OT - Aren't we Dutch......

[MadAmster]

Just watched that Short Track Relay, MA...had no idea what was going on or how they decided who’d won.
Winter sports has never been my thing to be honest, but you have to admire the courage and athleticism on show, breathtaking bravery at times...and then there’s...Curling...what an anti climax. I’ll concede that I speak from a position of total ignorance and I’m sure there’s some skill involved, but it just looks like a winter activity for bored caretakers and cleaners.

It's easy rA. It's a 3Km race. 3 in a team. 1 "on the track". The other 2 inside it. Depending on your agreed tactics every 1, 1.5, 2 or however many laps you have decided, the next skater picks up speed inside the track and then moves in front of you and you give them apush and off they go. A couple of laps later the 3rd one take over etc etc etc until you have done the 3Km.

Then you know in which order you all crossed the line. The jury then takes over and looks at any incidents that may have occurred in the race. If any of the skaters is deemed to have obstructed an opponent then the whole team is disqualified.

Easy really.

I got one bit wrong in my previous post on this, it wasn't merely an Olympic record for the Dutch, it was also a World record.

Curling? Bowls on ice basically.

[ramAnag]

It's easy rA. It's a 3Km race. 3 in a team. 1 "on the track". The other 2 inside it. Depending on your agreed tactics every 1, 1.5, 2 or however many laps you have decided, the next skater picks up speed inside the track and then moves in front of you and you give them apush and off they go. A couple of laps later the 3rd one take over etc etc etc until you have done the 3Km.

Then you know in which order you all crossed the line. The jury then takes over and looks at any incidents that may have occurred in the race. If any of the skaters is deemed to have obstructed an opponent then the whole team is disqualified.

Easy really.

I got one bit wrong in my previous post on this, it wasn't merely an Olympic record for the Dutch, it was also a World record.

Curling? Bowls on ice basically.

I feel you’re living up to your name here and possibly confusing the adjective ‘easy’ with ‘bonkers’.
Even so it seemed quite exciting until the end when some old blokes had to decide who’d won. Still haven’t got a clue what the Canadians did wrong or why that Christie woman got a yellow card in her event. More to the point...none of the experts seemed to know either. All seemed a bit arbitrary to me.

You’re right about the ‘bowls on ice’ but at least in bowls you don’t have people with brooms or little lawn mowers running ahead. Is bowling a sport in the prop...sorry...Summer Olympics?

[Romanis]

Curling is really funny. Whoever decided that a broom was a sporting equipment deserves my respect. Not for the broom, but the fact that it convinced so many that it was actually needed. Give that man a beer, wherever he may be now.

[mistaram]

Can't be to hard on curling its the only thing the Jocks are any good at well that and tossing

[ramAnag]

Can't be to hard on curling its the only thing the Jocks are any good at well that and tossing

Hope you’re not proved wrong about that on Saturday evening. There’ll be tension in the Faber household that night...with apologies to Bill McClaren.

[Andy_Faber]

Hope you’re not proved wrong about that on Saturday evening. There’ll be tension in the Faber household that night...with apologies to Bill McClaren.

The tension started quite a while ago R.

[MadAmster]

I feel you’re living up to your name here and possibly confusing the adjective ‘easy’ with ‘bonkers’.

Hmmmm..... Easy - not difficult. Bonkers - crazy

In this case my explanation of short track is, IMO, easy to understand. That was the purpose of the post. Objective achieved IMO.

Bonkers? It most certainly is bonkers but, again IMO, no more bonkers than the "speed walking" at the summer Olympics. If the rules on having to have a part of your foot in contact with the ground at all times was enforced they would all be disqualified...... and they look ridiculous

[ramAnag]

Hmmmm..... Easy - not difficult. Bonkers - crazy

In this case my explanation of short track is, IMO, easy to understand. That was the purpose of the post. Objective achieved IMO.

Bonkers? It most certainly is bonkers but, again IMO, no more bonkers than the "speed walking" at the summer Olympics. If the rules on having to have a part of your foot in contact with the ground at all times was enforced they would all be disqualified...... and they look ridiculous

Lol...let’s not resort to speed walking as a benchmark for sporting sanity.
I’m sure both sports demand a lot of dedication and discipline. Imo one looks ridiculous and the other chaotic but that is probably just my lack of understanding.
I’m not keen on sports that need ‘marking’...ice skating, diving, dressage, gymnastics, synchronised swimming etc...prefer their to be something more tangible, i.e. score more or do it quicker, longer, further, higher whatever...again, probably just me.

[Andy_Faber]

Lol...let’s not resort to speed walking as a benchmark for sporting sanity.
I’m sure both sports demand a lot of dedication and discipline. Imo one looks ridiculous and the other chaotic but that is probably just my lack of understanding.
I’m not keen on sports that need ‘marking’...ice skating, diving, dressage, gymnastics, synchronised swimming etc...prefer their to be something more tangible, i.e. score more or do it quicker, longer, further, higher whatever...again, probably just me.

IMO they are very valid and (in some cases, ie ski jumping) exciting passtimes, but not sports. so I think I agree with you. Hey! Move this to the Brexit thread...

[mistaram]

ramAnag. Interesting you use the word dressage. My wife's always telling me to dress my age