Spoiler Alert - Women's Olympic BX

[skategoat]

Wow, was that exciting! Lindsey looked absolutely unbeatable in the qualifiers and final until that second last jump. What was with the grab?

Anyone see that CBC piece on the uneasy marriage of snowboarding and the Olympics? Pretty funny.

[skatha]

I just looked on the website to see if there was a vid clip :confused:

We don't get to see much CBC here in Jesusland

[skategoat]

Unfortunately, CBC nor BBC offer video clips. Let me tell you, it was an absolutely thrilling final.

Poor Lindsey, she's going to hear about "the grab" until she draws her last breath. Really too bad because she was in a class all to herself. If she got in front, no one was catching her.

[ncermak]

I haven't seen it yet...but grabs are often used to stabilize oneself in the air...

[gdboytyler]

According to this report, Seth Westcott and Lindsey's coach both thought Lindsey was showing off.

Yahoo Story (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino2006/snowboarding/news;_ylt=AugtvwQsYJO3kP5rXsOxnGU5nYcB?slug=ap-sno-womenssnowboardcross&prov=ap&type=lgns)

Bummer that the USA is now only 3 for 4 snowboarding golds.

Can you imagine Kobe going for a 360 dunk to score the game winner in a finals game 7 with the nearest defender 10 ft away?

[skatha]

I heard it too-photo-op....

[Rob Stevens]

I haven't seen this race yet... She grabbed when she was out front and got passed?! Is that the deal?

If so, what a f#*kin' bad move.

What was the CBC piece on Olympics and snowboarding all about? I did the commentary for Nagano and Salt Lake and that first Olympics was the ****!

Snowboarding was a bit of a shocker to the masses back then...

[Sinecure]

There are vids on the nbcolympics.com site. But not until the day after the event.

She grabbed on the 2nd to last jump to style the jump and show the crowd how psyched she was. She crashed which gave the other girl a chance to catch up and pass her.

Oh well. That's SBX.

[philfell]

I haven't seen it yet...but grabs are often used to stabilize oneself in the air...


She was showboating. UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM dip**** move.

[Derf]

I'm happy for my local rider, Dominique Maltais, bronze medal.

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/sports/snowboard/stories/index.shtml?/story/olympics/national/2006/02/17/Sports/women_snowboardcross060217.html

[gdboytyler]

Check out slide #8. Lindsey is tweaking out a method air. I would call that showboating instead of grabbing for stability.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino2006/slideshow?id=25

There's always next time.

Oh yeah, from slide #1, all 3 women on the podium are HOT :biggthump

Contrast that to the woman that won the downhill. That girl looked like a pretty tough dude.

Just another reason why snowboarding is better than skiing.

[skategoat]

I haven't seen this race yet... She grabbed when she was out front and got passed?! Is that the deal?

If so, what a f#*kin' bad move.

What was the CBC piece on Olympics and snowboarding all about? I did the commentary for Nagano and Salt Lake and that first Olympics was the ****!

Snowboarding was a bit of a shocker to the masses back then...

You're *that* Rob Stevens? I remember the newspapers being shocked by your snowboard lingo. I guess they never heard the word "stoked" before.

The CBC piece was about the mismatch of snowboarding free-spiritedness and tight-assed IOC types. Jake Burton came on and talked about how snowboarding didn't need the Olympics and never even asked to be included. He made a couple of guarded comments about FIS.

The funny part was at the end when the reporter (Mark Lee?) is asking a Canadian boarder about the Olympics and boarder says - "Wow, sorry I spaced out there - so-and-so was killing it". I can't remember the exact quote but he was clearly not paying attention the question and just watching the competition in the background. The angle being - snowboarders are unimpressed by the Olympics and all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds it.

[skategoat]

Right after Lindsey's crash, I was immediately reminded of Leon Lett showboating it in the 1993 SuperBowl. I guess I wasn't the only one:

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino2006/snowboarding/news?slug=yhoo-agoldengaffe&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

To Lindsey's credit, she says, "I was having fun," she added. "Snowboarding is fun. I was ahead. I wanted to share with the crowd my enthusiasm. I messed up. Oh well, it happens."

Snowboarding sure is adding some great colour to these Olympics. Lindsey's gaffe is going to go down as an unforgettable Olympic moment.

[bumpyride]

Win a Gold Medal in Snowboarding in the Olympics, couple of years nobody remembers. Screw up in front of the whole world and still win a Sliver Medal at the Olympics and you will be immortalized, and have the Best Story of the Games. Priceless and even talent can't buy you that kind of fame and laughs for the rest of your life.

