If that were true at all, then why would
Russia
Slovakia
United States
Slovenia
Finland
Canada
Norway
Austria
Czech Republic
Sweden
Switzerland
Latvia


be sending men's teams, and


Canada
Finland
Switzerland
United States
Russia
Sweden
Germany
Japan


be sending full women's teams as well ?


Looks like you have no idea what you are talking about.

Oh right, we just beat you in ladies curling, too; maybe that's why you're in a bad mood.

The speed skaters should have some kind of a lure whizzing along the rail like they do at the dog tracks.

You are kind of missing the point. The Fins no doubt care a lot more about the ski jumping than the hockey. The japanese care more about the figure skating, the americans about Bodie in the downhill, the Germans more about the sliding sports, the swiss care more about the alpine skiing, the Nowegians about the nordic etc etc etc.

Hockey is the be all and end all in Canada and maybe one or two other countries, On a global scale its not that important.

And if you have to resort to gloating about curling, thats surely the winter olympic equivalent of Godwins law.

So there are 209 associated teams in FIFA and 12 in the Olympic ice hockey. Its no wonder the Canadians are proud of their team. They're really a dominant force.

[QUOTE
Oh right, we just beat you in ladies curling, too; maybe that's why you're in a bad mood. [/QUOTE]
That was a nailbiter right down to the last second, if GB could have pulled off the triple on last rock they would of won.

WOOHOO SILVER FOR CANADA IN MENS 1000M SPEED SKATING!!!!!!!!!

A canadian missing the point?

Never.

Not at all.

Just watch the numbers as they roll in.

Men's hockey final is the last event before the games close, and it is for a reason.

It will draw the most fans to any event, it will be the most watched event on TV in Europe regardless of who is playing. The stadium will be full, more that
can be said for the other events so far.

They should have snowman building and playground sliding.

Ive found no numbers to support that view. It will top the ratings in Canada for sure, but global numbers by sport have been elusive.

The fact that its the only event on at that point in the games probably does its ratings no harm, but the scheduling in part is because of the time it takes to whittle the pools down to 2 finalists rather then because of any global passion for hockey.

Give her full points for trying, tie game with Canadian hammer would have been basically game over in the extra end anyway;
I think the GB girls knew that, which is why they went for it.

What a load of nonsense. Really. Sending a team to the Olympic games is really not a reflection of public engagement in the sport.

You mention curling. That's a good illustration of the point. GB sends a curling team (actually two reasonably good teams, considering it is such a minuscule minority pursuit in the UK), but almost nobody in the UK even knew what curling was until Rhona Martin's rink won gold in Salt Lake. David Murdoch has won two world titles and has a realistic chance of a medal in Sochi, but that doesn't make curling into some sort of mass-media frenzy.

I am quite happy that I know enough about this subject to debate it with you. You, conversely, seem to have a somewhat blinkered view of the matter.

I find your distaste at my gloating unpalatable Any day a US international sports team (professional or unprofessional) gets beaten has the makings of a very good day for me........ it gives me a nice warm feeling inside especially when the expectation levels for a US win are very high. The rise in breadth and depth of Chinese sports recently has provided me with many such days. I really don't understand why the Chinese have not switched their athlete factories on to the Winter Olympics yet..... only 60 or so athletes here......

Ooooooh playground sliding, I was good at that. Or sliding across Parquet floors as a kid.

Its winter sports. Same criteria as ski jumping but you'd have to make your own slide with spit.