It Begins Tomorrow!

It's coming! Tomorrow, the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 will begin! And I'm excited!



Check out the mascots!

The first one, the mix of bird and bear, represents Canada as a nation of immigrants and natives who have come together to make one people.

The second one represents the Sasquatches and Ogopogo lake monsters who live in Canada.

The third one, the white one, represents that fact that Canadians are a pale people--because they have to stay indoors for the long winters.

And that last one is a beaver, to show that when it comes to loving beavers, Canada is number 1!!!

Like I wrote before in my reply to Princess:

I luv the Olympics--actually, I like the summer games much more than the winter games, because of the variety of fun, fantastic sports. But when it comes to scandals-- bribes, crooked judges and backstabbing, evil scheming competitors--nothing tops the winter Olympics! I can't wait for this year's scandals!

Sure, there are scandals in the summer games, too. But that's usually just athletes and horses taking performance enhancing drugs--that's right, horses juice up for the Olympics!

The Winter Olympics take scandals and drama to a whole other level. Who can forget the bribery scandal that landed the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City? That's when the International Olympic Committee was bribed to have the 2002 winter games in Utah--home of Mormon polygamists and their child brides.

That whole Olympics was full of scandals. Remember Skategate? The Canadian pair, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, was screwed over by the shady French judge so the Russians would win the gold. The Russian pair made mistakes in their program while the Canadians skated flawlessly, but the French judge gave the Russians the edge to win the gold! And after an investigation found the judge was crooked, she and her cohort, the head of the French skating federation, were suspended. And Canadians got their well deserved gold to go along with their silver!

The whole sport of ice dancing is rigged. It is the most crooked sport in all of the Olympics. It doesn't matter how good the athletes are, the judges predetermine the results, picking out who they want to win, no matter how terrible the performance. I don't even know why ice dancing is still part of the Winter Olympics. Remember Nagano Olympics 1998? That's when one judge filmed another judge trying to fix the results before the competition even started! But it's not just crooked judges that make the skating competitions scandalous. There are also dangerous, evil plotting competitors at the Olympics.

In the lead up to the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, American figure skater Tanya Harding conspired with her people to put a hit on her competition, Nancy Kerrigan, to knock her out of the US nationals. The hit man bashed Kerrigan on the leg, thus putting her out of the US competition, so Tonya Harding easily won. But Nancy Kerrigan was still chosen to represent the US--taking the spot of the 2nd place winner, up and coming Michelle Kwan, at the Lillihammer Olympics. Nancy Kerrigan went on to win the silver.

Meanwhile, Tonya Harding had a sensational break down on the ice, couldn't even skate, and ended up in 8th place.

















She had to plea bargain to stay out of jail. She was banned from the sport and stripped of the 1994 US Championship title. But her disgrace was far from over--her sex tape surfaced, she had to take up celebrity boxing, and she had a few more run ins with the law, doing time for drunk driving and domestic violence. Mmmm. Mmmm. So sad...but it sure made figure skating a helluva lot more interesting!

I luv the drama from the athletes themselves. The 2006 Torino Olympics brought out the the soap opera that was the Italian ice dancing pair, Maurizio Margaglio and Barbara Fusar Poli. They won mulitple championships, including World and European, and retired after getting the bronze in the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics. But the lure of the winter Olympics in their home country of Italy brought the pair out of retirement. And they were second after the first round of competition, the promise of gold was in their hands. But they faltered in the second round, spectacularly.



I don't think you're ready
For this jelly.

I don't think you're ready
For this jelly.


























I don't think you're ready
For this.

Cause my body's so
bootylicious for you baby.



And there it was, the famous glare seen around the world! She glared at him for almost a minute and the whole world was watching! And afterwards, they didn't even look at each other when the left the ice. Luv it! But don't worry; they made up in the final round of competition, ending their run in six place to cheers and applaud.




And then there are athletes who brought the drama by their antics alone. At the 2006 Torino Olympics, extreme sports made their debut. Among them was Women's Snowboard Cross. And it was a fight to the finish. American Linda Jacobellis passed her tough competitors and was almost at the finish line when she decided to showboat.

She jumped in the air and grabbed her board to show off for the crowd.





