Torino Winter Olympics 2006

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

They begin on Feb 10th. Here's team Finland. It includes 62 men and 31 women:

ALPPIHIIHTO (ALPINE SKIING)

Tanja Poutiainen
Henna Raita
Kalle Palander
Jukka Rajala

LUMILAUTAILU (SNOWBOARDING)

Antti Autti
Janne Korpi
Risto Mattila
Markku Koski
Toni-Markus Turunen
Niina Sarias
Miikka Hast

TAITOLUISTELU (FIGURE SKATING)

Susanna Pöykiö
Kiira Korpi
Alisa Drei

FREESTYLE

Janne Lahtela
Tapio Luusua
Sami mustonen
Mikko Ronkainen
Jussi Lahtela

AMPUMAHIIHTO (BIATHLON)

Paavo Puurunen

PIKALUISTELU

Janne Hänninen
Pekka Koskela
Mika Poutala
Risto Rosendahl

JÄÄKIEKKO (ICE HOCKEY) MEN

Kari Lehtonen
Fredrik Norrena
Antero Niittymäki

Aki-Petteri Berg
Toni Lydman
Teppo Nurminen
Joni Pitkänen
Sami Salo
Kimmo Timonen
Ossi Väänänen

Jukka Hentunen
Olli Jokinen
Niko Kapanen
Mikko Koivu
Saku Koivu
Antti Laaksonen
Jere Lehtinen
Antti Miettinen
Ville Peltonen
Jarkko Ruutu
Teemu Selänne
Jussi Jokinen

JÄÄKIEKKO (ICE HOCKEY) WOMEN

Noora Räty
Maija Heiskanen

Hanna Kuoppala
Emma Laaksonen
Heidi Pelttari
Satu Kiipeli
Terhi Mertanen
Saija Sirviö
Kati Kovalainen

Satu Tuominen
Sari Fisk
Oona Parviainen
Mari Saarinen
Satu Hoikkala
Noora Tallus
Eveliina Similä
Saara Tuominen
Mari Pehkonen
Marja-Helena Pälvilä
Karoliina Rantamäki

CURLING

Kalle Kiiskinen
Wille Mäkelä
Teemu Salo
Jani Sullanmaa
Markku Uusipaavalniemi

MAASTOHIIHTO (CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING)

Sami Jauhojärvi
Teemu Kattilakoski
Keijo Kurttila
Ville Nousiainen
Lauri Pyykkönen
Tero Similä
Olli Ohtonen
Virpi Kuitunen
Elina Hietamäki
Riitta-Liisa Lassila
Aino-Kaisa Saarinen
Kari Venäläinen
Kirsi Välimaa

MÄKIHYPPY (SKI JUMP)

Janne Ahonen
Janne Happonen
Matti Hautamäki
Joonas Ikonen
Risto Jussilainen
Tami Kiuru

YHDISTETTY (COMBINED)

Anssi Koivuranta
Antti Kuisma
Hannu Manninen
Janne Ryynänen
Jaakko Tallus
Jouni Kaitainen

The choises to skiing were odd; the commitee said that Jari Isometsä's and Kaisa Varis's proofs aren't enough. "There go the relay medals." said Isometsä.

Our first opponent in ice hockey is Switzerland. The United States and Canada have sure great teams. And then there is our beloved western neighbour Sweden, whose goalkeeper Mikael Tekllqvist has the same name as my real name! But at least we have legendaries Saku Koivu (Montreal) and Teemu Selänne (Anaheim).

Our ski jumping team is also strong and when it comes to combined, Hannu Manninen is one of the best in the world.

Discuss. You may post your teams, schedules, comment on teams, games etc. Here you are.

[mr_pikachu]

Er... instead of listing all of my country's athletes in each sport, I'm just going to link you. Hooray for cheapness!

Frankly, I haven't paid all that much attention to the Olympic preparations this year. Maybe it's because I'm still angry that baseball was dropped from the Summer Games. I dunno. But I am curious about the hockey competitions, and I've always been fond of the luge and bobsled for some reason. Quick question, though: What's all this I'm seeing about "Legends" in the different sports? Is there a new category for Olympic events that's defined by age (like the Senior PGA Tour), or something? Or is it just an honorary designation for people who have done well in past Olympic events? I'm a bit puzzled by that one.

