The4BellsLondon

For some reason I have always imagined you as black, African descent .. No idea why tho?!

Martin the cdn expat

When you look at which event will draw the most publicity, the most spectators,
the most discussion, you are right.

The4BellsLondon

Until I moved here, I always thought it was the Mens super G .

caretaker

Curling news - GB's Eve Muirhead just made a nice double with the hammer to get back 2 points at the end of the 6th end. 6 -5 Canada, Muirhead made a tactical error in the 4th that had put Jones up 6 - 3. The commentators gave a brief bio of Muirhead and she seems a very well rounded athelete, good skip to give Jennifer Jones a run for her money but Jones herself threw a light guard at one point that cost them. Accuracy count shows Jones' rink outshooting GB (percentages vary by position) at this point. The leads are only a few points apart.
Aaaarrgghhhhhh!! End of the 7th and we have a possible biter at the bottom of the house and just as the official heads for it with the measuring stick..... TSN cuts to a sting of commercials! I will never buy a Nissan, use that denture stuff, eat mini wheats or .... grrrrr. We didn't get it; it was out by the width of a sheet of paper so GB gets the hammer in the 8th end of a 7-5 game.
9 - 6 the final and Jones' rink breathes a sigh of relief. Just about supper time in Sochi.

iaink

Could be due to the picture that he posted a (long) while ago? But then that may not be conclusive given his history with other pictures posted here

iaink

Only in Canada. Mens Downhill and Womens Figure Skating are IMO the blue ribbon events for most of the world.

Souvy

I think a fair few North Americans and Europeans might disagree with you on that one. The men's hockey is very open this time.

Oakvillian

Only in Canada. Nobody in Europe gives a flying whatnot about hockey. The alpine skiing competitions [and I'd agree with Bells that the GS is right up there with the downhill] are the stuff of coffehouse conversations. Alberto Tomba was pretty much a folk hero in Italy for his flamboyant slalom and GS style. Reich, Maier, Stenmark, Zurbriggen, Aamodt - all household names across Europe through the years.

I don't think many Swedes or Norwegians could name more than a slack handful of their current hockeyists (OK, at least in part because they don't play in Sweden and Norway every week, but that's rather the point...)

caretaker

Are you sure? That just doesn't seem right. Are you counting Russia as part of Europe?

iaink

Perhaps because he was Italian?

I guess it illustrates the point that nations will naturally focus on the events where they have a good chance of winning. Did anyone in Sweden care about Slalom before Stenmark? Probably not. Did anyone in the UK care about Skeleton bob before we had potential medal winners?

Hockey is the huge draw in Canada because its a sport that Canada has traditionally dominated and its part of the fabric of life here. After they went out early in Turin in 2006, Canadian olympic TV ratings tanked. Hockey will be followed in places like Russia and Sweden that have competitive teams, but its perhaps not the passion / religion that it is here where Canadians expect gold and anything less is a disappointment.

Those countries that dont traditionally dominate events tend to identify the winter olympics with alpine skiing and figure skating.

There were some interesting stats on viewing figures by continent here;
http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Rep...eport_1087.pdf
but I couldnt find any info breaking global TV ratings down by event. The report did however single out Canada for being focused on the hockey!

orly

Keeping an eye on both...but primarily Canada as that is the main coverage received.

dbd33

Huh? How many black African people have Irish names?

jimmydean

I just supported Canada in the great win against the US Women's Iced Hockey........ don't you just love it when an US International team (at any sport) gets beaten

Souvy

The last couple of minutes of that were nail-biting!

My word but Agosta is fast!

dbd33

I find such gloating distasteful.

In any case, as a resident of Canada one should be grateful to America for being so close, so warm, so interesting and such a generator of economic wellbeing; in the presence of Americans people who live in Canada should touch their forelocks and indulge them. This is doubly the case for people who like iced hockey since professional iced hockey is primarily an American activity, Canada's proximity to the US allows it to have professional, admittedly men's, teams.