[Derf]

Win a Gold Medal in Snowboarding in the Olympics, couple of years nobody remembers. Screw up in front of the whole world and still win a Sliver Medal at the Olympics and you will be immortalized, and have the Best Story of the Games. Priceless and even talent can't buy you that kind of fame and laughs for the rest of your life.

I think I'll remember Ross Rebagliati more than Lindsey Jacobellis.

What's her name again? Already forgot... :smashfrea :eek:

[NateW]

Busting a move in the biggest race of your life = putting fun above winning = highly respectable in and of itself. The press is just beating her up over this, which I think is just plain stupid. It cost her a notch on the podium but she did things her way, she reached for a little extra joy... she broke the mold, and for that I salute her.

It's a bummer that it cost her the gold, but she's still bringing home a medal! :)

That chick rocks. I hope she comes back in 2010, hucks a rodeo on the final jump, and finishes the race switch.

[sheffy]

After all that hard work and effort ...what a shame.....theres a time and a place to showboat......and that wasnt it :flamethro

[Alex Walters]

Busting a move in the biggest race of your life = putting fun above winning = highly respectable in and of itself. The press is just beating her up over this, which I think is just plain stupid. It cost her a notch on the podium but she did things her way, she reached for a little extra joy... she broke the mold, and for that I salute her.

It's a bummer that it cost her the gold, but she's still bringing home a medal! :)

That chick rocks. I hope she comes back in 2010, hucks a rodeo on the final jump, and finishes the race switch.
You're joking right! Yes fun is above results but when you're 200ft ahed and have the gold sealed why risk throwing it all away so you can look cool. She took a stupid risk and she screwed up bad, after all that training and preperation and fighting her way through the quarterfinal and simifinal she threw it away. One commentator summed it up, she didn't win silver she lost gold. What she did wasn't putting fun before racing it was just being arrogant. It's not over 'til it's over. She's a great snowboarder but that end was hard to watch.

[surfinsmiley]

Busting a move in the biggest race of your life = putting fun above winning = highly respectable in and of itself........ she did things her way, she reached for a little extra joy... she broke the mold, and for that I salute her.

It's a bummer that it cost her the gold, but she's still bringing home a medal! :)

That chick rocks. I hope she comes back in 2010, hucks a rodeo on the final jump, and finishes the race switch.

I`m of the very same opinion. Sure winning the gold is the top level an athlete can achieve but tweaking out some style is the highest level of self expression a athlete achieve in their chosen feild of expertise. Self expression at that level is Gold evertime I reckon.:ices_ange

[Gecko]

she rides a Palmer who was/is well known for styling it over jumps whenever...she is definatly in keeping with the attitude of the company. I like her attitude and regardless of how she did support her as a representitive. The Press just needs to sell news and if they can put someone down, well that makes them happy...Lindsey needs to go hook up with Gretchen and Hanna and go powder riding...let the press try to follow her

[JohnO'Brien]

CBC showed a shot of her coach after she fell and this it said it all. Style is good when you are in the half pipe but I am sure that she wil look back many times and regret what she did. It is much easier for sponsors to sell products with golds than silvers and it is much easier to live with a silver medal if you were beat by a better competitor. I feel for her and hope she can come back in Vancouver and redeem herself, but that's going to be a long 4 years!

[Jack Michaud]

She's only 20. She's got 2 more Olympics in her, where she'll be able to vindicate her self. At least... she freakin' better! Or else she'll carry this fumble to her grave.

But it's easy to criticize her now. If she had stuck the landing nobody would be saying today "she shouldn't have grabbed that method". Wescott pulled a method on the final jump in one of the qualifying heats, and not even with a seemingly invincible lead like Lindsay's. Does anyone care? No.

[skategoat]

I noticed Wescott's method in the heats. Jasey Jay did the same thing. And I noticed a lot of hard booters taking big air that made me gasp. Impressive and risky, I thought. But remember, in the heats, there's a lot less at stake. The top two go on to the next round and all the tricks I saw were on the last jump where they could've fallen over the finish line.

And yes, when you take a risk and it pans out, no one remembers. Crash and burn, it comes back to haunt you. As it should.

Right now Canada is losing in hockey to the Swiss 2-0. If the lead holds up, just wait until you hear the uproar.

[Frank Morales]

In four years she will have to deal with the new kid on the block.Who could smoke her.