*is looking forward to seeing Jill Bakken, the solo bobsledder*

[Kris]

Ahh my favourite sporting event!!

Cant wait for this years seeing as its in Italy. I was in Turino a few weeks ago, got to watch some of the athletes training as well. Plus Ive completed the downhill run a few times, as been to sestriere (and the resorts around it) a few times now.

And look out for the young British snowboarder called Dan! I used to work with him!!

Oh the joys of the skiing / snowboarding world

[firepokemon]

I love winter olympics. I'm particularly interested in figure skating so will definately be watching any of the females skating in it. I quite like cross country skiing too. Go Norway, I always support them since NZ isn't really competitive.

[SancLunatic]

I watched the opening Ceremony. Man that torch lighting was tight. They actually put some style into that for a change.

[Co1]

I remember posting in the 2002 winter olympics topic 4 years ago for Salt Lake City, and while I was browsing I just had to login and post something.

I should correct you though- your men's hockey team roster lists Kari Lehtonen, which is incorrect. He has said he's not going to be playing. Expect Jussi Markkanen of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers to replace him. Too bad though, because Lehtonen is a great goalie. Also, it is a huge shame that Mika Kipprusoff declined to play. As much as I despise the Calgary Flames, he is one of the top three goalies in the NHL.

Go here for the list of Canadian athletes. I'll be following Canada's performance, but I'm mostly interested in the hockey. Hopefully the Canadian men and women hockey teams can repeat with the gold The Women are off to a great start, beating Italy 16-0 and Russia 12-0.

[mr_pikachu]

That has to be one of the biggest concerns for the Canadian men. Losing such high-quality players is always a problem when you're competing on the world stage. It'll be interesting to see how they cope with the losses.

In other news, Michelle Kwan just pulled out of the Olympics with a groin injury. Think her age is getting to her? After all, she's been in the Olympics for as long as I can remember. It may be the case that her opportunity for Olympic glory has passed, although it'd be a shame for her never to win the gold in such an otherwise illustrious career.

And what fun would it be if I didn't mention the standings, huh? After all, that's my niche!

Current Medal Count:

COUNTRY G S B TOTAL
Norway 1 3 3 7
United States 2 1 0 3
Netherlands 1 2 0 3
Russia 1 1 1 3
Italy 1 0 2 3
Germany 2 0 0 2
South Korea 1 1 0 2
France 1 0 1 2
Canada 1 0 1 2
Austria 0 2 0 2
Finland 0 1 1 2
Estonia 1 0 0 1
Czech Republic 0 1 0 1
Latvia 0 0 1 1
China 0 0 1 1
Switzerland 0 0 1 1

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

You realise that in the opening ceremony, 1 guy walked for Belgium. Man are we pathetic.

[Kris]

I liked seeing the teams with only one or two members, they must be really proud to be the only ones supporting their country.

Ahh as usual I see that Great Britain has no medals, dammit

[mr_pikachu]

If you're an American, you've gotta love snowboarding right now. The U.S. has six medals, four of which are in the halfpipe alone!

(New standings as of February 15th.)

Current Medal Count:

COUNTRY G S B TOTAL
Norway 1 5 5 11
Russia 4 3 2 9
United States 5 2 1 8
Germany 4 2 2 8
China 1 2 3 6
Austria 2 2 1 5
Canada 1 1 2 4
Italy 1 0 3 4
Finland 0 2 2 4
Sweden 2 0 1 3
Netherlands 1 2 0 3
South Korea 1 1 1 3
France 1 0 1 2
Switzerland 0 1 1 2
Estonia 1 0 0 1
Australia 1 0 0 1
Croatia 0 1 0 1
Czech Republic 0 1 0 1
Bulgaria 0 1 0 1
Latvia 0 0 1 1

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Hm, we almost beat the USA in men's showboarding on...(I don't remember the date!!)

I should correct you though- your men's hockey team roster lists Kari Lehtonen, which is incorrect. He has said he's not going to be playing. Expect Jussi Markkanen of the NHL's Edmonton Oilers to replace him. Too bad though, because Lehtonen is a great goalie. Also, it is a huge shame that Mika Kipprusoff declined to play. As much as I despise the Calgary Flames, he is one of the top three goalies in the NHL.

