If not for extreme sports, Team USA wouldn't be quite so stoked at Sochi Games

[stopbush]

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia – Following the third podium sweep in United States Winter Olympics history, a group of about half a dozen 20-somethings broke into an impromptu version of the "Star-Spangled Banner." It was awful and beautiful at the same time, an homage to tone-deafness and patriotism. After gold, silver and bronze medals in the new sport of slopestyle skiing, 23-year-old Tom O'Connor and his friends couldn't help themselves.

"We are just dominating these freestyle sports, and I think it's awesome," said O'Connor, from suburban Buffalo. "It's really our sport."

If not for these freestyle sports – or action sports or extreme sports or whatever you want to call them, so long as you call them sports, which, yes, they are – the United States would be Switzerland. It would be Slovenia, population 2 million. It would be a country with four medals, not 12.

Yes, eight of the United States' dozen medals in the Sochi Games have come from slopestyle and halfpipe events. Half their medals didn't even exist four years ago in Vancouver. And three-quarters have come in events introduced since the turn of the millennium.

Depending on one's interpretation, this says a few things about the United States' Olympic program.
1) Team USA is super gnarly. This is unquestionable.

2) Team USA is the beneficiary of events it invented. This, too, is unquestionable.

3) Team USA is awful at everything but the super gnarly events it invented. This is what we soon will learn, and it will give us a far better idea where the United States finishes in the Sochi Games.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/if-not-for-extreme-sports--team-usa-wouldn-t-be-quite-so-stoked-at-sochi-games-175506373.html

[KamaAina]

1. Hockey just got started

and we waxed Slovakia 7-1. They're actually pretty good. They did really well in Vancouver.

[HuckleB]

2. "Extreme sports." Meh. Marketing schmarketing. They're new versions of old sports. -EOM-

[frylock]

3. wish they would bring slopestyle to the summer games

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

4. I agree with the author of this piece,

without these pseudo "sports" this would be the bleakest US Winter Olympics since Calgary in '88.

The Austrians dominate the alpine events, the Norwegians dominate the Nordic events, the Dutch dominate on the long track, the Russians are strong in figure skating, and the Americans are tops in the "hold my beer and watch this" rich kid hobbies.

The US has had a good run in the prior three Winter Games, winning more medals than in any of the Winter Olympics prior to the 21st century. This year they're getting nothing in the alpine or long track. We don't have a Joey Cheek, Derek Parra, Lindsey Vonn, Evan Lysacek, or Ted Ligety to turn to.

[rocktivity]

6. Since Shaun White and Lindsey Jacobellis have crapped out

Last edited Thu May 28, 2015, 11:48 AM - Edit history (13)

the ice dancing team of Meryl Davis and Charlie White is the remaining US gold medal shoo-in. And thanks to Ashley Wagner's public dissing of the judges, her unheralded teammate Gracie Gold is the best hope for a US women's skating medal (unfortunately, the judges are in love with that joyless all-technical-no-technique 15-year-old Russian android).


rocktivity

On edit: Skier Bode Miller managed to salvage a bronze medal from his farewell appearance, and Jabcobellis crashed on the final jump, finishing fourth. Davis and White cruised to a gold medal in ice dancing.

[GoCubsGo]

11. Gracie Gold is "unhearalded"?

Are you kidding? She's been the little darling all along. She is considered the #1 American women's skater and always was the "best hope". She also has a ton of sponsorships, so she's in every other commercial that features Olympians. Wagner is lucky to be on the team, as they screwed another woman out of the third spot.

[rocktivity]

12. NBC sure hasn't been heralding Gracie

Last edited Wed Feb 19, 2014, 11:40 AM - Edit history (1)

to the point that it appears to be the reason WHY Wagner was given the third spot. Though after her little "ugly American" sore loser performance, Ashley can sure forget about throwing herself on the mercy of the judges!


rocktivity

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

13. Gracie Gold probably won't finish on the podium.

Despite the NBC hype, this is the most underwhelming US Winter Olympic team in 26 years.

Not enough world class talent to replace the aging athletes who excelled in the last three games while in their respective primes.

[rocktivity]

14. I fear Mother Russia will be screwing over the Olympic women skaters

Last edited Wed Feb 19, 2014, 11:43 AM - Edit history (4)

in favor of its soulless 15-year old mechanical robot.

Defending Olympic champion Yuna Kim of South Korea will skate 17th in a field of 30 in the short program Wednesday at the Sochi Games.

Her main competition for the gold medal, Julia Lipnitskaia of Russia and Mao Asada of Japan, will go 25th and 30th, respectively. Italy's Carolina Kostner, second in the team short program, skates right after Lipnitskaia. U.S. champion Gracie Gold drew the 22nd slot Monday, while two-time American champion Ashley Wagner will go 27th...

Unlike the old scoring system, there is no real advantage or disadvantage as to where a skater is drawn in the field...(link)

Carolina Kostner should have won the short program. She delivered the entire package -- technicality, technique, AND expressiveness.


rocktivtiy

[old guy]

5. Totally agree.

This is the main reason I do not follow very closely any more. When I do check in on the medal count I deduct the "freestyle sports" medals from the totals. Changes everything.

[Princess Turandot]

7. Poor Netherlands..

Leading the medal count today with 17 medals...16 in speed skating. 1 in short track.

It's their sport. They must be shameless.

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

8. Yeah but,

speed skating is a real sport, snowboarding and freestyle skiing is a sideshow.

[El Supremo]

10. Nice post Costas!

[stopbush]

9. It's become their sport. It's not like speed skating was invented 10 years ago by the Dutch

who then lobbied to have the sport included in the Olympics so they could clean up on the medals.

