2010 Winter Olympics Final Results

2010 Winter Olympics Final Results

United States 9 15 13 37
Germany 10 13 7 30
Canada 14 7 5 26
Norway 9 8 6 23
Austria 4 6 6 16
Russia 3 5 7 15
Korea 6 6 2 14
China 5 2 4 11
Sweden 5 2 4 11
France 2 3 6 11
Switzerland 6 0 3 9
Netherlands 4 1 3 8
Czech Rep 2 0 4 6
Poland 1 3 2 6
Italy 1 1 3 5
Japan 0 3 2 5
Finland 0 1 4 5
Australia 2 1 0 3
Belarus 1 1 1 3
Slovakia 1 1 1 3
Croatia 0 2 1 3
Slovenia 0 2 1 3
Latvia 0 2 0 2
Great Britain 1 0 0 1
Estonia 0 1 0 1
Kazakhstan 0 1 0 1

Does this matter in the grand scheme of things .

#thai1 In the grand scheme of things what matters? In Thailand everyone is waiting for the bomb to drop and the yelling and screaming to begin at the assets seizure. Here in Canada at the Olympics the yelling and screaming hasn't stopped since the Canadian Women's Hockey Team took the gold medal this afternoon. Not that there isn't controversy here the IOC is annoyed that the women had a bottle of Champagne and a couple of bottles of beer on the ice after the medal ceremony.

If you want to see a country erupt just strip the medals off the Canadian women and the Canuks will draw and quarter the IOC members that can't get out of town in time.

Beer, Pizza and Hockey is the Saturday night entertainment in 90% of the country as it's "Hockey Night IN Canada". I remember a long time ago that the CBC had a comedy program and they went onto the street in Toronto. They ask if people could recognize the song they were playing almost half said it was the Canadian National Anthem, in reality it was the theme song to.... You guessed it "Hockey Night IN Canada".

In Thailand, reports from some very well respected foreign media are saying that there is little action at the court house. Newley Purnell reported on twitter, "In courtyard outside supreme ct. Dozens of police, TV crews, and photogs. but very calm. haven't seen single protester outside."

You have to think the UDD sucker punched the government on this. They have decided not to protest and the Government has more security, troops and police on the street than the Burmese junta did during their last crackdown. Sure will make a good picture for the world press and help to restore the tourist industry.

In the grand scheme of things what matters? Well here in Canada it would be Hockey because if you ask anyone who Thaksin is they'd probably tell you some European Hockey player.

Another Day, Another Hockey Game

Another Day, Another Hockey Game or four.  Today Geoff his wife, Luk Aron and I watched the Canada Russian game while fine dining on pepperoni pizza.  Another blowout by Canada and a lot of yelling and screaming by Geoff and Louise. 

I have to say that our family is not a big hockey fan.  We'd much rather watch football (soccer) than anything else.  We are really looking forward to the World Cup and wish we could afford to go.  Last world cup we watched all but 3 games so we will probably be burning the candle at both ends again this summer.

Watched the woman's Giant Slalom on TV this morning and it wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be.  Maybe I'm just getting old and nothing is exciting any more. 

After the Hockey game we watched Woman's two man bobsled, an oxymoron if there ever was one and Canada got Gold and Silver with Germany getting Bronze.  Everyone in the top 4-5 could have won so it was interesting. If you have ever driven on an icy road at 120 km down a 45 degree hill with a 90 degree turn at the bottom you may have a bit of an idea what an adrenalin rush these people must have.

Even more Hockey

Last night most people who had bought tickets in advance thought that they would see some poor teams like Belarus or Latvia. Instead they lucked out in the draw and got to see Germany vs Canada.

I watched with my best friend in Canada, Geoff.   To say Geoff is passionate about Hockey and the Canadian team in general would be a major understatement. Although the game was not even close the Germans played well for a group of semi professionals against the powerhouse Canuks. What was evident was the amount of passion in the stands. It reminded me of the Gladiators vs the Lions and the gladiators were tearing the Lions limb from limb. In the end the 8-2 score reflected the quality of the players but Germany could hold their head proud they scored 2 goals against the Canadians which almost doubled their goal output in the entire tournament lead up to this game. Final score 8-2.