All right, I was aware of the changes but I had already posted this by then and was too lazy to edit. And I also hear that Ossi Väänänen was injured.

[mr_pikachu]

Looks like Sarah Hughes' little sister is prepared to replace Michelle Kwan. Hopefully Emily can do better than the injured legend.

Current Medal Count:

COUNTRY G S B TOTAL
Germany 6 6 2 14
Russia 6 2 5 14
Norway 1 6 6 13
Canada 2 4 5 11
United States 6 3 1 10
Austria 3 2 1 6
Switzerland 2 2 2 6
Italy 2 0 4 6
China 1 2 3 6
Finland 0 2 3 5
Sweden 2 1 1 4
France 2 0 2 4
Netherlands 1 2 1 4
Estonia 3 0 0 3
South Korea 1 1 1 3
Czech Republic 0 2 0 2
Australia 1 0 0 1
Croatia 0 1 0 1
United Kingdom 0 1 0 1
Bulgaria 0 1 0 1
Ukraine 0 0 1 1
Latvia 0 0 1 1

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I watched the ski jump yeaterday. Congatulations team Austria and team Norway!

The Finnish trainer didn't watch his language very much. He said "Ihan perseelleen meni!", literally 'It went just on the ass!'

I know this is nitpicking, but why did Andreas Küttel get so many points anyway? The Italian judge gave him 19.0 if I remember correctly. Küttel had to use his arms to land safely! It was good that he didn't hurt himself though.

[mr_pikachu]

This Olympics has continued to be disappointing for the U.S.

The men's hockey team lost 2-1 to Slovakia after already having tied major underdogs Latvia. At this rate, they definitely won't make the medal round.

Bode hit a gate in the super-G and didn't finish; he's now 0-for-3 with two disqualifications and that DNF (Did Not Finish).

And let's not forget Johnny Weir, the big-mouth figure skater who backed up his talk at first by landing in second place after the short program. He plunged to fifth after what was called a "one-bear performance" - a lone bear was tossed onto the ice after a monumentally disappointing skate in which "He two-footed a triple axel, had a shaky landing on a triple lutz and was thinking too much the whole way around." Why did he do so catastrophically badly?

He missed a bus. What the hell.

For crying out loud, the curling program looks better than anything else right now; the men are poised for the medal round. Even the low-rated women's team destroyed Italy 11-3, albeit falling out of legitimate medal contention.

Current Medal Count:

COUNTRY G S B TOTAL
Norway 2 7 7 16
Germany 6 6 3 15
United States 7 4 2 13
Russia 6 2 5 13
Canada 2 4 5 11
Austria 4 5 1 10
South Korea 3 3 1 7
Switzerland 2 2 3 7
China 1 2 4 7
Italy 2 0 4 6
France 3 0 2 5
Sweden 2 1 2 5
Netherlands 1 2 2 5
Finland 0 2 3 5
Estonia 3 0 0 3
Croatia 1 1 0 2
Czech Republic 0 2 0 2
Australia 1 0 0 1
Slovakia 0 1 0 1
United Kingdom 0 1 0 1
Bulgaria 0 1 0 1
Ukraine 0 0 1 1
Latvia 0 0 1 1

Note: You may notice that some countries have fewer medals in one update than they did in a previous update. This could be because of athletes being disqualified post-competition, incorrect sources, or mistyped scores by me. Hey, I'm only human.

[-/Deathborn/-]

The United States is 3rd as of now? Wow. I knew the countries with access to mountainous or snowy areas would be the top winners. I'm not too suprised this year that Norway is leading the pack. I thought Russia and Canada would be doing a bit better. Maybe one or two medals more.

So disapointing for U.S. as in we get medals, but not as spectacular as it could've been?

[Kris]

We finally have 1 medal!

Unfortunately it looks like our women curlers wont be going for another one this year...

[homeofmew]

go go usa,

Estonia 1 0 0 1
Czech Republic 0 1 0 1
Switzerland 0 0 1 1

we are not piviting numbers

[mr_pikachu]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean, homeofmew. But I've been updating the scores in periodic posts for awhile.

And Deathborn, you're pretty much right there; we've had a lot of athletes and teams that have been disappointing in various ways.

