The Vancouver 'Wah-Wah' Olympics 2010

The 2010 Winter Olympics have officially come to a close and so the final reviews begin. Most sports writers will be bogged down in the facts and figures. Some of the commentators will take this time to voice their criticism of the Olympics as a whole or NBC itself. Several bloggers and articles will drum the games down to a series of moments that were either good or bad. But ultimately, when all the articles are in and the stories have been cycled through, the Vancouver games will be looked at as a time of American and Canadian success, despite several gripes from outside (and even within) North America. The games will also be a tribute to enduring spirit and unending heart of athletes who suffered major tragedies during these Olympics.

As far as the facts and figures go, these Winter Games were ones of great success, especially for the teams from the United States and Canada. The United States ended the Olympics with 37 medals in all, which is the record for the most medals won in a Winter Olympics by any nation. USA also had more Silver medals (15) and more Bronze medals (13) than any other nation. Canada, which won the gold medal in their beloved sports of Men's Curling and Ice Hockey (both Men's and Women's), boasted the most Gold medals of any nation with a total of 14, which is also a record. The host nation came in third in the final tally of total medals behind the USA and Germany, respectively. In addition to the results, this games also boasted several superstar athletes, especially from North America. The USA team had the likes of speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, snowboarder Shaun White, figure skater Evan Lysacek and skiers Lindsay Vonn and Bode Miller making the cover of magazines left and right leading up to the games. Canada, too, had its stars in the form of figure skater Patrick Chan, freestyle skier Alexandre Bilodeau, ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and the entire Men's and Women's Hockey teams. South Korea had a superstar in the form of Ladies' figure skater Kim Yu-Na, who skated two near-perfect programs and broke records with her scores on both. There were also class acts in the form of German skier Maria Riesch and Norwegian skier Aksel Lund Svindal, who both won 2 gold medals each with such class and composure that seemed lacking in other athletes (but more an that subject a little later).

Despite the dazzling stars and record-breaking results, these games were not without tragedy. Before the Hockey king Wayne Gretzky lit the picturesque Vancouver torch and the games officially started (with an inventive Opening Ceremony), Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a horrific accident that occurred during his practice run on the Whistler sliding track, which is considered by many to be one of the most dangerous sliding tracks in the world. Practice was suspended for the rest of the day and modifications were made to the track to prevent it from happening again, but the death cast a pall over the Opening Ceremony (which was dedicated to Nodar) that was especially felt when the delegation from Georgia came out during the Parade of Nations to a standing ovation. However, this was not the only death that was profoundly felt during the events of these games. One week into the Olympics and two days before the Ladies' figure skaters were to take to the ice in their short program competition, Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette's mother passed away from a heart attack after arriving in Vancouver from their Montreal home. Rochette, who was deeply saddened by the loss of her mother and best friend, made the decision to skate despite this tragedy. Both her short program and long program were executed beautifully and she was received in Canada's (and quite possibly the world's) hearts as she went on to win the Bronze medal.

Amid all these bright moments and instances of tragedy, there was, what some have called, the traditional complaints from certain camps. True, there have been complaints from even Olympic athletes in the past about how something was judged, or how an event was covered by the media, or even about another competitor's performance. But this time around, there seemed to be more than this Games' fair share of critical comments, sniping words and just plain whining. Grant it, I do not pay attention to several sports and I do not usually pay attention to commentary on those sports, so I may be mistaken in my analysis of this set of games as compared to previous ones. And in the interests of full disclosure, I do remember some headline-grabbing comments made by athletes who have competed in all the Olympics Games dating back to Los Angeles in 1984 (when I started paying attention to the world). All of this understood and given, I still do not remember an Olympics where an athlete, coach, or even a fan complained in almost every single event at the games. Just in case you've been under a rock where the Olympics are concerned, I'll give you a few examples of comments and complaints that have grabbed the attention of the public.

The most notable in this category would probably go to Russian figure skater, Evgeni Plushenko. Plushenko, who received a gold medal in the last Winter games in Torino and won a silver medal in Salt Lake City, was hyping himself to be the first male figure skater since America's beloved Dick Button to win back-to-back gold medals in the event. Plushenko, always confident (sometimes a little too much) and armed with a quadruple jump (the most difficult of figure skating jumps), felt he could ward off any other skater from taking what is, in his mind, rightfully his. What he seemed to forget, even in the press conferences leading up to the final long program, that the performance had to be a full 4 and a half minutes and the quad only takes less than 10 seconds (especially the way Plushenko executes it). The judges, taking the full 4-5 minutes into account, awarded him a score that did not put him pass USA's Evan Lysacek, making Lysacek the Men's Figure Skating Olympic Gold Medalist for 2010. This, to Plushenko (and apparently to even Russian leader Vladamir Putin), was a great injustice. Plushenko accepted his second silver medal but with a grimaced-face and several snipes at Lysacek and the judges, which he said on his website and to the Russian media.

