The showpiece international sporting events of 2014 gets under way today. You’d barely know it mind you if you were following media reports such as been the successful hijacking of this great sporting event by the sodomite lobby and their apologists. (As an aside fair play to President Putin for the courageous and principled stand he’s taken on this)
The blue riband event of the Games, the Men’s Downhill takes place on Sunday. Its hard really to look past the current world champion Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal who’s been in outstanding form all season. Defending Olympic champion Didier Defago has pretty much gone missing for the last 4 years but suddenly popped up to win super-G in Kitzbuehel last month, so could be worth keeping an eye on again. Plenty still talking up the old man Bode Miller, but I’d say at best, he’s got an outside shot of bronze.
From an Irish perspective, there’s a team of five going. Seamus O’Connor who’s just outside the world’s Top 10 looks the best prospect in the snowboarding.
The shadow of Clifton Wrottesley will no doubt prey heavily on Sean Greenwood as he competes in the Skeleton.
Other three competitors are Jan Rossiter in the cross country skiing, Conor Lyne and Florence Lane who both compete in the slalom and giant slalom.
For the first time ever I’m going to agree with MZ on something. Well played Mad Vlad on this one. This gay rights rubbish sems to be taking over the world at the moment. It has nothing to do with Sport so leave the Olympics alone please and go suck cock where its acceptable -in the privacy of your own bedroom.
Is this thread going to be about the winter Olympics or are we just going to have a bunch of retards engaging in some gay bashing?
Really looking forward to the ice hockey. It is the gold medal the hosts covet most, and the pressure on the team led by superstar Alexander Ovechkin will be enormous. The new KHL league has emerged as a serious threat to the NHL and it will be fascinating to see how the Russians handle themselves.
Their main threat will come from a Canadian team bursting with talent and led by Sidney Crosby. The biggest problem facing the Canucks will be playing on the bigger international rinks. If they can manage to play their usual high powered, aggressive hockey on the bigger surfaces they will take all the beating.
The Swedes are always there or thereabouts, but have been hit by the late injury to Henrik Sedin. There is still plenty of fire power there though and they should have a good run. The USA were beaten by Canada in overtime in the last Olympics and again are sending a very strong squad led by Zach Parise who is thankfully back from injury.
Of the the outsiders the Finns have again assembled an excellent squad, and lots of neutrals will be cheering on the venerable 43 year old Teemu Selanne who is appearing in his fifth Olympics. The Czechs have an excellent record in the tournament, but this does not look a strong enough squad to compete for a medal despite the presence of living legend Jaromir Jagr, the 41 will also be skating in his fifth Olympics.
A couple of dark horses could be Switzerland, who stunned the hockey world by reaching last years world final and Slovakia who have a squad full of NHL and KHL players. Nobody will relish going against their leader, the 6 foot 9 inch brute Zdeno Chara. The Slovaks first game against the USA will be very telling.
All in all the blue riband of the winter Olympics should be an excellent tournament.
[quote=“Bandage, post: 899647, member: 9”]@Sandymount Red, what is the KHL? What country is it played in?
@croppy, how are Slovakia fixed? Where are you watching their games this time?[/quote]
The KHL is the Kontinental Hockey League. It is essentially a Russian league but has embarked on an aggressive expansion which has seen it open up franchises in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Ukraine, Czech Rep, Slovakia and Croatia. The league has benefited hugely from the patronage of some of Russia’s premier oligarchs and the league is in such a strong financial position that it is able to compete with the millions of the NHL.
This was highlighted when New Jersey Devils winger Ilya Kovalchuk turned his back on a $102 million contract to instead sign with KHL outfit SKA St Petersburg. Kovalchuck left $77 million on the table.
They advertised for sponsorship and donations and got such a positive response they’ve issued a statement asking people to stop giving them money. To Tallulah
[quote=“Manuel Zelaya, post: 899613, member: 377”]The showpiece international sporting events of 2014 gets under way today
[/quote]
It started yesterday ffs sake
[quote=“TreatyStones, post: 899686, member: 1786”]Catastrophic error in the opening post. Can’t see it recovering from this.
[/quote]
It’s certainly on a slippery slope
[quote=“Bandage, post: 899647, member: 9”]@Sandymount Red, what is the KHL? What country is it played in?
@croppy[/USER], how are Slovakia fixed? Where are you watching their games this time?[/quote]hard to say how this one will pan out. Certainly this slovak team had caught the imagination and are a Force to be reckoned with but whether they are Sochi medal material I’m not sure. I guess t depends which Slovakia turn up on the night. Hope that answers your question @[USER=9]Bandage
