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DEL.ICIO.USThese Games were lost in translation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Turin, Italy — For the true Olympic experience, there is nothing quite like being in Italy, listening to a young Asian translate a Czech hockey coach’s injury analysis into English, and somehow coming up with this: “He has a problem with his ill.”
I hate it when that happens.
This was Day One of the hockey competition at the Olympics. Czech goalie Dom- inik Hasek appeared to suffer a lower-abdominal injury. He spoke to reporters about it immediately after the game, although that also never quite made it through in translation. (“Our goalie is in the hospital.”)
The Czech translator, presumably plucked from a shallow pool in Italy, never made it to Day Two. The Winter Olympics, unfortunately, somewhat remained lost in translation.
Turin is a relatively large city as Winter Games sites go. The people are nice, the restaurants accommodating, the venues adequate. But there were a few too many ills. Competition, particularly from the U.S. perspective, was touched by too many crash-and-burns. There were enough headaches with the transportation system — buses not showing up, breaking down or going in the wrong direction — that some believed it worse than Atlanta. It was generally assumed that “worst ever” distinction was retired with Billy Payne.
But the most significant concern was the generally tepid response to the Olympics by the locals. Venues were seldom at capacity. The stands often were half-empty, looking like a friends-and-family turnout.
U.S. Alpine skier Lindsey Kildow went as far to say, “It doesn’t really feel like anyone cares it’s the Olympics. I don’t feel like there are a lot of people here. Maybe it’s just we’re in Italy in the [athlete’s] village. It’s not an ideal environment. It’s really bad. The best nutritional thing I’ve found is a chocolate ice cream bar.”
Granted, Kildow’s review could have been tainted by her performances. She failed to medal and was hospitalized after crashing in practice for the downhill. But she accurately contrasted the Turin scene with some loud crowds in Salt Lake City four years ago.
“I just think people should care more,” she said. “There are a lot of dedicated fans here. What it’s lacking is the Italians. There are no public Italians here. There are fan clubs and families and that kind of thing, but you haven’t seen the public coming out to support. That’s a bummer.”
Too many bummers. Michelle Kwan parachuted in and crawled out. The women’s figure skating finals, a signature event of the Olympics, devolved into Buns on Ice. Bode Miller made all previous winners of The Ugly American award look like Shirley Temple. (Almost made you forget about Mike Modano. But not quite.) Speedskaters Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis were Moe and Curly in news conferences, except not funny.
The Olympics should not be about creatures like Miller, Modano and Hedrick. They should be about athletes like U.S. women’s hockey goalie Chandra Gunn, who overcame epilepsy. Or speedskater Joey Cheek, who won a gold and silver medal and vowed to donate his $40,000 in bonus money to “Right to Play,” a charity that helps youth athletics in war-torn countries like Sudan.
Amid the glare of Miller, most also missed the Olympics’ greatest sportsmanship: Norway cross-country ski coach Bjoernar Haakensmoen. When Canada’s Sara Renner’s ski pole broke in the team sprint event, Haakensmoen handed her a replacement. The gesture allowed Renner and her partner to win the silver medal — and ostensibly knocked Norway into fourth.
Haakensmoen has become a national hero in Canada. “Some countries don’t give poles to their opposition — that’s bull,” he said. “We are a country which believes in fair play.”
That translates. Curling still doesn’t. But the U.S. team won a bronze medal, and it turns out the best stories revolved around shuffleboard on ice. Canada’s Christine Keshen overslept and missed the first two ends (think innings) of her match. Then there was that whole drug-testing thing. “I didn’t do very well,” she said. “I peed all over my hands.”
There was a streaker at curling.
There was a mother breastfeeding her baby at curling.
Check that: There was a competitor breastfeeding her baby at curling. Glenys Bakker, a 43-year-old mom on Team Canada, nourished her four-month-old daughter during a match.
Bakker also offered this when asked the perception of curling: “It’s that we’re a bunch of beer-swilling partiers. Here, it’s wine.”
Bakker won a bronze medal. Curling apparently is a more conducive sport for drinking than Alpine skiing.