Speaking of disappointing, this article just makes me shake my head. We've had enough problems with controversies over who should be allowed to compete and what sorts of activity should be allowed in sports, and then this. Of course, I guess it's to be expected in world-level competition in this day and age, but cheating still frustrates me. And I have a hard time believing that "There's definitely no doping in the Austrian team."

Anyway, on to the current standings...

Current Medal Count:

COUNTRY G S B TOTAL
Germany 9 7 5 21
United States 7 7 4 18
Norway 2 8 8 18
Austria 8 5 3 16
Russia 7 3 5 15
Canada 3 6 5 14
Italy 4 0 5 9
Switzerland 2 2 4 8
South Korea 3 3 1 7
France 3 1 3 7
Sweden 2 2 3 7
China 1 2 4 7
Netherlands 2 2 2 6
Finland 0 3 3 6
Estonia 3 0 0 3
Croatia 1 2 0 3
Czech Republic 0 2 0 2
Ukraine 0 0 2 2
Australia 1 0 0 1
Slovakia 0 1 0 1
United Kingdom 0 1 0 1
Bulgaria 0 1 0 1
Latvia 0 0 1 1

Note: You may notice that some countries have fewer medals in one update than they did in a previous update. This could be because of athletes being disqualified post-competition, incorrect sources, or mistyped scores by me. Hey, I'm only human.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I made a mistake again.

It wasn't none of the coaches, I think it was Janne Ahonen, the ski jumper, who swore.

And now to the ice hockey...

USA 3
FINLAND 4

There were places where the Canadian referee should have whistled but he didn't and places where he shouldn't have whistled but he did. I mean to both sides, both the Finns and the Americans weren't treated too fairly.

This game was quite exciting, I think the US team played perhaps better than we during the third period, although there were certain possibilities.

This time it was good for us, bad for the US!

[mr_pikachu]

There was a big shock in figure skating, as Shizuka Arakawa took the gold for Japan - the country's first-ever gold in figure skating and the first medal whatsoever during the Torino games - while Sasha Cohen took silver and Irina Slutskaya the bronze.

I'm through with caring about the U.S. men's hockey team, just like I don't care about the men's basketball team. If they got the amateurs out there, I'd watch for sure; instead the overpaid pros can't win a game to save their lives.

And the U.S. curlers are relegated to a bronze medal consolation game against Great Britain. I wanted them to take the gold...

(The fact that I'm most upset about the curling team really says something about my opinion on how the Olympics is being handled these days...)


EDIT: And it's all over! The last gold medal of these Olympics goes to Sweden, with an intense 3-2 victory over the Finland hockey team!


FINAL MEDAL COUNT:

COUNTRY G S B TOTAL
Germany 11 12 6 29
United States 9 9 7 25
Canada 7 10 7 24
Austria 9 7 7 23
Russia 8 6 8 22
Norway 2 8 9 19
Sweden 7 2 5 14
Switzerland 5 4 5 14
South Korea 6 3 2 11
China 2 5 5 11
Italy 4 0 6 10
France 3 2 4 9
Netherlands 3 2 4 9
Finland 0 6 3 9
Czech Republic 1 2 1 4
Estonia 3 0 0 3
Croatia 1 2 0 3
Australia 1 0 1 2
Poland 0 1 1 2
Ukraine 0 0 2 2
Japan 1 0 0 1
Belarus 0 1 0 1
Bulgaria 0 1 0 1
Great Britain 0 1 0 1
Slovakia 0 1 0 1
Latvia 0 0 1 1

Note: You may notice that some countries have fewer medals in one update than they did in a previous update. This could be because of athletes being disqualified post-competition, incorrect sources, or mistyped scores by me. Hey, I'm only human.

[Andrew]

I loved the closing Ceremony's Toronto thing, having Avril represent Canada was awesome. Eh? Lols.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

And it's all over! The last gold medal of these Olympics goes to Sweden, with an intense 3-2 victory over the Finland hockey team!

The Swedes ruled that game. For one reason or another, Finland was unable to keep the game in control. At least I was able to catch a train since it didn't last longer.

Not a single gold medal for us! We didn't keep up with our goals.

[Co1]

I loved the closing Ceremony's Toronto thing, having Avril represent Canada was awesome. Eh? Lols.

I think you mean Vancouver...