Tag Archives: olympics

February 9, 2014 · 8:45 pm

Putin on The Ritz – Sochi Showcases Wonders of Command Economies…

Photographic Proof That Sochi Is A Godforsaken Hellscape Right Now

In Russia, Olympics compete against you! Follow @SochiFails for more of this.                 posted on  February  6, 2014 at  2:18pm EST

                           BuzzFeed Staff                                               posted  February  6, 2014  2:18pm EST
I know, right? Now tell your friends!
Photographic Proof That Sochi Is A Godfors…
1. The final preparations for the highly anticipated and perpetually controversial Sochi Olympics are furiously underway.

2. But unfortunately for the tightly controlled Russian PR machine, international reporters have arrived.

In 24 hours alone, 26,000 tweets have been sent using the hashtag #SochiProblems http://t.co/KIlAnDWCaw

3. And here are the things they are finding:

 Hallways very dangerous, keep calm and carry on…or trip and fall and hit head. #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

A lot of complaints about the accommodations. This is the foyer of my apartment. #SochiProblems

Ok, so my hotel doesn’t have a lobby yet.

For those of you asking, when there’s no lobby in your hotel, you go to the owner’s bedroom to check in. #Sochi2014

7. Live wires in showers.

New plumbing work or extra shower hose? @espnWD. #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

Light fixtures falling from celling are normal, go back to bed. #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, “do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.” #Sochi2014

Water restored, sorta. On the bright side, I now know what very dangerous face water looks like. #Sochi #unfiltered

How does water take urine away after I use it? #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

We torture your bowels with complex toilets. #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

No flush, must play basketball with used toilet paper. #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

Only shell of toilet, you have no way to flush! #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

Made a lot of new friends this morning #sochi #Sochi2014 #SochiProblems

No toboggan in restaurants, this is law. #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

I think @blakeshelton‘s song took too much meaning in Russia. #HoneyBee #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

You can have internet, but it must be impossible to use. #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

Ignore construction, if you fall in man-hole you see whole new side of city. #Sochi2014 #SochiProblems

The grass isn’t greener on the other side, it’s green where you….paint it. #SochiProblems @PHSCE

Got back to hotel. Lift broken after half day in use. Trekked up stairs. Door to my floor (that’d be the fire door) locked. Utter farce.

Firehose there for artistic impression, give it a try. #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

5am update: The stray dogs are all awake and barking at each other, like birds on a tree just before sunrise.

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY SITUATION, LEAVE THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY. 6am Sochi wake up. Brief moment of terror as locked fire door.

Sochi cribs. Check out my couch! #sochi #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

30. Some of the situations are so bad they inspired their own memes.

Uh, Miley? What did you do to my hotel room? #SochiProblems #Sochi2014

31. And people have even made a survival guide.

32. Journalists making fun of the Sochi conditions will most likely continue through the Olympics.

Just arrived at Sochi, I could have sworn my hotel room looked different online

33. Especially in light of extravagant spending elsewhere…

34. But have no fear! If you are having problems, you can tweet at game organizer Dmitry Chernyshenko.

@DChernyshenko Our media hotel is not ready Dmitry….11 rooms booked five months ago, only one ready. Please help.

35. And he will tell you to look at mountains.

@HarryCNN to believe you need just to turn back and to look at the mountains 😉

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August 12, 2012 · 7:47 pm

McKayla Is Not Impressed…

I actually like McKayla Maroney more now that she has responded to the memes about “McKayla is Not Impressed” with a humorous meme of her own on Twitter.

Days after her facial reaction became a viral favorite, U.S. Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney appears to have fully adopted her own meme.

After settling for a silver medal in last Sunday’s women’s vault final, Maroney made waves with a pout that captured her second-place disappointment. That prompted the birth of the “McKayla Is Not Impressed” Tumblr, sporting the 16-year-old’s signature expression toward situations outside of gymnastics.

On Saturday, Maroney brought the “not impressed” air to her own Instagram account, posting a photo of her disappointment that a pool was closed.

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August 6, 2012 · 11:18 am

Perfect Vault and they Deducted Points?

American Olympic vaulter McKayla Maroney won a silver medal and missed the gold after falling on her dismount.  She agrees that was fair and so do I.  However, in an earlier vault, she did a maximum difficulty vault and perfectly stuck the landing, leaving the judges looking like this:

And…the judges did not give her a 10?  I would like to see someone ask the judges what they deducted points for.  Seriously!