Maybe Miller should try curling.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Other
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By jim
February 27, 2006 09:37 AM | Link to this
Jeff,
If “The Olympics should not be about creatures like Miller, Modano and Hedrick.”, then write about it. You have 2 articles crushing Bode Miller and even throw his name in this one another 4 times for good measure. Who is responsbile for the “glare of Miller”? You are! The US was 2nd in medal count. Certainly you can devote an entire article to someone more deserving.
By jimbo
February 27, 2006 09:43 AM | Link to this
Jeff, you are absolutely right. The Italians were totally ambivalent towards the Olympics and it showed through the poor attendance, lack of organization, and a general “who cares?” attitude by the citizens. Now, having kicked the Italians while they are down it is only proper to put the blame for America’s disappointment exactly where it belongs, on the media especially NBC. The ridiculous bally-hoo build up for the “greatest US team ever only to watch a bunch of spoiled brat prima donnas, Hedrick, Davis and Miller being the prime examples, embarrass the nation on world wide television. Also, except for a very few events the average American neither knows nor cares about the winter Olympics. What is the skeleton, why is there curling, who stuck garbage like snow boarding in the games, etc.? We just don’t care those weird sports and we are getting tired of the media trying to convince us that curling or ice dance are breath takingly exciting. The tv executives decided to try to sell the winter Olympics as exciting and partiotic but they were boring and the high profile American athletes were an embarrassment to the country rather than a source of pride. I admit that I have never been a big winter Olympics fan but after these over hyped and disappointing games I seriously doubt that I will waste even 10 minutes watching the next games in 2010.
By Michael
February 27, 2006 11:34 AM | Link to this
To say that no one cares about snowboarding is ridiculous. Yes, I’m an 18-year old college student, but even adults loved watching snowboarding. I think the snowboard-cross was a little too NASCAR for me, but it was still fun to watch. As for Hedrick/Davis, did anyone else see Davis cheering for Hedrick in the 10,000? People want to bash the U.S. hockey team, but if you bothered to watch the games you would see that the effort was there. The shots just didn’t go in. Yes, Miller was a disappointment, but who cares? It’s the Olympics. It’s about determination, like the cross-country skier who fell at the start, was extremely far behind, and came back to won the silver. Not only will I be watching in 2010, I hope to be there. And if I’m not, at least it won’t be on tape-delay.
By J.T.
February 27, 2006 12:15 PM | Link to this
I wish I knew why the locals were so poor in attendance for the winter Olympics. I really do. Because this ol’ Georgia boy was glued to the television for all but a couple nights’ worth of the events. I don’t give a flip about the opening and closing ceremonies and didn’t watch them. But I’ll tell you, I prefer the winter Olympics to the summer. I think they are more physically challenging and far more exciting. Now, I don’t get curling, but I’ll give it its due (even though I didn’t tune in for that). I’m not an ice skating/dancing fan, but I watched it. Could I have been at the snowboarding or downhill skiing events, I would have in a minute. Bode Miller’s ugly American is truly disappointing, but DID add a level of conversation to the games. Fortunately there were humble and excited U.S. winners throughout.
I’m glad I watched them and only wish I could have been there in person to see them - from the sound of it, I could have scored some discounted tickets to the events.
How unlike the Atlanta Olymipcs where the only real excitement was with the bombing of Centennial Park….
By Brendan
February 27, 2006 12:26 PM | Link to this
Jeff, I have some positive “spin” to put on these Games. No one was killed. No bombs went off. Aside from a little unscheduled nudity, things basically went “swimmingly” for a Winter Games.
Ready for more spin? Attention hockey enthusiasts. There were only TWO (2) teams that were not shutout in the Turin Games, and the United States was one of them. The Czech Republic, bronze medalist, was the other.
More silver linings? Well, they were eliminated by Finland, the Silver medalist, a team that went 7-1-0, including not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE (5) shutouts. By the way, the United States was the ONLY team besides eventual Champion Sweden to score three goals on Finland in a game.
Truth be told, Finland could have won the Gold medal.
