MetaFilter posts tagged with winterolympics

Piloting a bobsleigh while blind

joeclark — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:43:15 -0800

You’d have to be blind to drive a bobsleigh. At least if you want to finish first, second, or third nine times in seven years. Since 2001, U.S. bobsleigh pilot Steven Holcomb has dealt with a degenerative eye condition that left him with 20/500 vision. He drove a sled hurtling down an ice track anyway, often winning. Now that his vision has been restored via an experimental operation, he fuzzes over his helmet visor so it’s just like the olden days. Bobsleigh, it seems, is all about feel. During the seven years he was more or less blind, Holcomb’s sleds finished first four times, second four times, and third once (according to a PDF media guide, including results page).

Olympics on Hoth

blahblahblah — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 11:33:38 -0800

Hoth is making a bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Featuring sports like the two-man snowspeeder race, the creator of the effort claims to be protesting the lack of American interest in the Winter Games. Need more Star Wars meets sports info? (And yes, you do.) Howabout a quiz on the sports of Star Wars, or various Star Wars characters hosting SportsCenter. [Note that the main link sometimes loads slowly. Some sites feature the Star Wars theme.]

Spyware Millionaire Wins Gold For Australia

davem — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 23:47:10 -0800

Dale Begg-Smith is being called the "golden boy of the slopes" by the Australian media after winning gold in the Turin Winter Games. However, when asked about his business, which has reportedly earned him millions of dollars and enabled him to buy a Lamborghini, Begg-Smith became "..vague about its nature." "It's complicated," he said. "We make the technology for companies to monitor their online advertising campaigns." What is emerging now is that Begg-Smith's companies, AdsCPM and CPM Media, are linked to home page hijacking, spyware, porn redirectors, and other unsavory internet practices. A quick WHOIS of AdsCPM.com reveals that the same IP address is shared with porn domain names and websites that are notorious for distributing spyware. Bloggers using the Wayback machine have turned up similar information. Is he a willing spyware merchant who has now reluctantly been bought to our attention, or a legitimate internet entrepreneur?

They might give birth in mid-air

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 10:03:00 -0800

Ski Jumping - the only Olympic discipline to ban women. [thanks occhiblu]

Voyageman — Sun, 24 Feb 2002 14:35:54 -0800

Will this spoil the party in Canada ? (NYT reg req) Great victories by the men and the women. Sure. But then one is reminded again in the NYT today about last week's controversy - "The judge, Marie Reine Le Gougne, said the pressure she felt was unlike any in her 14 years of judging, that it intensified as the Olympics drew near and that it came from one country, Canada" You cant help but wonder.

Lanternjmk — Fri, 22 Feb 2002 10:43:57 -0800

Russians Challenging Hughes Skating Gold Russian Olympic officials lodged an official protest, demanding that Olympic Silver Medalist Irina Slutskaya be awarded a gold medal, accusing the ladies figure skating judges of being biased against the russian skater. This is the biggest batch of sour grapes I have ever seen in sports.

tsarfan — Sun, 10 Feb 2002 17:55:13 -0800

What if they threw a Winter Olympics and nobody came? ... because they felt it was too cold? The Dutch Olympic team had a hard time finding someone to carry their flag, the winter "athletes" complained it was too cold to bother with.