fireworks and bald eagles

[meitachi]

This is the first time in forever (ever?) that I've rooted for the USA in a major international sporting event. I'm accustomed to rooting for China, or for whatever individual/team I happen to like. But I happen to like the USA team this time around! Hockey is to blame (or thank), of course.

It's been exciting times. Go Team USA in the women's gold medal match tomorrow versus Canada! And go Team USA in the men's semis on Friday versus Canada!

And go Queen Yuna in the free skate tomorrow!

Also, this Giroux pining for Danny in Montreal post-breakup fic is fantastic.

Comments

[chaos-harmony.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaah, your posts keep reminding me that I've been completely failing to keep up with the Olympics. I at least want to go back and watch the figure skating events (though I hear tonight's hockey game was pretty great)!

[meiface.livejournal.com]

The men's figuring skating was rough, but Yuzuru Hanyu was awesome <333 The women's had much better skating & was way more competitive. Not everyone's happy about the results though...

The women's gold medal hockey game was epic and amazing...but USA (spoiler) lost. T__T and it's breaking my heart because I actually cared about the team this time around! A nonpartisan observer (or Canadian) would enjoy it a lot though.

[chaos-harmony.livejournal.com]

Aaaah, so I just watched Kim Yuna and Adelina Sotnikova's respective performances, and okay, I can see why the gold went to Sotnikova, because hers was, I think, more challenging choreo on a technical level, but goddamn, no one can match Kim Yuna on sheer artistry. I'm struck by Sotnikova's athleticism, sure, but Kim Yuna just has this sort of... inherent grace of physical expression that arguably can't really be taught.

I guess that's why the figure skating is always tough to judge, though, since it does toe the line between competitive sport and art form, so a lot of it can be pretty subjective (see: Michelle Kwan getting totally robbed at the 1998 Olympics by Tara Lipinski, the fucking jumping bean who had no artistry to speak of, SORRY NOT SORRY, STILL BIASED & BITTER FIFTEEN YEARS LATER). Whereas with a lot of the other sports (especially the speed-based stuff like skiing and running and swimming), it's just like, "Oh look, you timed out by two seconds, you lose."

[meiface.livejournal.com]

YOU FEEL ME. I TOO AM STILL BITTER FOREVER ABOUT TARA LIPINSKI. >:(( That said, she and Johnny Weir have been great giving live commentary during the skates. I hope they keep them around; they're funny and very informative.

omg Andrea, there is so much outcry about how the judging was totally rigged and there's a petition (lol because online petitions are so effective) with 90% Korean signatures demanding Yuna get the gold, and it's just...insane. Like, the judging is definitely suspect (one of the judges is the wife of the Russian federation of skating?!! HOW.) and I definitely think Sotnikova's component/artistry score was inflated like crazy, but I think in the end she still would've edged Yuna for the gold simply on her higher technical levels.

THAT SAID, agreed, no one can match Yuna's effortless grace.

You should also see if you can watch Mao Asada's FS! Her SP was a heartbreaking disaster, but she recovered to give an amazing FS. <333 All my feels for her.

[chaos-harmony.livejournal.com]

OH, KOREA. I love you, but you're so... uncomfortably nationalistic about your sports sometimes. I remember similar freakouts over Shin A-Lam's fencing controversy, though that was slightly more justified (ugh, fencing bylaws are a tangled mess of confusion in general, and make it stupidly easy to lose on dumb technicalities -- even in stuff like the one-hit epee fencing discipline in modern pentathlon, which is a lot more straightforward than most pure fencing events).

That said, Yuna has been a total class act about the entire kerfluffle, because she's awesome like that. Guh.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remember that fencing controversy/clusterfuck! And I do feel that was more justified than this, which is mostly pissed off Koreans believing no one in the world can outskate Kim Yuna. Which...they might not, actually, but they can out-jump and out-spin her and rack up those points. :\ The figure skating scoring system apparently gears towards this kind of point-targeting now; Patrick Chan does it too.

Yuna has been lovelyyyy. <3 She's probably not going to stick around for 2018 in Pyeongchang though, alas.

[chaos-harmony.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Shin A-Lam's clusterfuck had some basis at least (it's not her fault they fucked up the clock for her bout!), whereas this is a pretty clearcut case of bullheaded nationalism. Throwing a lot of fancy stunts into the choreo may be cheap, but it's still a legitimate way to earn points over a more artistically gifted skater. :/

Speaking of Patrick Chan, I don't know enough about his skating to judge him (though my former ice dancing Canadian friend apparently isn't overly fond of the guy), but I found this whole story super adorable: http://www.ctvnews.ca/sochi/canada-s-patrick-chan-befriends-young-filipino-figure-skater-1.1684732

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Michael Christian Martinez was ADORABLE and did pretty well for being so young and at his first Olympics and with a really tough struggle to even get into this sport. <333 I'm glad Patrick Chan befriended him; that's cute and endears a bit to him. I...am not overly fond of him either for irrational reasons mostly (I hate all Canadians during the Winter Olympics! He was the only real challenge Hanyu Yuzuru! Also, his face?? As an aside, doesn't he look really half?).

Yuzuru is the cutest: http://seofeng.tumblr.com/post/77279391438

[chaos-harmony.livejournal.com]

Gahhh, I've been watching Michael Christian Martinez's performances on Youtube, and I LOVE HIM. He's young and inexperienced, sure, but there's a boy with a real inherent sense of artistry. Gorgeous, gorgeous skater. I'm excited to see more of him in future competitions!

Ahahaha, I guess Canada would be our natural competitors in winter sports, wouldn't they. SNOW/ICE/STUFF THAT INVOLVES FREEZING YOUR ASS OFF IS LIKE THEIR UNGODLY NATIONAL ELEMENT OF DEATH. The Canadian international students at Oxford keep snickering at the poor British kids who think this winter is actually cold.

I totally thought Patrick Chan was mixed race! Then again, he sort of looks mixed-race the same way my dad looks mixed-race, but isn't (my dad is completely ethnically Chinese, but has gotten into actual arguments with strangers over his race because he's a 6'2" Asian dude with huge double-lidded eyes & an American accent, who visually passes as hapa).

[chaos-harmony.livejournal.com]

ALSO, YES, YUZURU IS THE CUTEST THING THAT EVER CUTED. *__*