More spin? The U.S. lost all four of its games by one (1) goal margins. They lost 2-1 to Sweden, 2-1 to Slovakia, 4-3 to Finland and 5-4 to Russia. Those weren’t BLOWOUTS.
Now, for a little more REALITY. Thank god for Kazakhstan, or the Americans might have left Turin “winless.” Oh yes, and Latvia’s ONLY POINT came vs. the United States in a 3-3 tie.
Look, I didn’t have grandiose expectations going into Torino. Certainly, I thought the U.S. would win at least two games, maybe three. Though it’s little “consolation,” the other superstar-filled nations like Canada and Russia fell splat on their faces, too. Neither medaled.
The Russians knocked off Canada, who was shutout three (3) times in these Turin Games, 2-0. But then, the Russian bear stopped hunting. They were shutout in their next two games, including the bronze medal games vs. the Czech Repulic.
So, what did we see? Answer: The most star-laden teams couldn’t “gel,” and the Finnish and Swedish teams played “as a team” rather than an “All-star” squad. The results?
Duh.
Gold to Sweden. Silver to Finland.
A lesson to be learned there? Check out Carolina and Buffalo as NHL play resumes. These teams’ payrolls are low and their “team play” is excellent.
Congrats to Niclas Havelid, the Thrashers BEST DEFENSEMAN. That Gold medal was well-earned.
I hear the Olympics may undergo a “format change” in ice hockey. I think that would be appropriate. Why? Team USA went 1-3-1 and took on Finland, 5-0-0, and yet, had the Americans won, the Finns would have been sent packing. At least they could come up with a “concept” whereby the top Three teams in each bracket advance, with a bye going to the Bracket leader, while teams #2 and #3 meet in the 1st round.
The U.S. team advanced to the elimination round, essentially, by default.
I’d also love to see a “best-of-three” for the Gold medal. But that won’t happen. We all know the Olympics are a “one shot deal.”
Coming in, I picked Russia to win the Gold, but said Sweden would be the “most motivated” team, based on their horrendous and humiliating defeat at the hands of Belarus in 2002. I wish I had stuck with my gut and picked Sweden. But I didn’t. And I certainly didn’t expect Finland to be there, with Miikka Kiprusoff in Calgary and Kari Lehtonen in Atlanta. That said, Antero Nittymaki “silenced all critics” by being the MVP of the men’s ice hockey event.
Watch out for the Flyers! With Esche and Nittymaki, they’ll be tough to beat in the playoffs.
Jeff, you still haven’t told us about all the fine “local scenery” there in Turin. What gives?
By Colin
February 27, 2006 12:31 PM | Link to this
Once again, Jeff shows he is a pessemistic, unhappy, angry man. The day Jeff posts a positive comment is the day Tech wins the NCAA Gymnastics Championships (they don’t have a team).
By arktechfan
February 27, 2006 02:24 PM | Link to this
For the most part, I enjoyed the Olympics. I don’t watch ice hockey - ever.
By Jack
February 27, 2006 06:09 PM | Link to this
More tickets were sold to The Atlanta Olympic Games than sold for Los Angeles and Barcelona Olympics COMBINED.
Atlanta’s TV ratings NATIONALLY were higher than any other Summer Games in recent history.
Billy Payne was the FIRST EVER official to head up the (AOC) Bid effort and the Games effort (ACOG) after winning the IOC bid. Almoist 10 years of his life were devoted to sharing the goodness of the American South with the people of the world; all in the best spirit of the Olympic Movement
The Atlanta Games were brought in on budget, leaving a legacy of half a billion dollars in City improvements, countless tens of millions in global publicity and awareness while setting the stage for the continued growth we see even today in the Aquarium, Atlantic Station, our Colleges and so much more.
When people of substance criticize the herculean and selfless efforts of Billy Payne, they really ought to look closely in the mirror to ask themselves aloud, “what have I myself given to my country, state, city and world”.
From time to time - say every two Olympic years - Atlanta leaders and citizens alike should reflect on what would our City would be if not for his tangible dedication to it, and to us