Sour Grapes
Yesterday I noted that an article was posted about the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, and save for one or two comments every comment was a put-down. Notwithstanding that the event was carried out during the advent of a pandemic, the precautionary and protective methods used to protect the athletes, coaches and staff were way superior to anything ever done before, using robots and daily testing, and notwithstanding that the technology used for the opening and closing ceremonies was fa bulous , and the green technology employed for the preparation and maintenance of the sites in order to reduce global warming went way beyond previous Olympic events, and notwithstanding new world records were set in different athletic events, it was not good enough for most of the NT members who posted comments. Those who indicated that they refused to watch even one minute made me think of people who cut off their noses to spite their faces.
I can think of three reasons for the criticisms.
1. The American administrations and media have been demonizing China for years now, interfering in China's domestic affairs, criticizing everything it does, and this has had its effects on the American public, for example the great increase in anti-Asian hate crimes So NOTHNG China has done or can do is good enough for the "exceptional' Americans. I've touched on reasons why elsewhere.
2. America, and the poodle nations that jump when America says "JUMP", politicized the event, which is totally contrary to the credo of the Olympics. which is to be above and beyond politics and conflict between nations, and is meant to underline universality, mutuality and brotherhood as exemplified by sport and friendly competition. It had no effect on China, but was obviously done just for domestic personal political benefit.
3. The medal accomplishments of the American athletes were not number 1 as they were in Japan. In fact America did not even place among the top 3 gold medal winning nations, and stood only 6th in the overall medal count. Hey, if America isn't number 1, then the whole event had to be rotten, right? There's your SOUR GRAPES , and the comments I referred to above sure as hell were sour grapes.
Personally, I enjoyed watching the Olympics. Of course I was able to watch it happen during normal waking hours. My favourite thing to watch was curling which I watched most of the time. One might think it's just a kind of glorified shuffleboard, but I've done it myself back in Canada and I know that for success it requires technique and skill, strategy and ingenuity. The competition between the Chinese and American mixed doubles was a great event, and the competitors showed a maturity and grace with each other that was so superior to the childish boorish comments of NT members I referred to above, and the childish boorish politicization by Biden. The athletes put conflict aside, and I posted a seed about it which can be accessed here (LINK) -> https://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/15229/fierce-competition-but-no-iciness-between-curlers
Christopher Plys (first left) and Vicky Persinger (first right) from the US receive a gift from China's Fan Suyuan and Ling Zhi in the curling mixed doubles round robin during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games at National Aquatics Center in Beijing February 5, 2022. [Photo/IC]
Next best was figure skating and the record-breaking gold-medal winning performance by the Chinese skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong was the finest most impressive figure skating event that I have watched in all my years watching Olympic performances.
"Fresh off a record-breaking performance in the pairs short program, China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong reached storybook gold in the free, earning the highest-ever score in pairs figure skating in Olympic history."
"As they anxiously awaited their final score, the arena turned silent. But as the total was announced, the crowd, and the skaters, erupted." The tension was so palpable I could feel it myself. The most dramatic moment of the whole Olympics was when their score was announced, their coaches and friends who were sitting with them went into a highly emotional huddle with them - I wish there was a photo of that moment that would help to explain the effect that it had, even on me.
The third high point of the Olympics for me was the Canadian women's hockey team winning gold. I wasn't much into the skiing, bobsledding and speed skating. I was somewhat disappointed with Canada's showing at the Olympics, because Canada is a winter-sport country, and every Canadian kid learns how to ski and skate. When I grew up we had a second back yard that was sort of sunken that we flooded in the winter and had our own private skating rink, and there was a ski hill about a 10 minute walk from our house, where they also iced a grooved toboggan run that went down the hill, onto a short flat, down another small hill and out onto the frozen marsh, and it sure was fun. .
Now, I will be in agreement with a couple of the comments on the previous seed about the Olympics that was posted by someone else. I was disappointed with the minimalization of the planting of the Olympic torch, which did not convey the magnitude of the Olympics as in previous years, but I do understand the logic of the event designer who said what was important was to make the point of preventing it from adding to emissions and global warming. As well, I have never understood why the Russians were permitted to present their athletes under a different designation after they were banned due to excessive doping, although it would be unfortunate to prevent innocent athletes suffer for the wrongs of others, but then, anyway, as was also mentioned, athletes have the right to choose which country they represent, which does seem odd to me. As for the 15 year old skater doping issue, I don't know why they made such a big deal about it.
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What about point # 3 from your article?
I'm the administrator of this group, the author of the article, and you're not. The article is not a comment, but anything posted on this comment wall IS a comment. And even if what was written in the article COULD be considered a comment, it preceded the posting of the restriction which is not specifically retroactively applicable.
Ok Buzz.
Evening Buzz....as I have said before I would rather be a poodle than a snake...
Have to raise the question why did they kick out two Ukrainian athletes for the same thing but not the Russian? Seems a bit odd.. what happened re the medal outcome do you know?
We are more than happy with our outcome... especially the silver in the skeleton... there is no track in the southern hemisphere so we have to go to the States or Europe to train so bloody good effort far as we are concerned..
Curling...err, um, croc bait for that I am afraid..