Hockey Night on Canada

I'm not that much of a hockey fan, I'm waiting for the World Cup. We did take in 2 games yesterday and I must admit that both were much better than I had thought they would be.

Game 1 was Canada against Switzerland. The media was hyping the Canadians to destroy the Swiss as the Swiss knocked the Canuks off last time in Italy. Canada had all their highly paid superstar players. Switzerland had a ragtag team of people almost all I had never even heard of. Canada got a goal fast but the swiss managed to keep with them for a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation time. The Swiss held their own in overtime and only lost in a shootout. This morning the Media is hyping the Canadian win but in actual fact the Swiss caused Canada to lose a point, as points are split if the game goes into overtime Canada received 2 points, Switzerland one. I must admit I was really pulling for the Swiss as they were such an underdog.

The next game was powerhouse Russia VS Slovakia. Same thing good game ending up in a shootout, with the underdog Slovaks winning.

I'm still in denial that I actually watched 6 plus hours of hockey in a row. Maybe I'm getting ready for the World Cup because I only missed 3 games last time.

Top 10 Medal Winners

Top 10 Medal Winners
Country G S B Total
UNITED STATES 6 5 7 18
GERMANY 4 4 3 11
NORWAY 3 3 2 8
CANADA 3 3 1 7
FRANCE 2 1 4 7
SOUTH KOREA 3 2 0 5
AUSTRIA 1 2 2 5
SWITZERLAND 3 0 1 4
CHINA 2 1 1 4
RUSSIA 1 2 1 4

What's happening today at 2010

Curling - WTF - That's not an Olympics sport I'm sorry it's a recreation.  They are good I guess but there just isn't the drama that someone skiing around a mountain track with a gun slung over their shoulder has.

Yesterday we watched the Men's downhill it was exciting but not as exciting as I thought it would be.    It was sort of like American football with a few seconds of action interspersed with a lot of waiting.

Yesterdays thrill event was the couples figure skating.  Everyone was falling missing their jumps, out of sync.  I actually ask if they could give a gold medal to someone that couldn't stand up let alone skate.  Then came the Chinese team and they were really spectacular and flawless they were in second place and moved into first.  The other Chinese couple came out as the leader and skated well but not great and just squeaked out the gold, China's fist in skating.  China 1-2 in skating, someone came in third for the bronze but their performance was so bad I didn't even write down their names.

Caught a bit of other stuff like snowboarding on the TV but wasn't all that impressed with that either.

Best thing about the Olympics

Best thing about the Olympics.  Lots of different colored shirts but no one is about to kill you for what you are wearing.  With maybe the exception of the Black vandals the other day in Downtown Vancouver.

Shhhhh, Don't tell anyone but today I dusted off my favorite yellow shirt and no even noticed when my son and I went shopping this morning.  Maybe I'll try with a blue one tomorrow.  As for red well the whole country is wearing some form of read for Canada so even the UDD's Million Man March would blend in fine here.

Today's Medal Count

Madal Count                  G - S - B - T

United States                  1    2    3   6


Germany Germany          1   3    0   4

France France                 2   0    1   3

Canada Canada               1   1    1   3

Korea Korea                   1   1    0   2

Italy Italy                         0  0    2    2

Czech Republic Czech Republic 1 0 0 1

Netherlands Netherlands  1   0   0   1

Switzerland Switzerland  1   0   0   1

Slovakia Slovakia            1   0   0   1

What went on

Women's Hockey.  Didn't think that Canada's first game would be really memorable but you couldn't help but fell bad for Slovakia when they were not just beaten but beaten to death.  18-0 is not a score it's a slaughter.  The IOC has to do something about their Goals for-against rule.  The Canadians had to rack up this huge score because of this stupid IOC rule  but it wasn't even close after 5 minutes of the first period.  All in all this was a waste of my time.

The Woman's Mogul event was interesting for a couple of reasons.  First there was little to no snow except on the course itself and it was exciting but the weather was just atrocious.  Heavy rain and high winds made it look like the final would be canceled or postponed.  In the end they ran the event and it went right down to the wire.  The second to last competitor, Canada's Jenn Heil, moved into first place.  The last competitor was Hannah Kearney who squeaked out a win for the US. by a single point.

There is still a huge controversy surrounding the death in Luge practice.  They have moved the men down to the womens start but everyone is blaming it on everyone else.  I'll do a Blog on it later but it's 8 am and I gotta go.

Top 10 Medal Winners - Day 1

Top 10 Medal Winners Day 1


Country Total   G -S-B - T

UNITED STATES 1 1 2 4

SOUTH KOREA   1 1 0 2

NETHERLANDS  1 0 0 1

SWITZERLAND   1 0 0 1

SLOVAKIA           1 0 0 1

CANADA              0 1 0 1

GERMANY           0 1 0 1

POLAND               0 1 0 1

AUSTRIA              0 0 1 1

FRANCE               0 0 1 1

Arrests, Beatings as Saturday Protest Turns Violent

Arrests, Beatings at Olympics.  Black-clad activists smash downtown Vancouver store windows, police crack down.

At least two officers were injured, the Vancouver Sun said.

Local reports said the protesters hurled objects at police, spray-painted cars and buses, intimidated pedestrians and pushed over mail and newspaper boxes.

Riot police moved in to break up the protest, with several demonstrators arrested.

In the evening, around 1,500 people were involved in an angry standoff with police, and despite sticks and bottles being thrown the protesters failed in their bid to disrupt the opening ceremony.

Olympics Star Dies In Luge Crash

An Olympics star has died in an horrific 90mph luge accident at the winter games.


Georgian hopeful Nodar Kumaritashvili flew off the track and into a metal pole in Whistler, Canada.  Medics administered CPR at the scene following the second of two training runs.  Kumaritashvili was then placed on a stretcher with blood pouring from his head and taken away in an ambulance.
An International Olympic Committee official confirmed this morning that the luger had died.

Witnesses told how the 21-year-old crashed at one of the fastest points near the bottom of the track on the final 270-degree turn. 

He hit both sides of the wall before being hurled over the top and smashing into the pole at the side of the track. 

Earlier Italian Armin Zoeggler, the 2002 and 2006 gold medalist, also crashed but was not badly injured.  On Wednesday there were several accidents during women's luge training runs.  Romania's Violeta Stramaturaru was knocked unconscious for a few minutes and taken to hospital.

The track is widely-regarded as one of the most dangerous in the sport.

I have seen the video but have elected not to post it.

Vancouver Weather, Oh Boy!!!!!

There is an old adage on the BC coast, "If you don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes".  Around town the Japanese Cherry are starting to bloom, the crocus are up and there is but a slight hint of snow on the mountains.  All this months early.  The Olympic committee must be in a panic because today it was shirt sleeve weather around 14C with bright sun.  Not exactly Winter Olympic weather.

The long range forecast is for Whistler to be down to -1C by the start of the games and then drop to -5C. but for Cypress it's not good news.  It was 5C on the ski hill today (Sunday in Thailand) at 6pm and the forecast is looking great, if you want to go to the beach to get a tan.   Last week when we came into Vancouver all you saw was big brown patches where the snow would normally be a couple of meters deep at this time of the year.

But in typical style, often though to be of American origin - not Canadian, the city has thrown vast amounts of cash at the ski hill hoping to not be an international embarrassment.  They have used helicopters to fly in thousands of  hay bales to make the half Pipe course and then with still no snow in the offing and no sign of any cold weather so they could use artificial snow making equipment they have resorted to trucking snow in from Manning Park a couple of hundred kilometers away.

On Monday (Tuesday in Thailand) we will head into Vancouver, known locally as the "Big Smoke" to check things out a bit more.   Six days to go and I'm sure glad the buck doesn't stop at my desk.