A hearty "Good luck!" to the sports-minded of all nations who have athletes entered in the 2002 Winter Olympics! Let's hope the Olympic Spirit prevails, both on the field and off.
Congratulations to Italy's Stefania Belmondo, first Olympic champion crowned! Wins Gold Medal in Women's Cross Country Skiing. (are you watching, emanuela?)
Whilst watching the opening ceremony I could not help but notice how the Europeans and North Americans trembled with fear before the mighty hordes from the Antipodes.
27 from Oz (3 of whom were knocked out of their comp on the first day) and 19 from Zild. Be very, very afraid.
let's not forget the Brasilian bobsled team. Boa sorte to the Frozen Banana!
"Brazil - where the nuts come from" - (to quote from the play "Charlie's Aunt" by Brandon Thomas)
and to my way of thinking *anyone who gets on (into) a bobsled is a Grade A nut! Those things are dangerous! But if they must, I wish them all good luck.
well, being knocked out of the competition early has some consolations. -- and i am sure one reason for the small contingent was someone from down under discovered early in the game that getting a drink-- something as simple as a beer! is a big deal in salt lake city.
they seem to have done a good job creating venues, and managing crouds.. but salt lake city is no sydney.. it is not a party town. --------- i think its interesting that internation speakers talk of US hosting the games.. i see it as Utah hosting the games. most of the funds are state/corporate/donations, not federal funds. We are a united states.. but in some ways, states are still a bit autonomus.
Bean? Bel? talked about local (Canadian state/provience) rules about names changes in marrige, or civil/religious weddings. in US, each state make its own laws about age of consent, and other rules about marriage, and agrees to accept as legal any marriage that is legal in an other state. in old american movies, this gave rise to running off to maryland, to elope. In NY and much of Northeast, you must wait at least 3 day from when you request a marriage licence to when you get married. Maryland lets you get married on the spot.. Lots of other states do, too, but it was the closest.
Salt Lake city is, in my opinion, a strange choice for a big have-fun-drink-play-games thing, since the Mormons all live there and won't let you do anything. Hey Faldage, how does a team from a tropical country have any chance in a sledding competition?
I'm not an expert on this topic (having never been married, nor lived in another state) but here's some info I've found:
Marriage in Australia Before a marriage ceremony can be solemnised the bride and groom must decide where the marriage will occur and whether the ceremony will be a religious or civil event. Both forms of ceremony are recognised as legal marriages by Australian law.
A 'notice of intended marriage' must be completed and lodged with the person who is going to perform the ceremony (proposed celebrant) at least one month, but no more than six months, before the preferred date of marriage. The notice is obtained from the proposed celebrant
The bride and groom must show the proposed celebrant documentary proof that they are 18 years old or older. That proof must be a birth certificate or extract if born in Australia. If the bride or groom were not born in Australia, then the celebrant can accept a valid passport or a citizenship certificate.
The marriageable age in Australia is 18 years for both males and females. Marriage of a person who has attained the age of 16 years but is under 18 years is possible only if the person they are marrying is 18 years or older. In this situation, parental consent and a judge or magistrate's order are required for the minor. Two people under 18 years of age cannot marry each other.
If either party has been married before then that person must show the celebrant proof that they are free to remarry. That proof is usually a decree nisi of dissolution of marriage that has become absolute or a death certificate.
Excerpt from the Western Australian Births, Deaths and Marriages website (emphasis mine). Yes, stales, you sandgropers manage to make this information available better than any other state in our fine land!
So, I guess the answer to your question is that we operate on a National basis here in Ozstralya. How we ever managed to agree on something like this is beyond me, since we can't all agree about things as simple as Daylight Savings Time
Helen, I did not know that matrimony is considered an Olympic sport. Now someone tell me how THAT might be judged, as well as "the difficulty of judging the sexual olympics"
Thanks Hev - confirmed my understanding. Which puts the "Surprise!!" / "Spontaneous decision" of Elton John to get married to Renee whatsername years ago in Sydney into complete b***sh** category. Somebody knew about it for at least 30 days.
We have Federal and State Law for just about everything in Oz. It's very important that this be so because it requires lots of duplication of jobs (state to state and state to Canberra). This is the best way that's been found so far to minimise unemployment.