Then she crashed and landed on her ass!



D'oh!!!

And Tanja Frieden of Switzerland passes her to win the gold!

That's the thing about the Olympics. You never know who's going to wipe out in a crash and who's going to win! The race ain't over til you've crossed the finish line. Remember Short track Speed skating at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics?

At the last lap of the 1000m speed skating final, South Korean Hyun-Soo Ahn crashed into gold medal fave American Apolo Ohno and Canadian Mathieu Turcott!

That left the field wide open for Australian Steven Bradbury, who was behind the lead pack, to glide right through to win Australia's first ever Winter Olympics gold!



Apolo Ohno has the presence of mind to crawl over the finish line with a cut thigh to claim silver. Steven Bradbury's win for Australia is the first time in history a nation from the Southern Hemisphere wins gold in the Winter Olympics! How fantastic!

Let's face it. As much as we luv watching athletes win, we also like to look at the crashes.

I'm looking forward to watching the Winter Games. I'm especially interested in mens figure skating, because this year, America has the strongest team ever! Our women's team...not so much. But who knows? Maybe someone from the competition will bust a knee or something. Of course, in figure skating, sometimes it's not always the best who wins the gold at the Winter Olympics.

American figure skater Jeremy Abbott is on the rise! He is the US champion, finally breaking through the top tier that has long been dominated by Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir. Jeremy Abbot put in a stunningly flawless performance, while the Olympic veterans, Lysacek and Weir, made mistakes. He is finding his confidence and stride. Jeremy Abbott could win the gold at the Vancouver Olympics.

Of course, Evan Lysacek is the reigning World champion. He doesn't always wear the best costumes--okay, so some of his choices are hideous. Hopefully, his partnership with Vera Wang will lead to a better costume choice. He's a solid competitor, consistently finishing at or near the top, and he's at his peak. If he can hold his act together under all the pressure, he could be the one who takes the gold.

But let's not leave out the controversial Johnny Weir. People want to know. Is he or isn't he? That's the question people usually ask of every male figure skater.

Well, looking at his recent performance, I'd say he most definitely is...a dramatic competitor! He has the most spectacular costumes. He has the most artistry and he radiates passion in his powerful short program. But he is a little sketchy when it comes to the long program, often lacking luster and focus. But when he's on, he's on fire, absolutely magnificent. And if he brings out his best and focuses, he could be the wild card who wins the gold.

Johnny Weir stands out and attracts attention reminiscent of one of the greatest figure skaters ever, Surya Bonaly!



Surya Bonaly is the most dynamic and fabulous figure skater to ever skate the ice! She was the French Champion and European Champion several times in her adult career and Junior World Champion in her junior career. She was also a World Champion gymnast, winning the 1986 Junior World Tumbling Championship. Her performances were stunning and powerful, but the crooked conservative judges didn't like her. Why? Because they were frightened of her power and her individuality.

She is the only figure skater to land a back flip on the one leg, her signature move! This stunning, dangerous move was banned by the judges--because they knew she was the only one with this skill. She never got credit for landing the first female quadruple jump in a competition. She was robbed of the 1993 and 1994 World Championships! She skated better and did more difficult jumps and spins than the winners. But the old, creepy, crooked judges didn't like her, because she was so different and dynamic and in a league of her own!

She wasn't some fragile, flat chested, little girl on the ice. She was all woman! Strong and unapologetic, fierce. She wasn't some little leaf blowing in the wind. She was a hurricane!

She was fearless! She is my favorite memory at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. She was dealing with an injury and was advised not to skate. But she didn't want to quit. She fell and missed out on some of her elements. But she powered on through. Knowing that she wasn't going to medal, she went ahead and did her back flip in front of the judges! It was big Fuck You, Bitches! Take your antiquated rules and outdated views and shove it!



And she was disqualified, but the audience loved it and cheered for her! Hell, it's the only thing from the Nagano Olympics that stands out! Luved it! No one else remembers those loser judges--but everyone remembers Surya Bonaly--the one who does the amazing back flips! And that's what makes an Olympic moment! That's what people remember. That's what makes the Olympics so great! And I'm hoping for more of those incredible moments from the Vancouver Olympics.