This was not the only instance Russia made its displeasure known in the Figure Skating events. During the Pairs competition, the Russians vocally resented the American media presenting Pairs Gold medalist, China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, as the ones who toppled the Soviet dominance in the event. And in Ice Dancing, Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin complained about being on North American soil aiding Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and USA's Meryl Davis and Charlie White in winning Gold and Silver, respectively.

Another camp that grumbled and mumbled during the events of this game was that of the South Korean Short Track speed skaters. In one of the earlier events in Men's Short Track, the 1500 M finals, South Korea had their three best skaters vying for the podium up against American speed skating (and dancing) superstar Apolo Anton Ohno. The South Koreans attacked the final with their usual fervor and flair for the sport. Ohno and fellow teammate J.R. Celski were a mere fourth and fifth, respectively, to the powerhouse of the three South Koreans for most of the Final race. All of a sudden, one of the Korean skaters made a maneuver that took out both him and his teammate, allowing Ohno to take the Silver medal and Celski to obtain the Bronze. Lee Jung-Su, the South Korean Gold medalist in the event, was happy at his fortune but apparently furious over his teammates' misfortune. To the Korean media, which was eventually leaked to the American press and NBC, Lee made the accusation that Ohno was the reason that his teammates were fighting so hard for the podium spots that they became flustered and cost themselves, and their country, a sweep in the event. Ohno's response was to the effect that he does not play the game or skate any differently than the other competitors. Fobbing off the "mistake" of his teammates onto Ohno, Lee might have just been trying to protect his fellow teammates, but it still was yet another complaint that made its way to the Internet headlines. Ohno, himself, later came under fire for a comment he made after he was disqualified from the 500 m race for impeding another competitor (Canadian Francois Tremblay) on the final turn. His comment, said with his usual impish smile, was in reference to the fact that the referee was Canadian and it was Canadian soil. But because of his manner, it is difficult to tell if he was making a joke or stating a complaint, but the comment came under Internet fire anyway.

Even the Americans were not immune to a little bitterness. Thomas Vonn, husband to US women's skiing superstar Lindsay Vonn, quibbled about the Austrian coach telling his skiers to make the course of the Super-G "Vonn-proof", causing Lindsay Vonn to win the Bronze medal in the event. While his accusations were proved invalid, they still made headlines on various Internet sites like Yahoo!, AOL and even ESPN. American writers and bloggers also took to their computers to voice dissatisfaction with results and especially with the television coverage that NBC provided of the games. NBC's constant self-promotion and breaking for commercials were piled onto the traditional complaints of not showing events live in every time zone, especially on the West Coast, and their special attention to what sports writers call the "non-sports," namely Figure Skating. Logically, NBC can't show everything live because they feel they would lose viewers (on any coast) most particularly in their Primetime "bread and butter" hours. Along those same logical lines, it has been granted that NBC would pay great attention to Figure Skating considering that it is usually these events that bring in the most ratings, mostly from the non-sports fans like myself. But, just like in Beijing in 2008, NBC decided to use this time to promote its mid-season replacements in every commercial break, which seemed to occur every ten minutes. And of course, the American press (both sports and entertainment) and a cadre of bloggers, could not help but pounce on them for these decisions, whether they were logical or misguided.

The Internet does seem to be a common theme amongst most of these examples. It cannot be denied that various changes in the medium of the Internet has affected the way any major event is talked about. With simulcasts and online videos (via YouTube, Hulu, etc.), some of the public were able to see some of the events before they aired on NBC. Social media sites also had a prominent role in these games. Sites like Twitter and Facebook, especially the former, were useful to the athletes to give their thoughts on their Olympic experience, including their gripes. US Women's skier Julia Mancuso found Twitter useful when she was forced to redo her first run in Women's Giant Slalom after teammate Lindsay Vonn took a horrible spill in the fog-filled event and the judges decided to stop Mancuso halfway through, what she thought, would be her first run. She used the social medium of Twitter to voice her gripes about the decision and take a snipe at Vonn (that she later deleted). Not all of the athletes using Twitter, however, were using it to gripe. US Ice Dancer, and Silver medalist from the Torino games, Tanith Belbin used Twitter to hint at the possibility of retiring soon after these games. And other athletes like Apolo Anton Ohno, Shaun White and Rachael Flatt used Twitter to talk about their warmups and what they were listen to on their IPods.

But with all this constant coverage from the Internet, in addition to the several hours on NBC, the gripes, snipes and complaints became a big part of the story of the games, more so than usual. Despite the whining that went down, cause in 20 years not many people will recall, the Vancouver games will be remembered for North Americans (both USA and Canada) setting and breaking records on North American soil and for tragic events that speak to the dedication of the athletes and their enduring spirits.

I dedicate this article "In Loving Memory" to Nodar Kumaritashvili and Therese Rochette. May their spirits live on through those who knew and loved them.