There are very few constants between states however. Popular items for nationalisation are things like gay reform (well behind the eight ball in Tasmania) and mandatory sentencing in WA (and the NT) on the "three strikes and you're out" principle.
Until recently, WA was a happy recalcitrent with its road rules. Use of hand held mobiles was OK until only a few months ago (banned everywhere else), maximum speed limit is 110km/h c/f 100 everywhere else - except for the NT - where there is NO speed limit outside the metro area. Our acceptable limit of alcohol in fully licensed drivers was 0.08 when all other states it was 0.05. Because most state road funding is doled out by the federal government however, WA was forced to bring these rules in line with other states - or risk losing much of the funding.
Each state also operate their own drivers' licensing scheme and, although I believe moves are afoot to nationalise it, ones driving record is only applicable to the state the license is issued. Thus, if you accrue sufficient points to lose your license in one state, you can get a "clean" license if you establish a residence interstate. (I implemented this when I moved from NSW to WA - was getting near the points limit. Must say however that after 17 years in WA my record has been exemplary.)
From my layman's persective on the sport, I think Canada's Pelletier and Sale skated a flawless and magnificient program in the pairs figure skating and earned the Gold Medal (but I could be wrong). Anybody else have a humble opinion on this?
There's no question--this was a major goof. It's an advantage to the TViewer that figure skating is seen live and not encapsulated like the outdoor daytime events. Seeing the Russian couple, then the Canadians, it was crystal-clear, even to the casual viewer who may not know a sit-spin from a triple-toe loop, that Sale and Pelletier had it iced, so to speak. Now, with the talk of deals and collusion among the judges, it's hard not to feel cynical about the whole Olympic scene, which many of us once thought of as squeaky-clean.
>which many of us once thought of as squeaky-clean.
but the world of skating has been like this for years and years, so the story goes. give me a race of some kind (or some game where you put a ball in back of the net, first time) where the outcome mostly is decided by the athletes.
NBC (company that has US rights to air the games) conducted an informal poll (ie, viewers were invited to comment) and the tally was 96% for Canada, 4% Russians..i didn't vote, but i'd be in with the 96%--
it was so clear the canadians were better. even i could see it, and i know almost nothing about figure skating.
The Russian man landed badly on two "jumps" and the program was pretty safe and staid. The Canadians performed a complex and daring program absolutely flawlessly!
CANADA RULES ... and they wuz robbed.
I can't wait until they have computers tracking the skaters and comparing the performance to the "perfect" execution of figures and scoring them ... lets dump them judges!
OK all you tech folks out there ... lets get busy with that ...it can be done, can't it?
I'm with you wow - they were robbed. The Russian programme just left you going 'well that was quite nice', but the Canadians had me going 'wow' on several occasions (not wishing to take your name in vain or anything!). They were clearly the superior pair.
Thanks for the support, guys. It's hard not to feel a little nationalistic about something like the Olympics, so when people from other countries show support for our athletes because they did a good job and were "robbed", it demonstrates sportsmanlike behaviour, on the part of all observers, at its finest. A sign of the true Olympic spirit - valuing good performance in sport over national allegiances.
Needless to say, everyone here is in a tizzy about it, and most people are pretty steamed. I didn't actually see the performance myself - the time zone thing is a bit of a hassle...Anyway, I wonder whether anything will be improved, with or without an inquiry, though...
actully, NBC last night presented a split screen-- since alot of the performence is "required elements". they had the russians on the right, the canadian on the left, and you could watch side by side, and easily compare the technical elements.. which is where the canadians got shortchanged.. they got 5.8 for technical merit.. not 5.9 or 6.0 (and since it was 99.9 percent perfect, maybe they didn't deserve a 6) but they did deserve a 5.9! and if they had gotten they marks they deserved, they would have won.
i think there choreography was better, it was modern, and lighthearted.. and skating often has more classic themes.. so you could argue if they had lost on artictic merit. but not on techinical elements.. there the case is clear cut.
