Winter Olympics?

[Bob Ross]

Is the surface actually as wonderful for competition as the athletes say, or are they being good ambassadors?

Athletes are actually saying artifical snow is "wonderful"?!?! The only comments I've heard over the past week have been ambivalent-skewing-towards-negative, e.g., "it's far less predictable than real snow" and I think I even heard one quote along the lines of "it hurts more when you fall on it"

[j44ke]

One thing mentioned on Eurosport is that the snow contains sand blown in from surrounding arid soil and is abrasive and that’s causing issues.

[vertical_doug]

In the spring towards March when you get the really big sandstorms in the Chinese deserts, we'd occasionally get sand blown into Japan. I remember the slight yellow dusting on the ski slopes of Hakuba on occasion.

But from the competition point of view, I'd think it would affect everyone equally so the issue just comes down to what is the right wax for sandysnow.

I am starting to like this dystophian Olympics. We can no longer pretend our world looks like Aspen, Hakuba, Cortina, Vermont, and this is how most of humanity lives- a gray dry rusting landscape.

[vertical_doug]

It's interesting the rumor on Kamila Valieva failing the drug test for trimetazidine. The Russian Team is still banned from competitions after the systemic doping at Sochi, and the IOC did the fudge by letting people compete as ROC athletes.

I think it is reasonable to view Bulshunov and Spitsov crushing victories in the Skiathlon as suspicious. In an event usually one on the margins, they crushed everyone.

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1119062/

[kdawg]

It's interesting the rumor on Kamila Valieva failing the drug test for trimetazidine. The Russian Team is still banned from competitions after the systemic doping at Sochi, and the IOC did the fudge by letting people compete as ROC athletes.

I think it is reasonable to view Bulshunov and Spitsov crushing victories in the Skiathlon as suspicious. In an event usually one on the margins, they crushed everyone.

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1119062/

I don't actually know how the ROC team works - do they have to jump through extra hoops to prove that they've not been involved with the systemic doping? Feels like they should.

[j44ke]

It's interesting the rumor on Kamila Valieva failing the drug test for trimetazidine. The Russian Team is still banned from competitions after the systemic doping at Sochi, and the IOC did the fudge by letting people compete as ROC athletes.

I think it is reasonable to view Bulshunov and Spitsov crushing victories in the Skiathlon as suspicious. In an event usually one on the margins, they crushed everyone.

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1119062/

Yes, and the doctors interviewed seem to be having the same reaction to a 15 year old taking trimetazidine as they did Sharapova taking meldonium. Basically that it might improve cardiac stamina, but it isn't terribly effective even at that and definitely not what a young person would be taking for any medical issue. But that seems different I think from saying there isn't an advantage presented by the medication, just that if you are looking for an advantage, there are other more effective and sensible medications to do so. Maybe Russian doctors focus more on heart beat rhythm and rate more than "western" doctors? Or rely on older less effective medications for a wider range of off-label issues due to cost and/or tradition.

[j44ke]

I don't actually know how the ROC team works - do they have to jump through extra hoops to prove that they've not been involved with the systemic doping? Feels like they should.

It is complicated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_in_Russia

[Marvinlungwitz]

Yes, and the doctors interviewed seem to be having the same reaction to a 15 year old taking trimetazidine as they did Sharapova taking meldonium. Basically that it might improve cardiac stamina, but it isn't terribly effective even at that and definitely not what a young person would be taking for any medical issue. But that seems different I think from saying there isn't an advantage presented by the medication, just that if you are looking for an advantage, there are other more effective and sensible medications to do so. Maybe Russian doctors focus more on heart beat rhythm and rate more than "western" doctors? Or rely on older less effective medications for a wider range of off-label issues due to cost and/or tradition.

They also affect skeletal muscle glucose & FA metabolism, not just cardiac.

(Western MDs are unlikely to be familiar with the drugs, and the Eastern European ones are just playing dumb, imo).

[Moke]

As I watch the skiing (alpine and Nordic) events, I can't help thinking about the cost of building the courses on the environment and financially. There is no way the ski hill will ever host events or be open to the public and I doubt if the xc track will be able to afford all the snow making to run either. I think the half pipe and maybe the jumps might be able to be used for a period of time, but not 100% on that either. We won't ever know the cost to the country, but lets assume that it was a huge amount. Now back to curling.

[Doug Fattic]

They also affect skeletal muscle glucose & FA metabolism, not just cardiac.

(Western MDs are unlikely to be familiar with the drugs, and the Eastern European ones are just playing dumb, imo).

Wikipedia says trimetazidine is sometimes prescribed for dizziness. It seems to me that all those triple and quad jumps as well at all those spins they do might cause dizziness that this medication might help prevent.

