espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2014/bobsled...ist-alexander-zubkov

All is fair in love and war.

All is not fair in an amateur sporting event.

Even if it was yesterday,

Not today.

remember that Jamaican bobsled team that was featured in the John Candy movie "Cool Runnings"


Well the Jamaican team got to Sochi!


Which, of course, is disastrous for that poor Jamaican team because, as we all know, nothing good ever happens in Sochi.

Ever.

I think the amatuer spirit of fair play is long gone from the Olympics movement.....Just bread and circuses from World Govt nowadays. Sorry for putting a downer on it for fans.

Clearly a farce but the way this Winter Olympics has been used has reached a level unmatched since the boycott days of the Cold War.

I mean, if the German sportsman had lent his stuff to a UK or US team, do you think there would have been a sudden change in rules?

Cos up until this month, this has gone on for years.

I think it's because quite a lot of these competitors are quite chummy, they probably meet quite often and stay at the same hotels etc...

I think their they're meant to pretend that they don't like each other when they are doing national competitions.

I think the German officials have missed a trick when they could have come out of the situation smelling of roses and good will, I think it's the old deck chair/towel issue lol

Edit I think I've written I think too many times.

Eh?

I think its about politics interfering in normal peoples affairs.

The lifeless vampires that they are

mikey mikey wrote:
Yeah that's kind of what I meant Mikey, except that when they do ordinary competition they can chose to lend what they want, as they are competing for prize money afaik.

I think they're oddly enough meant to be meaner when they are officially representing their country, like they are 'owned'.

The towel/deckchair comment was just a cheap joke on my part.

I totally agree BT

I think you are spot on

Sad innit?

Yes unsporting I'd say..

I did look at the article but there's not much detail, do you know why this equipment was lent, was it superior to the Russian bobsled runners?

I can't think that it would be, so I guess it was damaged, if that's the case then it would be only right to lend, if possible.

I can see why motor racing sports would not lend, as part of the sport is to get the car/bike/boat to complete the race. But bobsled is not really relying on that type of mechanical performance right?

Wise Haven wrote: Takes off furry hat.....tips 3 ounces of beluga down toilet...searches for a new life

I stopped watching the winter Olympics after they changed the rules so Eddie the eagle and people like him were banned from taking part.

humanspirit wrote: Yeah that sickened me,Eddie was the spirit of gung ho amateur spirit,what those hooray henrys did to him because their delicate little egos got dented by his popularity made me want to spit feathers.

I wonder what he'll do now that he's not allowed to bobsled? Lol
I know it's not the point.

To bring credibility back to the Olympics they should move back to the amateur idealism.
For starters they should bin the qualifying standard nonsense. If they allocated X number of places for each event per nation participating then we could see more diversity - very Agenda 21 friendly IMO.
At the moment its all very "Spartacus" and gladiatorial with a large Roman flavour to it and more than a hint of "Bread and Circuses" also. When the Javelin event becomes a team against team sport beware - the end is Nigh!
Keep a close eye on Obama too; I've seen him practicsing that "Thumbs up/Thumbs down" thing emperors do