I heard an interesting comment this morning. It seems that the judges that favored the Russians were the Russian, Chinese, Polish, Ukraine and French judges and the four that favored the Canadians were the US, Canadian, and 2 other European judges I can't remember. Rather than being a Communist Bloc thing, this commentator suggested that the Russians more traditional, balletic (if that's a word) performance is more to the taste of figure skaters in those countries, while North Americans and Europeans appreciate the more emotional, entertaining, theatrical style of the Canadian routine.
I should add that I, too, was gobsmacked that the Russians won. If you total up the points from the judges that went with the Russians you get around 104, but the total points from judges going to the Canadians was over 105. Something like winning the popular vote but losing the Electoral College. Imagine if such a thing were to happen!
I was lucky enough to watch the event (timezone favorable) and was, like most, floored by the outcome. You could even see the Canadian judge shaking his head in incomprehension. It was also so heartwrenching to see Salé weeping behind the scenes.
They knew - that emotion after the performance couldn't have been faked (could it?)
I knew,
Even Helen, by her own admission, knew!
Their performance brought a tear to my eye - whilst I just felt sorry for the Russians for stuffing up their routine .
When the result was flashed up, the conspiracist in me immediately thought - "Now, why have They organised it so that the Russians get the gold?" Hmmm.
Reuters is reporting the Olympic powers-that-be have overturned the judges' decision and are awarding the gold medal to Canada. (still awaiting confirmation)
Breaking News: The International Olympic Committee just announced it will award Sale and Pelletier an unprecedented second Gold Medal for their performance in the now-infamous pairs figure skating event!
YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! Justice is served! "O, Canada....!"
[edit. "unprecedented": aksherly, it's the 4th time double-gold has been awarded)
Yeah, looks like a second gold medal will be awarded, so as not to strip the Russian pair of theirs. But this is apparently based on a leak, we have to await the news conference for confirmation. Hope it's true!!
Oh I wish I had Bean's number we'd celebrate with a big Canadian yahoo!!!
Seriously, I've never seen so many Canadians in such a tizzy. Well, as much as Canadians can be in a tizzy. Strongly worded letters were being sent out and people were quite angry, well maybe not angry but definitely miffed, well o.k. not miffed, grumpy, politely grumpy, oh all right...I did hear my Granny say "dang it" on Wednesday.
All kidding aside guys, thanks for the support. We had so many people from all over the world cheering us on it was heartwarming.
I read of one such case: There was such an award in synchronized swimming at the 1992 Olympics, when Canada's Sylvie Frechette was belatedly awarded a gold medal after it was learned a judge made a mistake entering his mark into a computerized scoring system. The correct score would have left Frechette tied with the original gold medalist, Kristen Babb-Sprague of the U.S. [verbatim; text easily found by google]
In the 1932 Olympics, Stella Walsh won the 100-meter spint over Canadian sprinter Hilda Strike. However, in 1980 Stella Walsh was killed during a robbery and at the coroner's inquest, "it appeared that Stella was an anatomically correct male."
When Hilda Strike was reached for comment, she was asked if she felt she deserved the gold, or if she would pursue the issue with the International Olympic Committee. No, Hilda replied, I don't think so. When we went out on the track that day, I accepted that field and raced against them. That was what happened that day.
I fully agree with you, tswum, that its proper to make a vigorous, tumultuous response to injustice, even a seditious one (as here) if necessary. I'm pleased you can be so worked up about such a matter.
Query how that relates to tsuwm: it's generally fruitless to argue about values, be it ... the latest test match unless it's just for the sake of argument, which ... searching not seditiously for intent
Just announced : the gold will be awarded to Sale and Pelletier at the end of the figure skating competition. Hope they get the anthem and all the bells and whistles! Heard an interview with Sale and Pelletier in which Sale said she missed having the medal and the National Anthem at the time.
New judges for the pairs event ... suspect French female judge (allegedly "pressured") is suspended.
if the voting by one judge was unduly influenced, and if I were Olympic tsar (or czar) [someone is], I would throw out that judge's vote, recalculate the scores, and award the medals accordingly. but then, nothing is simple.
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(are you watching, emanuela?)
. Now someone tell me how THAT might be judged, as well as "the difficulty of judging the sexual olympics"