[72gmc]

As I watch the skiing (alpine and Nordic) events, I can't help thinking about the cost of building the courses on the environment and financially. There is no way the ski hill will ever host events or be open to the public and I doubt if the xc track will be able to afford all the snow making to run either. I think the half pipe and maybe the jumps might be able to be used for a period of time, but not 100% on that either. We won't ever know the cost to the country, but lets assume that it was a huge amount. Now back to curling.

I found this article interesting: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...y-of-beginners

It seems there's interest, even passion, for skiing, but it sure takes a lot of work to make it possible.

[Marvinlungwitz]

Wikipedia says trimetazidine is sometimes prescribed for dizziness. It seems to me that all those triple and quad jumps as well at all those spins they do might cause dizziness that this medication might help prevent.

Perhaps, but athletes in other sports are using metabolic modulators as well.

And imo, the effects enhancing skeletal muscle metabolism (hardly mentioned by the lay press) are likely to be as important, if not more important, than any cardiac effects in a young athlete.

[robin3mj]

Gripping viewing last night between Mikaela crashing out again and taking a minute to process it, and then Chloe Kim just crushing the half pipe. I don’t follow the sport closely enough to count the twists and revolutions in real time but you knew her first run was a knockout. Then she was playing with house money and tried to nail a few more transcendent tricks for good measure. So awesome. The Japanese woman who got bronze has a super cools mix of technical rigor and laid back style, like the coolest of recent surfers.

Random question though. Other than style points from peers, wouldn’t less baggy clothing be a performance-positive move? Would love to see some snowboarder rock up to the half pipe in a ski suit, maybe printed like a Maui and Sons Tshirt and faded acid wash Z Cavariccis.

[Bob Ross]

Gripping viewing last night between Mikaela crashing out again

I'm never sure what day we're talking about when the Olympics are half a world away; just to be clear, Mikaela has only DNF'd twice so far these Olympics, right? Or are you describing what would be a third time?

[robin3mj]

I'm never sure what day we're talking about when the Olympics are half a world away; just to be clear, Mikaela has only DNF'd twice so far these Olympics, right? Or are you describing what would be a third time?

Sorry. I’m talking about what was broadcast on Wednesday evening in the US, so to my understanding that was the second of her events that she DNF’d. I believe she has two to go and I could not be rooting more for someone to bounce back and take a medal or two.

[rmplum]

Random question though. Other than style points from peers, wouldn’t less baggy clothing be a performance-positive move?

Yeah no kidding. Some of those big air skiers looked like they were wearing garbage bags. They are doing 1600-1800 degree (or more) spins, clothes flying everywhere, shirts and bare skin flapping in the wind, pants falling down if not for the suspenders doing hero's work. Call me old, but I don't get it. I get the need for flexible easy to move in clothing, but it's excessive.

[Marvinlungwitz]

I was just reading about the outcry over the NYT article describing Jessie Diggins as sprite like compared to her competitors.

Maybe because I’ve grown used to comments about cyclists’ physiques (Big Mig, Impish Van Imp, etc.), this seems to be terribly over blown to me.

Or am I being terribly insensitive?

[robin3mj]

I was just reading about the outcry over the NYT article describing Jessie Diggins as sprite like compared to her competitors.

Maybe because I’ve grown used to comments about cyclists’ physiques (Big Mig, Impish Van Imp, etc.), this seems to be terribly over blown to me.

Or am I being terribly insensitive?

I had to go and find the text (pasted below) and while I agree with you that it’s likely a function of lay people not knowing these niche sports enough (the engine here in these races is largely the heart and lungs I’d guess), words like sprite (waif/pixie) have a certain cast to them that could be construed to take away from the underlying efforts of the athlete.

*In a sport that has so many women with massive shoulders and thighs, Diggins looks like a sprite in her racing suit, and it’s not clear exactly where she gets her power. But the power is there, as she flies up hills, and comes off climactic turns with a burst. On the downhills, she tucks low and cuts through the air.*

[monadnocky]

Slight change of topic, but I see that network nightly news (uh, not that I really watch it) persists with the "medal count."
Why. Why do we continue to do this.

[j44ke]

Specifically Diggins has suffered from an eating disorder in the past, eating disorders are a dark side of xc ski racing (same as cycling where power-to-weight is key) and she has written about the unfairness and unhelpfulness of describing women athletes by the physical attributes of smallness & thinness - and all the synonyms for both - in a laudatory way. She points out that it has a well-studied impact on younger women who view pro racers as role models or heroes, and that it sets an unfair measurement to women athletes in general.