[scotts.Scheinman]

She was showboating. UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM dip**** move.
I couldnt agree with you more

[dano]

Shame on those who are whining about her loss. She is 20 years old and having a great time, great runs and she elects to do the "woo hoo" on the last race and eats sh*t. So what? I love the fearless "go for it" attitude. And she DID win the silver.

I hope she ignores all the morons that are trying to spoil it for her. I'm sure she's bummed.

Congratulations Baby-Doll!

[powderprincess]

According to this report, Seth Westcott and Lindsey's coach both thought Lindsey was showing off.

Yahoo Story (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino2006/snowboarding/news;_ylt=AugtvwQsYJO3kP5rXsOxnGU5nYcB?slug=ap-sno-womenssnowboardcross&prov=ap&type=lgns)

Bummer that the USA is now only 3 for 4 snowboarding golds.




True but now Seth and his girlfriend have golds. Maybe she'll hang out at Sugarloaf and we can see her at ECS.

[powderprincess]

Shame on those who are whining about her loss. She is 20 years old and having a great time, great runs and she elects to do the "woo hoo" on the last race and eats sh*t. So what? I love the fearless "go for it" attitude. And she DID win the silver.

I hope she ignores all the morons that are trying to spoil it for her. I'm sure she's bummed.

Congratulations Baby-Doll!

Yeah! What Dano said.

Seth W was going nuts in the trials. He showboated more than anyone. Alas. Stuff happens. Lindsay could have 2 or more olympics ahead of her. It's all good.

[Frank Morales]

Has anyone heard about the rider that went down?It looked like a nasty wipeout. canadian rider?

[Yard Sale]

More jib = less gold.

Meanwhile, who was the woman on the Donek? I think she was one who went down in one of the heats and I saw the bottom of the board past the finish.

P.S. I didn't see any chicks on hardboots, whereas about 25% of the dudes were on plates. What's up with that?

[kamran]

In life, there are tons of time for 'self expression' and 'fun',...but only a very few rare moments to compete with the best of the best and win the ultimate gold medal. Not to forget that even the opportunity itself happens for a few people only.
I hope she wins a gold medal in the next olympic and leaves this sad moment behind but then again as someone rightfully pointed out; there will be many new talents by then to compete against.

Usually olympic medal winners get good commercial contracts once they return to homeland. I wonder what kind of commercials she may get.

[Derf]

Has anyone heard about the rider that went down?It looked like a nasty wipeout. canadian rider?

Yes, she is Canadian, her name is Maëlle Ricker. From what I heard on TV and this article (http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/sports/snowboard/stories/index.shtml?/story/olympics/national/2006/02/17/Sports/women_snowboardcross060217.html), she got a concussion, but was OK enough to call Dominique Maltais and congratulate her for her bronze medal.

[Jack Michaud]

Usually olympic medal winners get good commercial contracts once they return to homeland. I wonder what kind of commercials Lindsay may get.

Southwest Airlines. "Wanna get away?"

[Jack Michaud]

Seth W was going nuts in the trials. He showboated more than anyone. Alas. Stuff happens. Lindsay could have 2 or more olympics ahead of her. It's all good.

The one trick I saw Seth pull was a quick everyday method grab. Up and down. Lindsay was going for the sustained frozen-grab money shot, complete with a point to the cameras.

My hat is off to her parents who have brought her up to look on the bright side of life and persevere.

[skategoat]

Has anyone heard about the rider that went down?It looked like a nasty wipeout. canadian rider?

Maelle Ricker of Whistler, BC went down early. She landed pretty hard on her back and head. Suffered a mild concussion. She was a little confused but knew she was at the Olympics. Only problem, she thought it was Tokyo in 1964 and her name was Steve Prefontaine.

Kidding. She's fine.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060218.OLYSNOWBOARD18/TPStory/Sports

[bartron]

Has anyone heard about the rider that went down?It looked like a nasty wipeout. canadian rider?

It was Canadian rider Maelle Ricker. In the end, she only had a bruised hip. Much less serious than it looked.

'later...

[NateW]

<i>why risk throwing it all away so you can look cool. </i>

You're assuming it's all about looking cool, I'm assuming it was 10% appearances and 95% exuberance. Big air is fun, big tweaked airs more so. :)

[Budge]

Seth tweaks it pretty well for stability.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/olympics/ny-sposcot0217-1,0,7015859.photo?coll=ny-sports-olympics-headlines