But the best outcome we beat the poms...
Nothing much was reported here about any dramas etc and by all accounts ran smoothly and with precision as I think the world expected...
Hopefully we will all be doing it again in Italy...
I really didn't pay attention to the doping issues, don't know anything about the Ukrainian athletes. If I had never done curling myself it might not have been of interest to me, but it's a sport I once enjoyed. I never skated that much, nor did I ski very often - there was no lift where I skied, so it was ski downhill, herringbone back up, ski down hill, herringbone back up, ski down hill, herringbone back up and then I was whacked and went home.
Maybe it wasn't the best Winter Olympics ever, but there's no way it was the worst as the critics in the previous article said.
And the "poms" is slang for...?
Evening.. sorry thought you may have known that being part of the Commonwealth..
It's the Brits...it is our main ambition in life to beat them in any sport we can... especially the Ashes..that is test cricket and we just flogged them..
They hate it when us Colonials beat them in their national sport..it irks them something fierce..
They just about hang the captain, shoot the rest of the team and almost call for all our war against us.. India is another massive cricket country as is Pakistan..
But their is mutual respect at the end of the day...I guess bit like rivalry between US and Canada..
Speaking of which do you know who won the gold in the men's ice hockey??
No, shona1, it's your lingo, as Australian as a dingo.
But I am familiar with cricket because my two final years of high school were spent at a private boys' school modeled on an English one, and we played cricket as one of our sports.
Hockey gold was won by Finland - they beat the ROC. Had the NHL (National Hockey League) players from Canada and the USA been there it would have been a different story.
The Olympics is all about the athletes right? So why were the athletes so damn upset then? Suppose it was just sour grapes on their parts as well?
As for the Olympics "sucking", it was the lowest watched Olympics ever; and that wasn't just in the US.
But the Chinese government put their normal spin on it. Meaning deny, deflect, and only use data that fit their narrow narrative.
One of the links that I was able to open used the words "Some participants..." and I have no doubt that every previous Olympics was bound to have "Some participants" who bitched about something at the Olympics. I'll bet the Israeli athletes who were murdered by the Palestinians in Munich would have complained about the lack of security if they were alive to do so. Besides, because of the hatred for China that has been so well and widely promulgated by American administrations, lawmakers and media, there was bound to be some negativity. Sure, China did its damndest to keep everyone safe from being infected and IMO that was no easy task when so many came already infected. I would have liked to have seen how any other nation would have done as much or as well if they could even afford to do so. And as for using the words "some participants" why does that make me think about how Jen Psaki deals with reporters who ask questions by starting them with words like "Some people are saying...."
Yes, the student newspaper you linked to wrote about NBC sports viewer figures, and for the 3 reasons I indicated in the article I'm not surprised that Americans were so prejudiced against China that they did not watch, and I even wrote in the article about those who specifically announced that they refused to watch even one minute of the event. I would guess that the viewer numbers in China were considerably more than even the whole population of the USA.
Sour grapes and well promoted prejudice. Do you believe that the quotations of what the American curling team said in the article I linked to were lies?
I enjoyed the Olympics and being from Minnesota the winter sports are fun for me to watch. The absolute shocker was the three medals, a Gold and two Bronze won by the speed skaters from 0CALA, FLORIDA and we don't even have an ice rink. The American women were great and won many medals.
I don't understand why the Russian team is even allowed in the Olympics and the team skating gold was and is a disaster. There was no medal ceremony for the silver and bronze medal winners and that ceremony is the crowing glory to their years of training.
Also, a shout out to our friends from down under. Both OZ and the Kiwis scored the best they ever have in the winter Olympics.
As a side note I wish that the NFL players were not allowed in the Olympics I loved it when it was all amateur and the Finns deserved the win. Remember in 1980 the miracle on ice it was the Finnish team that the US had to beat for the gold and if I remember correctly it was a tough and close battle. Kudos to Finland.
I loved seeing Shawn White in his last Olympics, a class act that brought the sport from the fringes to mainstream and lovely to watch. Also, a high five to the 130 athletes over 35 years old that competed and won medals.
All in all every competitor deserves a round of applause medal winner or not, they did their best and that is what it's about.
In the 15K cross country race the winner (Finland) didn't leave after he crossed the finish line he stayed until the last competitor crossed the finish line and gave him a hug. That my friends is what it's about.
I have a spot in my heart for the Finns it was the Sami people from Finland that supported Amerian Indians at NDAPL by showing up at Standing Rock to march arm and arm with us and the same feeling goes out to the Kiwis when the Maori people also showed up at Standing Rock in support of us.
I did not watch the Olympics, but have heard a lot of disparaging remarks about them. I never watch the Olympics (winter or summer) so it has nothing to do with where it was held, BUT I do understand why the derogatory comments have put a twitch in your switch.
Mainly commenting here to push the article forward.
I'm concerned that this article requires my moderation of it, but since it is now after 11;30 p.m. I'm gong to lock it until my morning, when I will unlock it for further commentary.
Just finished breakfast and now this article is unlocked for civil commentary. Let's all try to keep the hatred in check, okay?
Nobody posted anything today. Therefore I'm now locking this article permanently.