The Winter Olympics are approaching and Italy's prospects look better and better. I'm back with my experience in Turin: this time we talk about snow sports.
The first sport I saw was cross-country: last time I talked about my attempt, partially failed, to combine it with biathlon in a morning. I left my car in Pinerolo and from there I took a coach to Pragelato. From the coaching square you could see the arena where curling, the surprise of those Olympics, was held. The best memory linked to cross-country is certainly the gold in men's relay, I do not have a good memory of the two long races, women's 30 km and men's 50, despite the gold of Giorgio Di Centa in the 50: "mass starts" are deadly boring! Even though, many find them spectacular: of course they are, if you watch only the last 5-10 minutes, but first there are up to 2 hours of boredom. In 50 at least one Romanian has enlivened a bit the first part of the race taking the lead. On the return coach I heard a Russian saying "See you in Sochi": I did not think it was very likely, then they were not favorites for the 2014 Olympics, but he was right.
About biathlon, I do not remember very much: I saw men's pursuit, with the victory of one of the Fourcades, men's relay, won by Russia, and maybe no more. In pursuit I did not have access to the stands and I saw the race from afar. The competitions were held in Cesana-Sansicario: we arrived by taking a coach from Oulx.
At the 2006 Olympics I also saw my first and still only alpine ski race: men's slalom. It was probably the biggest Italian disappointment in those Olympics, with Rocca being the first favorite (5 wins in the season) and instead went out in the first run. From the stand the second half of the course was clearly visible, for the first one a pair of binoculars was needed, but it was always in sight. I remember that the starters were 97, of which at least 2/3 absolutely not competitive. Some came from countries that in other sports had medal athletes (eg Estonia, Slovakia), so I wonder why they were selected.
On Thursday evening, since there was nothing better, I also saw a race of which I knew nothing: freestyle jumping, which took place in Jovenceaux, near Oulx. As I went there, I thought there was a country, Belarus, in which that was the most important race of the whole Olympics. In fact, there were three Belarussians, one of whom was the first favourite. Instead, a Chinese won, and it was China's first gold in a snow race. A pleasant race, anyway.
I still have to talk about ice sports: I will do it next time
The first sport I saw was cross-country: last time I talked about my attempt, partially failed, to combine it with biathlon in a morning. I left my car in Pinerolo and from there I took a coach to Pragelato. From the coaching square you could see the arena where curling, the surprise of those Olympics, was held. The best memory linked to cross-country is certainly the gold in men's relay, I do not have a good memory of the two long races, women's 30 km and men's 50, despite the gold of Giorgio Di Centa in the 50: "mass starts" are deadly boring! Even though, many find them spectacular: of course they are, if you watch only the last 5-10 minutes, but first there are up to 2 hours of boredom. In 50 at least one Romanian has enlivened a bit the first part of the race taking the lead. On the return coach I heard a Russian saying "See you in Sochi": I did not think it was very likely, then they were not favorites for the 2014 Olympics, but he was right.
About biathlon, I do not remember very much: I saw men's pursuit, with the victory of one of the Fourcades, men's relay, won by Russia, and maybe no more. In pursuit I did not have access to the stands and I saw the race from afar. The competitions were held in Cesana-Sansicario: we arrived by taking a coach from Oulx.
At the 2006 Olympics I also saw my first and still only alpine ski race: men's slalom. It was probably the biggest Italian disappointment in those Olympics, with Rocca being the first favorite (5 wins in the season) and instead went out in the first run. From the stand the second half of the course was clearly visible, for the first one a pair of binoculars was needed, but it was always in sight. I remember that the starters were 97, of which at least 2/3 absolutely not competitive. Some came from countries that in other sports had medal athletes (eg Estonia, Slovakia), so I wonder why they were selected.
On Thursday evening, since there was nothing better, I also saw a race of which I knew nothing: freestyle jumping, which took place in Jovenceaux, near Oulx. As I went there, I thought there was a country, Belarus, in which that was the most important race of the whole Olympics. In fact, there were three Belarussians, one of whom was the first favourite. Instead, a Chinese won, and it was China's first gold in a snow race. A pleasant race, anyway.
I still have to talk about ice sports: I will do it next time
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