abuse.

Kamila Valieva's coach criticized the 15-year-old skater right after she fell at the Olympics: 'Why did you stop fighting?' (https://www.insider.com/kamila-valievas-coach-criticized-her-after-she-fell-olympics-2022-2)

https://i.insider.com/620e8059462ff20019c581cd?width=700&format=jpeg&auto=webp

Rather than offering the 15-year-old skating star some words of encouragement following her shocking flameout, Valieva's coach Eteri Tutberidze could muster only criticism.

"Why did you let it go?" Tutberidze was heard asking Valieva in Russian during the live broadcast of the women's figure-skating event.

"Why did you stop fighting? Explain it to me — why?" Tutberidze added as the teenager stepped off the ice. "You let it go after that axel. Why?"

[TOS'd]

Maybe this is all it is when it comes to the Eileen Gu girl ...damn, rich girl!

$42 million truth emerges in Eileen Gu furore at Winter Olympics

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/winter-olympics-2022-42-million-truth-eileen-gu-furore-232629894.html

Another gold for her, womens halfpipe.

Canada silver and bronze.

[bcrdukes]

Mother Russia :sweetjesus: