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Local Olympic news

I've been sort of frustrated by the lack of reporting on the US Olympic Volley-Ball team. It's been difficult to find results much less any stories on this team, it takes a lot of searching. I am most disappointed in the local news outlets which must not realize there is a local woman playing on this team, Michelle Bartsch-Hackley.

Last night I was looking for score updates and didn't find any, but thanks to Frank posting on Facebook I learned they had won their match against Italy and are now in the quarterfinals. I checked his Facebook page when I woke up in the  middle of the night and there was the result. Channel 5 in St. Louis had a paragraph this morning but I the other channels had nothing. It's frustrating. We could have watched it but still haven't figured out how to do the streaming from apps.

Plenty of stories on the women's soccer team's loss.

 

Swimming question

Before each Olympic swimming event this past week, many of the competitors show up dressed from head to toe in winter coats. Really winter clothing. I've wondered if the venue temperature was kept low. This is the first Olympics this has been noticeable and it's possible the swimmers worked out a bit beforehand and want to keep their muscles warm and ready to go.

But, it's somewhat of a mystery.

Katie Ledecky!

I've really enjoyed the Olympics this year, maybe because there are so many neat US competitor stories. As a contrast to the competition, the Opening Ceremonies broadcast by NBC were horrible. Tape delay, too many commercials etc. But since then it's been a great way to spend an evening.

Swimmer Katie Ledecky is from Bethesda Maryland near where our daughter Katie lives and so we've been caught up in the excitement over her success. As a bonus we've had the Michael Phelps story, a swimmer who just won his 20th individual gold medal. He's also from Maryland. This morning I came across a tweet which pictures a 9 year old Katie Ledecky getting an autograph from Michael Phelps.

Both of these swimmers are amazing but with Ledecky you have a young woman of 19 who is in her second Olympics! In 2012 she won the gold medal in the 800 freestyle at age 15. This year she has won 2 golds.

Phelps who is 12 years older than Ledecky began his Olympic career in 2000 when he too was 15. He did not medal that year but his career took off after that. In 2004 he won 6 golds and two bronze medals. He won 8 gold medals in 2008 and in 2012 he got 4 gold and 2 silver medals.

 

Local Olympian

Katie and Charlie have a neighbor down the street who's son will be swimming for the US Olympic team in Rio. Their house has the Olympic flag hanging in front and the Rockville MD town Center has a huge flip flop available for residents to sign and wish him good luck. Which Drew and Jake did yesterday.

 

Olympic remains

World cities spend millions and millions, maybe billions of dollars vying to get the chance to host Olympic games. They pour even more money into constructing the various venues so that for a brief two weeks in time everything is shiny and new and perfect for everyone to see.

But what happens when the two weeks of competition are over? Here are 30 haunting photos of abandoned Olympic arenas in several cities which had their day. Beginning with Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, a city which a few short years after their olympics was part of a country torn apart, a country which no longer exists. But then we see the sport areas in other cities with less traumatic goings.

And we all were given to believe that after the olympics were finished the sporting venues would continue to be used. Maybe Syndey Australia did better? It looks like it.

 

The mystery of figure skating judging

It happens every winter olympics, complaints about prejudice in judging the finals in figure skating. It happened again last night when the favorite and last olympic gold medalist, South Korea's Kim Yu-Na lost to Russia's Adelina Sotnikova.  The South Koreans were furious claiming questionable judging. 

What else is new? I'd bet all of us have watched enough olympic figure skating over the years to come to our own conclusions about who did best. Who was most graceful, strongest, fastest, had higher jumps and tighter spins. Who tripped, who didn't. But what the actual judges look for is whimsical to most of us and as an IOC spokesman said, "this matter over the judging is a "purely hypothetical thing." 

What's different this time is that the judges individual ballots or judging sheets are anonymous. Other years one judge or another may have been singled out because their ballots had their names on them. 

But judge for yourself. I really don't care that much, it seems like such a closed club anyway.

One of the nine judges who picked a young Russian skater over two more refined competitors for the Olympic gold medal Thursday night was suspended for a year for trying to fix an event at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

And another is the wife of the former president and current general director of the Russian figure skating federation. Another Olympics, another huge skating controversy involving the countries of the former Soviet Union.

The most uncomfortable interview ever

After US skier Bode Miller got his Bronze medal in the Super-G, NBC reporter Christin Cooper decided to interview him more about his brother's recent death than the olympic event. She went so far it was channel switching uncomfortable for most viewers.

Here is a whole page of tweets from viewers who told NBC to "leave Bode Miller alone".

Best and worst dressed olympians

Yahoo Sports selected a few of their favorite and least favorite outfits worn by various countries as they marched into the opening ceremonies last night. If you didn't watch, you can still get a brief overview.

I liked Japan's look and would very much like to have one of those coats.

She's everywhere!

Remember this New York Times Magazine cover from a couple of weeks ago? Hillary's face inserted into planet earth. Well, SBNationGIF won Twitter last night with this edit during the opening ceremonies.

NBC's Olympic stations

If you want to get the most our of watching the olympics, NBC will be using 4 of its other cable channels. Here is a telecast calendar you might want to bookmark as the days go by. Tonight NBC go it alone.