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August 3, 2012 · 12:33 pm

Gabby Douglas – A Class Act!

My wife and I were cheering on Gabby Douglas and so glad to see her win.  Oddly enough, just after she won, my wife asked, “Do you think she is the first African-American to win gymnastics?”  I thought about it, but didn’t know.  I seriously don’t look at people and think about their race.  Especially not Americans, we are all such a mixed lot anyway.  The American Kennel Club would classify us as mixed or mutts, not one race or another.  I know I have people of all colors in my family.

Sure enough, Bob Costas comes on a few minutes later and says, “She is the first African-American to win gold in gymnastics.  Hopefully, she will encourage other African-American girls to get involved in gymnastics.”

I was glad in a way, and upset in another.  For instance, though I disagree with Obama’s politics, I am glad America voted in a black President.  I voted for a black President eight years before that – Alan Keyes, he just didn’t win the primary despite my very important support.  🙂  I am also glad that someone so cool, perky and Christian as Gabby Douglas will inspire others.

The downside is that we still look at people and talk about their color.  I wish no one noticed.  I wish they were just people.  Here is my hope for a future in which no one ever has to say this is the first time a “insert race” has done “insert anything.”  Martin Luther King, Jr. is a hero of mine for wanting us to examine people for the content of their character not the color of their skin.  I hope we can get to that point.  I know people like to make themselves feel better by claiming superiority over others, but one day I hope we can grown up.

I could not be happier that Gabby Douglas won the gold medal after all her hard work and the long support and sacrifice of her family to get her there.  She was a class act.  No ugly tweets, no unsportsmanlike behavior, no doping with performance drugs.  She has a wonderful smile, personality and outlook.  As a Christian I was very happy to see her give thanks to God in front of the world, unashamed to be a believer.  Increasingly, believers are portrayed as out of touch and stupid.  I think Gabby Douglas not only represented the United States, not only represented young girls of all races, but also represented a person of faith admirably.

I hope she has a long, prosperous and happy life ahead of her.  Congratulations Gabby Douglas!

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August 2, 2012 · 7:10 pm

Another 23 year old Olympics Athlete Banned for Tweet – This One Should Have Been

I had my doubts about the tweet sent out by the Greek triple jumper, but this tweet is obviously racist hate speech.

Less than a week into the 2012 London Olympics and already two athletes have been expelled for racially charged messages. Monday, the Swiss Olympic Committee bounced soccer player Michel Morganella, 23, after his offensive comment following Switzerland’s 2-1 loss to South Korea a day earlier.

Translated from French, Morganella’s tweet said he wanted to beat up South Koreans, that they should “burn” and that they were a “bunch of mongoloids.”

I couldn’t agree more that should not be tolerated.

Eight more badminton players, of all sports, were banned for intentionally losing their match so they could get a more favorable seed.

More and more, it seems each Olympics has its own controversies.

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July 30, 2012 · 11:11 am

Fair or Not? Olympian Banned for Racial Tweet

You work all your life and you have that one window that comes but once where you are the right age and at the top of your game to participate in the Olympics.  Let us not forget that most Olympic athletes are young, some children.  Kids as young as 14 I think in gymnastics.  Most are in their early twenties.  Do you remember how many dumb things you did in your early twenties?  In fact, they say the dorms where the athletes stay are one big party, with sex, alcohol and rock and roll.  Just imagine college dorm rooms where everyone is in perfect shape…

Voula Papachristou – Age 23, banned for racist tweet

If you miss your window, in most sports you will never be able to make it again.  So, I ask you, is this fair or not?

Greek Olympian Voula Papachristou was booted from her country’s Olympic team this week after posting a racial joke to Twitter — and now says the punishment has left her “very bitter and upset.”

The triple jumper posted a tweet earlier this week that roughly translated to: “With so many Africans in Greece…at least the West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food!!!”

She later apologized for the tweet, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Greek Olympic Committee from expelling her from the Games.

 

Don’t get me wrong, the tweet was racist and in poor taste.  However, out of all the thousands of athletes from around the world, how many others do you think have said worse this week, but did not put it in a public tweet?  With all the problems in Greece with financial bankruptcy and rioting, they choose this time to ban their own athlete, instead of letting her countrymen cheer her on.

I think a harsh reprimand, a public apology, and doing an interview to apologize would have been enough.  She is 23, younger than both my son and daughter.  At 23 I said a lot of stupid things I regret.  But banned from competition in the Olympics?  I think it is too harsh.

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