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You know, these days I consider myself to be going
at a pretty good speed if the 70 year old ladies
don't walk faster than me on the way into the
grocery store.

We normally don't think of it that way, but I
guess even speed is relative.

Anyway, there's a lot to cover from yesterday
so I had better get started.


Holy…crap! Andrea Fischbacher pushes
the envelope.

In the Women's Super-G downhill, Austrian Andrea
Fischbacher won out in a mad race against stiff
competition from the likes of Lindsey Vonn, who
had been trying for another Gold medal. Looks
like Lindsey will have to try again — she will
still compete in the Slalom and Giant Slalom
events.


Jung-Su Lee.

Brothers Jung-Su Lee and Ho-Suk Lee of South Korea
took Gold and Silver in the Men's 1000 m speed skating
event. Apolo Ohno of the U.S. won the Bronze. You
have to be impressed by the South Korean team in
speed skating this year.

Before the games it was speculated that Ohno might
win multiple gold. So far he has won a Silver and
last night's Bronze. Which seemed to be a disappoint-
ment both for himself and for viewers. He has one
more event to try for it — the 500 m to be held
Wednesday (Feb. 24th).


Simon Amman hits some air.

Simon Ammann of Switzerland took his second Gold of
the Olympics in the Long-Run Ski Jumping event.

You notice I didn't say "Men's" Long Run. That is
because I didn't have to — women don't compete in
any ski jumping event. The other day I was talking
about the real and perceived differences between men's
and women's Olympic sports. Well in this one there
isn't any doubt — it is just plain genderism. Unless
there is some complex bio-physical reason that I don't
know about as to why women can't ski jump, the IOC
really needs to revise its thinking and book women's
events in ski jumping.

Perhaps no event shouts "Olympics" like ski jumping.
And you know, in all the Olympics I've watched across
the years I never noticed that women don't ski jump.
Talk about "selective seeing." I'm guilty also.


Marcus Hellner.

Marcus Hellner of Sweden won the Men's 30 km
Pursuit cross-country skiing event.

I really can't get into watching the cross country
events. It seems like a bunch of people moving their
arms and legs over and over in the snow — about as
interesting as watching a crowd of people make snow
angels for a solid hour.

But as my mind wandered during the event I got to
wondering how the 30 km Pursuit would compare to
the Olympic Marathon in terms of speed.

So I did some research and found that the world
record for the marathon is 2:06 for the 42 km run.
Using a ratio, that means that a marathoner running
the same over a 30 km race would finish in 1:30.

But yesterday, Hellner did his 30 km in 1:15. And
that was on skis over ice and snow. Pretty damn
impressive. And it occurred to me that these cross-
country skiers must be the most physically fit
people in the world. They must have the cardiovas-
cular systems of a thoroughbred race horse.

As far as other information I finally got curious
as to whether Whistler, B.C., the site of the skiing
and sledding events for the Olympics, was named after
a historical personage named Whistler or whether it
was named after the regional nickname for the marmot.

Turns out, it was named for the marmot. 🙂

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