2014 Sochi Winter Olympics

[Midnightly]

ok rather disappointed with the NBC version of closing ceremonies.. i watched one version and figured i'd record a later play of it (because it was cute and thought my kid would love to watch the whole circus sequence then the ballet and the bear blowing out the flame) only to find out that a huge amount of it had be cut out.. the whole circus sequence being part of it!

[VeeVee]

ok rather disappointed with the NBC version of closing ceremonies.. i watched one version and figured i'd record a later play of it (because it was cute and thought my kid would love to watch the whole circus sequence then the ballet and the bear blowing out the flame) only to find out that a huge amount of it had be cut out.. the whole circus sequence being part of it!

I think NBC did a terrible job at this years Olympics. I usually watch some NBC but this year none..all they focused on was how bad Russia was, everything was terrible, dangerous, unsafe, they cut major stuff from there prime time programming. I have to give it to CBC for doing an incredible job this year!

Now to wait patiently until the summer games! Which are my favourite!

[VeeVee]

30 Haunting Photos of Abandoned Olympic Venues
http://distractify.com/culture/sport...lympic-venues/

Sad, so much money spent for 2 weeks and then this happens.
Of course some are understandable such as 84 Sarajevo - there was a war there after so I don't expect it to look to great.
But what surprised me was Beijing's Bird Nest and Athens in 2002. Fiance was at the Olympic games in Athens in 2002 and he was shocked to see the pictures, he remembers t eh main entrance and volleyball stadium well since he attended a few games there. I wonder how Sochi will look in a few years and if it will have the same fate as those in the pictures.

[Midnightly]

I think NBC did a terrible job at this years Olympics. I usually watch some NBC but this year none..all they focused on was how bad Russia was, everything was terrible, dangerous, unsafe, they cut major stuff from there prime time programming. I have to give it to CBC for doing an incredible job this year!

Now to wait patiently until the summer games! Which are my favourite!

i found the opening ceremonies the CBC commentators just wouldn't shut up and let you enjoy the ceremonies... and i ended up watching it on a different channel..

i'm just fairly disappointed that after prime time yesterday they never re-aired the closing ceremonies (they could have easily used it as filler for a 10pm or midnight time slot) so i wasn't able to find another airing copy without the whole circus sequence not cut out (damn you shaw extended hard drive for dying on saturday if it was still alive i wouldn't have needed to delete the HD version to try and grab a non HD version)

[Midnightly]

a symphony of Olympic wipe outs all i gotta say is...ouch!

[Ciel]

Midnightly-CBC's file with preshow has all of the closing ceremony plus commercials. However, I could not find the fast forward or reverse buttons at all. It was a long viewing as I kept pausing the file for breaks.

A friend told me CBC on a three digit channel had rebroadcast the program at midnight last night.

Here's the link:
http://olympics.cbc.ca/videos/live/v...day-34404.html

[Ciel]

Are we going to be using this thread for the Paralympic Games coming around on March 7? Or a separate thread since the games are considered separate from Olympics?

[Darth Penguin]

Now to wait patiently until the summer games! Which are my favourite!

Commonwealth GAmes in Glasgow in a few months..

[Natalka]

Rewards for medallists -



Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and figure skating gold medal winner Yulia Lipnitskaya (front) attend a ceremony to present SUVs to the Olympic medallists from Russia near the Kremlin wall in Moscow, February 27, 2014.

Russia gave all of its gold medalists in the Sochi Games $120,000, plus a brand-new Mercedes GL SUV. This led to a bit of logistical leapfrogging with athletes like Julia Lipnitskaya, who is only 15 and not yet of legal driving age in Russia. (She got a personal driver to go along with the car.) Silver medalists got $76,000 and a Mercedes ML, and bronze medalists got $52,000 and a Mercedes GLK.
A total of 45 cars were distributed to gold medalists. Russia won a Sochi-leading total of 33 medals, including 13 golds. The cars were provided by the Russian Olympians Foundation, a consortium established by Russian businessmen in 2005. Russian athletes who won medals in the 2012 London Games received new Audis with personal drivers.


For comparison's sake, the United States Olympic Committee pays its winners $25,000 for a gold medal, $15,000 for a silver and $10,000 for a bronze medal. Kazakhstan leads the medal payment rate at $250,000 for a gold, but has not had a gold medalist at the Winter Olympics in 20 years.


Of course, not all athletes benefit quite so handsomely. Dario Cologna of Switzerland won two golds in cross-country skiing. His reward from his hometown? A pig, which he named "Sochi."


CANADA


The COC pays out bonus money to medallists — $20,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze — and that bill came to just over $1.5 million in Sochi.


Coaches were also rewarded when their athletes stepped on the podium: $10,000 per gold, $7,500 for silver and $5,000 for bronze. The COC paid out $200,000 to coaches.

The biggest rewards go to gold medallists in Kazakhstan ($270,000), Latvia ($213,000) and Italy ($210,000).

Germany doesn’t stop at medallists. Any athlete placing in fourth to eighth is compensated with up to $7,500.

A handful of countries refuse to buy into the cash-for-medal notion, including Croatia, Greece and even countries like Great Britain, Norway and Sweden that typically rake in the medals.

[Patty Smyth]

Olympians honored at the Bell Center the other night, we now know Carey Price played hurt the whole time.

Price and Subban got the biggest ovation followed by a standing O for Babcock

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/video/can...031003773.html

[Ciel]

Russia did not give out Volkwagen vehicles? Hmm...wonder how the official car sponsor felt.
US athletes with cash rewards-ka-ching, IRS calling for its tax share!

[Natalka]

Canadians have to pay tax on theirs, too.

[Ciel]

@Natalka-thought their rewards would be treated as lottery win. Guess not, as the reward is directly related to medal win. CRA calls that: gifts and awards outside our policy. http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tp.../menu-eng.html

Thanks for pointing that out, Natalka!

[Midnightly]

a part of me can understand the financial reward as an incentive to winning a medal.. in a way its part of income, when they come back they can spend weeks maybe even months doing events and tours and talk shows.. and it's common for other events that they compete it (non-Olympic events just sporting events in general) to win a financial gain.. though when it's coming out of the government pocket/tax payer pocket things like that should be very limited (paying off debts being a priority.. but that's a whole nother thread to rant about)

[Shwa Girl]

para Olympic games have started
Ukraine medalist donated her medal to a "peaceful and free Ukraine"