I don't know if they just got confused and thought they had until 2012 to prepare, but everything about the Vancouver Olympics is so slap-dash and even dangerous, if I were Canadian I'd honestly be ashamed of this.
Every time I turn on the TV somebody's getting hurt. NBC's decision to show that endless loop of Nodar Kumaritashvili flying into the support post at 90 mph was certainly grotesque, but it's amazing to me that it happened in the first place, that after trying to add inches to Canada's penis by having the fastest track ever there was just zero consideration for the possibility of an athlete losing control at the bottom, where the speeds are highest. Part of the fun things about the Olympics is that it gets athletes from smaller countries and smaller sporting programs involved in a global event, but that does mean there will be a wider range of skill and experience amongst the athletes... to be completely unprepared for the possibility of a crash after repeated warnings is just criminal.
It's not like it's an isolated incident, given the number of horrific crashes I saw in a single women's ski event, including Paerson's now infamous 190 foot flight. Apparently that was due to the horrible conditions in Vancouver which prevented any of the women from getting a full training run on a difficult course. The one nice thing about those crashes was watching so many of these shaken up and bruised women get up and walk off the course under their own power, proving to another generation that women are not really so fragile after all. The cross country course was another curiosity, as somebody thought it would be logical to build up a platform of snow right next to a ravine... on a turn! After Petra Majdic fell into it, watching her snowplow her way through that turn in an Olympic race (spaghetti, pizza, spaghetti... bronze medal) was just sort of sad. Outside of crashes, the poor quality of the course and the weather has forced the reorganization of events with skiers going out of order to try and rig the event for the top seeds, and it's really just pathetic. Snow is being brought in by helicopter to try and fluff up the venues... just insane. As my friend Amstelbooij says, just have it indoors on fake snow in Dubai next time.
Not everything can be blamed on the weather, since incredibly Canada was also unable to come up with a either a zamboni or a clock that works. Skiers have been sent early in pursuit races, the whole point of which is that whoever crosses the line first is supposed to win, and you can pace yourself by other racers. Now those races have to be reviewed to adjust times and determine a winner in a smoke-filled room somewhere, the same smoke-filled room where they determined Petra Majdic could get a do-over after falling into the ravine. The zamboni problems being so bad that the skating coaches had to intervene and collectively refuse to send their athletes out... that I simply cannot comprehend. Everything has just been so half-assed, from the sloppy opening ceremony with Native Americans as mascots and broken equipment at the torch-lighting ceremony to erecting a big chain-link fence around the Olympic flame and draping it with advertising posters. Just sad.
I knew my aggravation level would be high having to watch the Olympics on NBC with their fireside chats in front of a fake fireplace (I love Colbert for climbing in and warming himself in front of the monitor), and the way they play favorites and are still trying to make Lindsey Jacobellis into a folk hero for showboating her way out of a gold medal, and having a luge snuff film to show certainly sent them into overdrive. What I really didn't understand is after all these years of jocking even the most insignificant American athletes, for this Olympics they cannot stop highlighting Canadian athletes, carrying on about Canada's medal count, and that ridiculous coverage of Canada's 3-day gold medal drought like they were guaranteed medals and a wheaties box on day one. But eventually I saw an event that clued me in, as a Canadian crossed the finish line in snowboard cross and the camera at the bottom of the course followed her over the line, over to the boards, and stayed on her while she took her board off and celebrated with her coach... they completely cut away from the neck and neck race for 2nd place to show a Canadian jump up and down. Then I remembered that in previous Olympics the TV coverage was done by local stations who in the past have tried to come up with footage for everybody to be able to show local coverage of their nation's Olympic athletes... not this time, when apparently the camera just stays on the Canadians and that's that. So I guess NBC has to rave about Canadians, because that's the field the world is getting. And for that, the Canadians shouldn't even be invited to London or Sochi.
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