nineveh_uk

Sport, very good. Everything else, mixed. Heavy snow today at least gives a rather more attractive setting, and hopefully will improve the air quality that has been visibly declining over the alpine venue. It doesn't sound a huge amount of fun for the competitors for various reasons, particularly the ones who got Covid, who don't need locking in a hospital cell with entirely inadequate food, but something more akin to a student hall of residence room with room for an exercise bike for the asymptomatic, and food including such radical concepts as fruit and vegetables.



* Cross-country skiing: with the exception of today's men's relay, enlivening only by the pleasure of watching the snow, the races have been really enjoyable. Sweden and Norway look as if they've not quite got their preparations right (with some exceptions), Finland and Russia clearly have. Well, Finland clearly have. Russia are presumably cheating on the ski wax and quite possibly doped. I have got to the point of regarding all Russian competitors in the same way as I regard pro-cyclists: while I wouldn't say that any one of them is definitely doping, I have to assume that any of them could be. I really felt for a Chinese skier (Wang Qiang) who the jury had no choice but to DQ due to a foul that was almost certainly committed due to his lack of international experience. I hope he gets a chance to race again next year and the funding plug isn't just pulled, he had a lot of potential.

* Biathlon: the sport that demonstrates what mixed relay can really do. Biathlon relay is always fun because to the ever-present relay risk of failing and letting down your team, it adds the need for your nerves not to get the better of you in the shooting. And the mixed format works very well because instead of it being "the men and women do the same thing, only the women do it slower and the commentators are less interested in them" you have shooting where there's no overall gender difference in performance, but will be significant differences in performances between individuals.

* Luge: yes, it's stupid, but so what? I find it stupid and enjoyable, along with snowboarding, unlike ice hockey and curling, which unfortunately I find stupid and boring and all over the BBC. I've become really quite reconciled to slopestyle over the past couple of games.

* Broadcasting: there's lots on the BBC, but unlike in 2018 only one red button channel without the schedule published in advanced, which makes it hard to make sure that I record the events I want to keep for posterity. So I tend to set the DVR and hope for the best, while watching the more expert commentary on Eurosport. It's not that the BBC doesn't have good commentators, but they understandably don't have specialist XC and biathlon ones.

* Doping. Well, what a surprise. The country that operated an industrial-scale cheating programme at the Winter Olympics it hosted in Sochi, and which has faced pretty much no sanctions for it, is still doping. Because lets be clear, there is no way that a 15 year old at the leading women's skate programme in the country ended up with prohibited substances in her system without it being known that this was going on at a pretty high level. Quite aside from its other abusive coaching practices. I feel for Valieva, who is a victim of a corrupt system and would have had no ability to refuse without ending her career, regardless of her personal views. She still has to lose the gold team medal (as does the rest of the team), the European championships medal and associated prize money, and receive a ban. Because otherwise not only is it horrifically unfair to clean skaters (some of whom are also teenagers, the sob story the ROC is pushing works both ways), but it is saying that the way to win a gold medal is to dope a child and then it doesn't matter if you're caught, it will be waived. I await CAS's judgment on the suspension with interest (NB the judgment on the gold medal will be a lot later, that's a separate issue).

* Figure skating. It is past time for serious reform of women's figure skating in the interests of the sport and the competitors' health, and that's before we even get to the singles competition. The men's, issues of judging aside, looks in fine fettle and it was a great competition from start to finish. Which brings me to...

(ETA: Ok, apparently CAS thinks doping is fine if the competitor is a child. That's certainly an interesting judgment. )



Nineveh's rules of men's figure skating costumes:

- wear all black-grey costume, docked 20 points
- wear black/white costume, docked 15 points
- black with black sequins/crystals, docked 10 points
- skaters with a polychrome history may apply for an exemption for no more than one monochrome costume every 3 years
- monochrome costume that is genuine cosplay (e.g. Keegan Messing Chaplin routine) may apply for an exemption, on condition that the routine contains appropriate mime/dance elements. Exemption available for short or free programme only.
- exceptions automatic for Star Wars cosplay with lightsaber choreography.

TL:DR I do not watch figure skating to watch people in school uniform. I'm all for men who prefer a style that does reflect traditional men's clothing if they want to - see Keegan Messing - as long as it is part of the performance and not there primarily aimed at conveying the message "I am the most masculine man, not at all gay". Look, I'm just not a big fan of Nathan Chen, in case you couldn't tell. Dressing as Jesus in order to perform a routine to 'Jesus Christ Superstar' complete with 40 lashes (thanks to antisoppist for telling me that's what the counting + whipcracks was) - bit weird, but at least distinctive.

All I ask for cross-country ski clothing, and it is a small enough request, is not to be able to see the colour and preferred style of their pants through it. I don't need to know that woman prefers a pink bikini brief, or that man something that otherwise went out of fashion in 1970s. (The most important part of men's pants/suits in cross-country is of course that they are windproof at the front.)

Now onto week 2!