Speed skating dates back 500 years. It's been popular in Scandinavia forever.

Speed skating entered the Olympics in 1924, with the first Gold Medal being won by an American, Charles Jewtraw. American Eric Heiden won 5 individual gold medals in Olympic speed skating.

That's a bit different than elevating a bunch of stoner activities to Olympic status so Americans can avoid getting skunked in the medal count.

[hughee99]

15. At this point, the US has medals in the non-extreme sports of

figure skating (2), alpine skiing (3), skeleton (2), luge (1) and bobsled (1). Okay skeleton is kind of an "extreme sport" but it wasn't invented in the US and it's not a new sport (it had been in the olympics in 1928 and 1948). They also have a decent shot at a medal in hockey. They're still a country with 9 "non-extreme" medals, which puts them even with Sweden and ahead of Switzerland (who has 8 medals, but one in the "extreme sports&quot and Slovenia (which has 5).

Canada isn't much different with 8 of their 15 medals in "extreme sports".

[stopbush]

16. Things have improved a bit for the US since the OP article was written.

[hughee99]

17. I agree. The point is, the writer was making assertions about the US olympic team

while the "jury was still out" and these new results are making him look like he doesn't know what he's talking about. Yes, the US fares better in these new "extreme sports" than they do in the traditional ones, but to discount what the US has done in the traditional sports is just way off.

[stopbush]

18. But that's just sports reporting. People make lots of speculations over the course of

a football game. Speculating during the course of an Olympics is no big deal.

[hughee99]

19. I agree, to speculate is what sports reporters do, but to move past that and try to

"diagnose the problem", you have to know what the problem is. I don't think this reporter does.

[stopbush]

20. The countries that do well at Olympic sports are the ones that come up with a national program

to build and sustain the sport.

That's why the USA sucks at curling while other countries are excelling.

Other countries are now spending $ on these extreme (bogus) sports. Soon, they'll surpass the USA because they're treating it as a sport, rather than a hot dog activity that can only go so far on the amateur talent that started it. Being Americans, we'll soon lose interest in pipeline, moguls et al, because once you get over the hot dog part of the equation, they're rather boring to watch.

[hughee99]

21. The US currently spends far more than other countries on these "bogus" sports,

Last edited Tue Feb 18, 2014, 10:13 PM - Edit history (1)

to the point that many foreign competitors train in the US for them.

For those other countries to increase spending on 1 sport will likely result in them cutting funding for others. The US has funding for all these sports to a competitive level, and more popular sports tend to get more funding, but some of it is also the athletes you attract to even try your sport. In countries where a certain sport is part of your culture, it's FAR easier to get people attracted to it, I see what your saying, but it's not as simple as just creating a national program.

In the Netherlands, speed skaters are "rock stars" for example, so it's easier to get top athletes into speed skating there. In Norway, it's cross country skiing. In the US, it's a hard sell to get top athletes to go into Winter sports at all, when the professional sports dry up so much of the talent pool. If you show a 10 year old kid cross country skiing, speed skating, and half-pipe in the US, which one do you think is going to spark their interests the most (in a country that doesn't glorify it's cross country or skating starts)? Chances are, that child is going to say "I want to be Peyton Manning / Lebron James / Miguel Cabrera" rather than wanting to do something they only see on TV once every 4 years, but MAYBE the extreme sports spark their interest. It doesn't matter how much the US spends on training if they can't attract the best talent, and in the US, winter sports in general are a hard sell for many. THAT is the problem in the US. Building and sustaining a sport in the US is very difficult because of all the options, and it takes a long time. They've been trying to get Americans hooked on soccer for more than 20 years now and most people only seem to care about it twice every 4 years (Olympics and World Cup). Yes, soccer is making progress, and Americans now may start playing it as young as 4 or 5 years old, but when they get older and more options open up, many leave for other activities.

And if you think pipeline and moguls are eventually going to be boring to watch, how boring must it already be to watch speed skating, curling or nordic combined? (BTW, I love watching curling)

[stopbush]

22. Speed skating, curling and Nordic combined each have their charms.

Endurance and conditioning in skating and skiing, strategy and touch in curling.

[hughee99]

23. Name a sport people watch in the US that highlights endurance and conditioning.

While these are elements of many sports, I can't think of any sport (summer, winter, professional or amature) where Americans in any significant numbers tune in to watch. Maybe a marathon, I guess, but those aren't exactly ratings magnets. Sports that highlight strategy and touch are a little more common, but still not big ratings draws. Personally, I don't have anything against watching these sports on TV (I mentioned I love watching curling), but if you can't get kids to even watch these sports, how do you get them to start participating in them?

[stopbush]

24. But that's why I watch the Olympics - to see sports I don't usually see.

I don't watch much of the hockey. In the summer games, I don't watch basketball or baseball (but then, I really find basketball to be the ultimate in a boring team sport).

I look forward to the Winter Olympics specifically to see sports I don't usually see. I look forward to meeting foreign athletes that I haven't a clue about. I wish that NBC didn't focus so much on American athletes, though I understand their feeling the need to for ratings and for the many commercial tie-ins from which they benefit.

I really don't care what anybody else does.

[hughee99]

25. My point about the US olympic team is that if they don't get young people interested

it's going to be tough to build a successful program, and it's really hard to get young Americans interested in sports that highlight endurance and conditioning. It would probably be even less likely to spark their interest if it weren't even showing Americans very much on the rare occasion that such sports were on TV. That's the problem the US Olympic team faces, and it's basically a cultural issue.