Super excited for the games. Loved them in Turin. Renewed my Peacock for the month.
First official events 2/4, opening ceremonies Friday. Bummed that Lindsey crashed this past weekend. She says she still a go.
And then the hockey tourneys, Men and Women, will be great. USA captain Hillary Knight’s final games. First time pros since 2014.
Ski Mountaineering a debut, and looks pretty cool.
I’ll glued to Olympics broadcasts except for Sunday afternoon. I don’t have any particular event I’m looking forward to, for me it’s seeing stuff we do not normally get to see.
Looking forward to them also.
I always end up getting behind, trying to catch up on streams. Biathlon #1, a bunch of nordic races, speed skating, hockey, all the sliding…
It’s a lot easier to keep up with than the summer games though!
Good you started a thread.
I’ll tune in for misc x-country events, speed skating, and hockey.
(Overall, is seems like these games aren’t getting a lot of attention. Read that Washington Post decided not to send any of their reporters over there to cover the games. If I were one of their reporters, that would be a huge disappointment).
Lindsey Vonn is reporting that she has a complete tear of her ACL, and will try to race anyway with a brace.
Well hell! I hope she can race. I met her a few times here when she was with PK Subban and admire her training to come back, especially after a partial knee replacement.
MILAN — Lindsey Vonn tore her ACL in a crash Friday in a World Cup race in Switzerland, the American Alpine skiing star said Tuesday, but will still try to compete at the Olympics.
“I’m leaning on everyone on my team,” Vonn said at a press conference in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, where the women’s Alpine events begin Sunday with the downhill race in which she was tracking to be the favorite. “… Everyone is working as hard as they can to get me to a place where I feel confident.”
I have done that - both the acl tear and skiied on it. But wow, I don’t know about a competition at downhill speeds. That seems like high risk for cascading into even more serious injuries. I hope she thinks twice.
I always look forward to the Olympics, regardless of the surrounding commercialization or whatever else is going on.
It may be because I watch relatively little network TV these days, but it seems to have snuck up on me. I haven’t seen much advertising or promotion, and I don’t think I’ve even heard the Olympic music yet in an ad, which seems odd so close to the start.
This is wild, to me. I know 2013 was a hell of a ride for her with multiple crashes and ACL injuries and quite a bit of perseverance on her part. But this injury is acute and while she may be optimistic now, or trying to be, I have a very hard time seeing how she will effectively manage the insane forces on the knee with acute swelling and associated neurogenic weakness of her knee muscles. Even with a brace. Not to mention the subconscious or very obvious mental apprehension of trying this.
I hope she rests and recovers well and whatever happens she is safe. But this seems like a reach.
Someone from Vonn’s team needs to sit her down and have a come to Jesus talk with her. Her legacy is set, she has nothing left to prove.
And make sure no one from NBC is in their meeting.
Having worked with a few dozen ACL injuries in my time in the collegiate Athletic Training setting I fully agree with this. I just don’t see how she is able compete at a high enough level this closely after injury. I know she has access to the best care available but the amount of twisting forces she’s going to have to deal with is insane and seems like a good way to fully dislocate the knee and end up with an even bigger problem. Like mck414 said someone has to sit her down and talk her out of this.
How about she also not be selfish and let a healthy athlete step up and compete for the USA. Flag on the kit, not the name of the athlete.
I was about to ask what the rules are for alternate qualifiers in skiing. Is there someone who would get Vonn’s spot or would it go to waste?
I believe each sport had its own regulations on alternates but they have them for situations just as this.
There’s never a good time to get injured but getting hurt on the cusp of the Olympics has got to one of the worst times.
Is it Vonn’s decision though? Wouldn’t it be the coach’s call to go with the alternate?
The US Hockey team was named with the explicit caveat that the coach can decide to pull up an alternate if any of the initial selections got hurt before the Games.
If it were up to the athlete - every athlete would say, I can still go!
Even if it’s the athletes call…if a seasoned adult downhill ski athlete has an MRI-confirmed ACL tear it shouldn’t even make it to the coach. The athlete should say “I’m out” …as hard as that decision is…they should make that call for the good of the team and the games.
Also looking forward to it.
Our youngest is over there doing media coverage. She works for an agency organising the 2032 Olys here in Oz.
One of her friends competes in the aerials, got gold in the recent world champs. But she will probably have to pull out a triple to podium in Italy 
I’ve said this before, and I think it bears repeating -
Judged events (figure skating, gymnastics, diving, freestyle skiing, etc.) in ANY Competition (Olympics, Worlds, X Games) should be played like HORSE
First up - Triple toe loop … land it: move on; fail: “H”
Next - Triple salchow … land it: move on; fail: “O” and so on
That might take too long … Better make it PIG