Olympics Notebook: Vancouver 2010
If you want to get ahead, get a canoe
If we needed any more proof that these Winter Olympics are more like the Spring Games, just look at what snowboarder Shaun White did the day before his amazing gold medal halfpipe run.
He went Kayaking. Not far from Cypress Mountain where he won gold with a near-perfect run on Wednesday night.
“We were at a friend’s place. I was like – what am I going to do today? I had to take a day off and obviously not walk around and use my legs. But I didn’t just want to sit there, because if I just sat around I’d go nuts just thinking about this competition.”
“They’re like we’ve got kayaks…let’s go for it. We ended up cruising around Horseshoe Bay. Pretty hilarious — I had to be the guy that stood up the kayak obviously and tried to pet the …giant seal that came by. He wanted to hang.”
Lay down the run! And update your Olympic lingo
In the skiing and snowboarding events at the Olympic Games these days, we have many a super athlete giving us mere mortals lessons in linguistics. It’s actually sick, in modern terms that is.
Sick (“crazy, cool, insane“) was snowboarder Shaun White’s killer second run through the half-pipe, a near perfect, thriller of a ride, even after he had already clinched the gold medal. Dude’s on fire.
Lindsey Vonn showed us how to “lay down a run” with her daring downhill burst that brought her a gold medal. It appears that “throw it down” and “put it down” can also be used when talking about runs and races.
And then there are the broadcast commentators of a certain age who can be heard talking on their nice mainstream media about ”ripping” snow conditions and ”stoked” snowboarders. Granted these words are not new to the modern lexicon, but they may be to these people.
Finally, there is a quaint little Canadian phrase that just might be catching on to a wider world, because it is just too ambiguously funny to keep confined to Canada. That is “hurry hard” — the words Canadian curlers use to get their teammates to sweep harder. They have even inspired a new brand of condoms.
Heard any more at these Games? Let us know in the comments.
PHOTO: Silver medallist Hannah Teter of the United States waits for her score after her second run in the finals of the women’s snowboarding halfpipe on Cypress Mountain at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, February 18, 2010. REUTERS/Todd Korol
Shaun’s White House ambition
Shaun White is free for dinner with Barack Obama, as you can see by clicking on the video above (or the headline first if you are on the home page). How will the president respond?
Winter Games: picture of the day
Reuters North America news pictures editor Gary Hershorn writes of this Mike Blake shot of snowboard halfpipe winner Shaun White:
Context and perspective are the key to this picture, which gives a beautiful illustration of the height the snowboarders achieve against the environment they’re in.
Original caption: Shaun White of the U.S. competes during the men’s halfpipe qualifying on Cypress Mountain at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, February 17, 2010. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Snowboarding, freestyle now the main Olympic events
Snowboarding and freestyle skiing have been the heart and soul of these Winter Olympic Games. While we’re waiting for Shaun White to tell us about his fantastic gold medal in the halfpipe, here’s what Seth Wescott had to say after he grabbed his second gold medal in snowboard cross a couple of days ago.
Click here for the full story too.
Flying Tomato squashes Vonn-couver in earnings stakes
Step forward the top earning athlete at these Winter Olympics… Not so fast, Lindsey Vonn!
According to Forbes, the two athletes in a high-rolling class of their own are Shaun White — the Flying Tomato himself — and South Korea’s Kim Yu-na, the insanely popular 19-year-old figure skater.
White, the U.S. snowboarder who is unmistakable thanks to that shock of red hair, and Kim earned $8 million apiece last year, Forbes reckon. That put them ahead of everyone else at the Games, apart from the mega-salaried NHL hockey players who were left off the list.
U.S. skier Vonn is seen by many as the face of these Games yet she is a long way back in the earnings stakes, having banked $3 million last year, according to Forbes.
The full story from my colleague Ben Klayman is here and the magazine’s full list can be found here
PHOTO: Snowboarder Shaun White of the U.S. looks up after winning the finals of the half pipe snowboarding competition at the 2010 U.S. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
