Winter Olympics: Thoughts

Olympics – Women's Slopestyle Finals – Dara Howell Takes Gold - freeski downdays 2

Going into the winter Olympics this year, there was a lot of talk about a terrorist strike, the possibility that somebody (and, given the neighborhood of Sochi, most likely some Islamicist terrorist group) would use the world-wide spotlight such games provide to showcase their own violence and their Grand Cause. Memories of Munich in 1972 and all that.

I'm happy to say that it didn't happen. As Sherlock Holmes would say: the mad dogs didn't howl. That was the curious incident in the night-time.

The second thing? The games offered, as they always do, remarkable examples of athleticism at its best. On February 9th, the host Russian team won the gold medal in "team trophy" figure skating, with outstanding performances by Evgeni Plushenko and Julia Lipnitskaya. On February 11, Dara Howell, of Canada, one of the three women portrayed above, won gold in the Ladies Ski Slopestyle. She came from nowhere, was favored by nobody, yet richly deserved the medal. Here is one of the more excited commentators amongst those who were inspired by her performance. Click. And it went on like that. Lot's of great stuff for watching and cheering.
The third point? and I'll make this the final one ... the dogs. So far as I know, this is the first Olympic games ever, winter or summer, in which coverage has been so frequently concerned with the fate of stray dogs, and the athletes who adopt them.
Just how badly is the area around Sochi overrun by these creatures, anyway?
No, don't tell me. I don't want to know.
See you next time, sports fans.

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