A few random thoughts:
- I was pleasantly surprised to see Italy medal in three of the events I saw today. Granted, all three were bronzes, but bronze is far better than I have ever done lol. Italy is really kicking ass and it is always nice to see the host nation rock their own games.
- Watching the events I was wondering… aren’t there, like, Russians? I was noticing a distinct lack of… Russian-ness. And not just in the athletes, I mean even in the conversations. Nobody was even talking about Russians. It was vaguely eerie. The scenario I’m envisioning here, which may be somewhat over-imaginative, is something along the line of a black hole developing in the middle of the Russian Olympic training camp, which sucks in all the athletes, staff and coaches, and which creates a some kind of quantum anomaly which wipes all memories of Russian athletics from global consciousness… or something. Ah, I see. Well, it’s nothing quite that dramatic, lol. Google tells me it’s because of the Ukraine yadda yadda yadda, which as you already know I think is absolute nonsense. Whatever you think of the war, it is the height of stupidity and arrogance to punish athletes for the actions of politicians. Think about it: the war has been ongoing since 2014, so an 18 year old Russian athlete would have been only 6 years old when it started. Why should he / she be punished for it’s existence? Utterly dumb, truly. I like the “black hole” thing better. I mean at least it makes a certain kind of sense.
- Ski Slopesyle is fun as hell. It’s been a blast watching this sport grow from it’s humble beginnings in Microsoft Entertainment Pack 3 to what it is today. I have yet to see an adorable carnivorous yeti on an Olympics obstacle course but that might be a fun addition in future games, and maybe even in the upcoming finals!
- Speaking of skiing, I hope Vonn and the other racers in the final I saw today that crashed recover well. Congrats to the winners, esp. to Breezy ofc.
- Team Skating was epic, truly. More than anyone else on the ice I have ever seen, Ilia Malinin truly embodies the Olympic motto of “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. He IS the Olympic spirit, incarnated. A truly awesome individual. Absolutely inspiring. The other skaters- all of them- are great, but Malinin comes across like something else entirely, some alien yet beautiful far off new plateau, like Mount Olympus / Olympics itself. But I mean… it would take an entire essay in an of itself to dissect this topic, all of different parts, breaking down all of the skaters, the different routines, the different ways to watch this stuff (I saw some feeds with commentary and some without, etc.) I mean I would be up all night, literally, until fucking 6 a.m. or something equally absurd. Yeah I’m not doing that.
- I’m staying off of social media this Olympics, I think. I’ll return afterwards, perhaps, with a fresh perspective.