O, Canada!

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Originally Posted by Hurricane

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that no matter what you hit, when your body is almost instantly decelerating from 90 mph to 0 mph, you're probably not getting up. Padded or not, hitting anything going that fast is a bad day.
Even with, at best, a higher wall like the one they are currently putting in, a crash at that speed changes your survival chances only from "certain death" to "very probable death."

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Yeah, I don't think padding would have done anything.

On another note, I've heard they've now altered the course for the men and moved the starting line up to the women's. They won't reach the extreme speeds now. I heard even the most experienced luger had an accident in trials.

Go Canucks! :)

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

They're flying down a rollercoaster-like ice tube at 140 km/hour... who could possibly be surprised that someone died doing this? Anyone engaging in a sport that dangerous accepts the risks involved, there's no point blaming the track. Dangerous sports are exhilarating, and people are going to keep participating because they love the feeling. It's not the first time that something like this has happened, and it won't be the last. C'est la vie.

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yeah, even with the changes that were made to the course the lugers were reaching speeds of 90 mph. At those speeds not much is going to help.

As the competitions come to a close today, the Americans did quite well topping the standings with 4 medals (1 G, 2 S, 1 B), Korea is in second with 1 G and 1 S.

Other gold medal winners today: Netherlands, Slovakia, and Switzerland.

Canada, Germany, and Poland finish the day with one silver each.

France and Austria round it off with a bronze each.

The highlights I think were Anton Ono for the US getting a surprise silver as two Koreans crash in the men's short-track 1500m speedskating. Meanwhile, Canada's women's hockey team set an Olympic record defeating Slovakia 18-0.

There were some upsets for Canada in the moguls as Jenn Heil wasn't able to defend her 1st place position from Turin, but Hannah Kearney, of the USA, earned her gold with a stellar performance.

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Originally Posted by OrphanPip

There were some upsets for Canada in the moguls as Jenn Heil wasn't able to defend her 1st place position from Turin, but Hannah Kearney, of the USA, earned her gold with a stellar performance.

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It was a huge disappointment for Canada, but congratulations to Jenn for winning Canada's first medal.

I don't think Jenn's silver win is all that disappointing, Hamelin's failure to even qualify for the speed skating finals is more disappointing. For every upset there's usually an unexpected surprise too.

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Originally Posted by OrphanPip

I don't think Jenn's silver win is all that disappointing, Hamelin's failure to even qualify for the speed skating finals is more disappointing. For every upset there's usually an unexpected surprise too.

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I just didn't like how Jenn stood there flanked by two Americans waving their flags. She looked so forlorn. Someone should have handed her a Canadian flag.

She did seem pretty disappointed in the interviews afterward, but I'm sure she was happy enough with the silver. She didn't make any mistakes, she did a solid performance, Kearney simply pulled out an outstanding run that was better.

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Originally Posted by OrphanPip

She did seem pretty disappointed in the interviews afterward, but I'm sure she was happy enough with the silver. She didn't make any mistakes, she did a solid performance, Kearney simply pulled out an outstanding run that was better.

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As soon as Kearney finished her run, I knew she had it in the bag. It was a well-deserved win.

If Kristi Richards hadn't fallen, she would have been a medal contender, too.

I enjoyed the speed skaters this evening. That is a cool sport. :)

Has the bobsleighing been on yet? Ireland has their first ever team participating! :D

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Originally Posted by Niamh

Has the bobsleighing been on yet? Ireland has their first ever team participating! :D

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Women's bobsleigh begins on February 23.

An exciting day for Canada at the Olympics today. Alexandre Bilodeau wins Canada's first gold on home soil in the men's moguls. Canadian born Australian Briggs took silver and Americans got a bronze.

The medal standing at the end of today is as follows:

USA 6, picking up a silver and bronze today.
Germany 4, picking up a gold and two silvers.
France and Canada have 3 each.

Others are the same as yesterday for the most part, the Czechs pick up their first gold in speed skating.

I was also surprised to see Finland's women's hockey team beat Russia.

GOLD! YES!
Let's go Canada, Let's go!

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Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

GOLD! YES!
Let's go Canada, Let's go!

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:hurray: