Birdy Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 i was watching olympic figure skating - dance compulsory to be exact - last night and was kind of upset with the american couple. the girl only gained citizenship TWO WEEKS AGO and is now competing and has a good shot at medalling for the US. normally, i don't really care as this kind of thing happens all the time, but i do feel a little bit upset over the two week time frame. it's almost obvious that she got her papers pushed through cuz she was an athlete. i think there should be time frame where you have to be a citizen of a country for at least a year before you can compete as an athlete for them.it's kinda disturbing when you're watching a medal ceremony and you see our flag being raised up and you get goosebumps and shivers and have that fleeting moment of national pride. but then you really think about it and it doesn't mean shit to the medal winner because they're not canadian, they're from the ukraine.i dunno.. just my rant of the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggest Fan Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Quality rant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Evil_Mouse Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 No doubt . Rant on - that is ridiculous. At this rate, Schwartzenegger's going to be freed up to become president in no time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 The brakeman for the Canadian 2-man bobsled team had his citizenship fast-tracked (great pun) so he could compete. First Jamaican-born athlete to win a winter olympic medal. Became interested in bobsled after seeing Cool Runnings.During his illustrious bobsleigh career, Lueders has won a total of 69 World Cup medals, including several overall titles in the two-man event.However, he would never take full credit for this Olympic medal without pointing out the immense contributions of Brown. The Calgary resident is regarded as one of the top-three brakeman in the world and consistently gives Lueders fast push starts.During the Christmas holidays, Lueders showed his dismay with Bobsleigh Canada's seeming lack of commitment in fast-tracking the Jamaican native's citizenship case with Immigration Canada.He told CBC Sports Online that it would take a "miracle" for Canada to win a medal without the power and speed of Brown.The pair had only one podium finish for the season to that point but their results would dramatically improve.As the new year began, Lueders was given assurances that Brown's case would be cleared up. The news gave Lueders a lift as the two captured three medals in the last four races to win another two-man World Cup title at the time Brown received his citizenship. "I want to thank Canada for embracing me and making me a Canadian citizen," said Brown, who didn't receive his citizenship until late January. "I want to thank Pierre for all his skill in driving."After the race, tears streamed down the face of the usually stoic Lueders."The road it took to get Lascelles here, it's unbelievable," said Lueders. "I thought about that over Christmas and that it would just be horrible that he'd be sitting at home watching the Olympics and we're here competing."Brown, 31, admitted that as the Olympics drew closer he doubted he would received his citizenship in time for the Games."I wanted it to be done but I wasn't thinking about it," he said. "One day, it kind of hit me that it might not happen."I went to Pierre and said 'I think this is not going to happen.' He said to be strong and do what you do best. And that's just what I did."Brown was born in May Pen, Jamaica. Ironically, he was introduced to the sport after watching the movie Cool Runnings, the story of the Jamaican bobsled team that competed at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary."That's the movie I watched and learned about bobsledding," he said. "I asked my friends and that's how I became a bobsledder. I used to do boxing but couldn't manage (taking) all those punches."The powerfully build Brown began pushing sleds for Jamaica in 1999 and competed for his home country at the 2002 Salt Lake Games. In 2004 he began training in Calgary, where he met and married his Canadian-born wife Kara.Soon after he joined the Canadian team. Winning the silver medal was the final step in a very long journey."Words can't explain how it feels," said Brown. "I saw Pierre cry and I wanted to cry too. I feel real good knowing that Canada embraced me and put me in the Olympics."Letting me compete for Canada, and giving me a chance to be an Olympic medallist, you don't know how much that means to me."It was the second Olympic medal for the 35-year-old Lueders. The Edmonton native won the two-man gold at the 1998 Nagano Games, but this medal was even more special."It took 16 years to get this one," he said. "It wasn't a normal road that we took to get here."About eight weeks ago I didn't have a brakeman. I've got to say there are so many who helped out. It gives me hope that if people work together on a certain task that they can accomplish anything. It's hard to believe.""The medal is the icing on the cake," said Brown. "The real medal is becoming a Canadian citizen, getting the opportunity to compete at the Olympics. That's the gold medal." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 My Olympic peeve is the constant use of the word 'Medal' as a verb.As for the citizenship thing, I think it's great. Becoming a citizen somewhere is not easy. You have to really want it and be dedicated in your craft to go through that process. The fact that this bobsledder went through all the hoops just so he could compete shows a determination and focus that I think is exemplary and just what a country would want in a new citizen. The fact that he gets a little bit of fame thrown in there is just a bonus for him.AD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edger Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 To be fair, one of our silver medalists in the bobsled recently gained his citizenship as well. Apparently, he went through quite a struggle to receive his citizenship, and I am unsure as to how long he had been trying to obtain it for. Basically I don't know enough about the details of this particular cicumstance to form a fair opinion on it. Also, I was recently informed that in Italy you only have to be a descendent of an Italian citizen in order to qualify for citizenship (that is you could be a couple of generations removed)... I guess each country's citizenship regulations are different Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 well, in my own defence of using the word "medal" as a verb, it is recognized as one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 well, in my own defence of using the word "medal" as a verb, it is recognized as one. Doesn't mean it can't be a pet peeve of mine AD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 bah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I think my Olympic pet peeve concerns the outfits that female figure skaters wear. I mean, they look really skimpy, but when you see them up close, you realize that a lot of what you thought was skin is actually fabric the colour of the skater's skin, which invalidates the whole skimpiness of the outfit. C'mon, if you want to look sexy, and give off the impression that your outfit is so skimpy that it might just fall off, even a little bit, you should have the guts to actually wear something that dangerous.Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AD Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 It's not you I was taking issue with, it was all the sportscasters... I guess they're technically using it correcting though...Same goes for the word 'Lighted' (the word Lit works just fine) 'Pleaded' (is Pled or Plead a word?) and another similar one that I can't remember now; they all sound wrong to me and it drives me crazy (a little bit).adps. use them in a sentence - I have a lighted driveway vs. I have a lit driveway. I think Lit works much better. He pleaded guilty vs. He pled guilty. Eliminate syllables!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Evil_Mouse Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I think my Olympic pet peeve concerns the outfits that female figure skaters wear. I mean, they look really skimpy, but when you see them up close, you realize that a lot of what you thought was skin is actually fabric the colour of the skater's skin, which invalidates the whole skimpiness of the outfit. C'mon, if you want to look sexy, and give off the impression that your outfit is so skimpy that it might just fall off, even a little bit, you should have the guts to actually wear something that dangerous. ! Thanks for my Big Laugh of the Day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 i think you're onto something there with 'lighted' vs. 'lit'. i'm a lit kinda girl.brad - you should have seen the american girl's outfit last night (well maybe you did).. i think she was showing skin! *GASP* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phorbesie Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 that was funny brad m.i have hardly seen any olympics this year.quick article about the skaters costumes:Okay, so I realize that I'm the one in Italy, so I should be providing you, the readers, with information about the stuff that's going on here in Turin. But on this topic, I'm stumped.Can anyone tell me what the ice dancers are wearing?Seriously. They so desperately want people to treat dancing on skates as a sport, and then they come out onto the rink looking like they went shopping for their costumes at "Skating by Bozo."You sit here wondering how the conversation goes when they talk to their designers. "You know, I'd really like to look like I taped pieces of an orange '70s-style shag rug to my body. Only, I also want to be completely naked. Can you make that work for me, Claude?"The French competitors went for the just-fell-into-the-sewer look, their French Revolution style outfits designed to seem tattered and torn. The Hungarians seemed to gofor the Otto-the-Orange look. One of the Russian women went with the popular teal-and-leopard-skin outfit, and it seems like that's a one-or-the-other thing, isn't it?True, we sportwriters are dropped in from another universe, a world with strict rules about what the athelets can and cannot wear, a place wehre the uniforms are, well, uniform. We do our best to undrestand that people here take their sport very seriously and do not like to ridiculed.We are the ignorant ones. We know this and apologize. But when we see the flaming red outfits the Polish dancers are wearing, the ones that make them look like human flamingos, we get confused. Please help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 (edited) lol hilarious.. and so true. i watched the pairs again last night and all the girls looked like floozies.. one of the announcers even made a comment that they should be dancing in vegas not in turin. and to further my peeve from yesterday, turns out the american girl skater, who's papers were pushed through two weeks ago, and who got a silver medal last night, is from kingston, ontario. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr edit to add: i mean i can see when there is a 'cool runnings' situation like what AD mentioned above, but when the facilities in your own country are more than adequate to train on.. then ??? Edited February 21, 2006 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guigsy Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 isnt her (american) husband her dancing partner? does that change anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badams Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 loland to further my peeve from yesterday, turns out the american girl skater, who's papers were pushed through two weeks ago, and who got a silver medal last night, is from kingston, ontario. I don't have a problem with her situation. it's not like she just started the process, she has lived in the US and competed there for eight years. From NBC.com A native of Canada, Belbin was ineligible to represent the U.S. at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games because she was not yet an American citizen, and early this season, it looked like she and Agosto would miss out on Torino as well. But on December 31, 2005, the day after President George W. Bush signed Appropriations Bill HR-3010 into law, Belbin became a U.S. citizen, eligible for the Olympic Games. An amendment attached to that bill allowed Belbin to take advantage of changes to immigration rules that have been implemented since she began her efforts to procure U.S. citizenship. Belbin hails from Kirkland, Que., but has lived in the United States since 1998, when she was 13. In Nov. 2000, she was approved for an EB-1 visa, which is given to individuals considered "aliens of extraordinary ability." She did not receive her green card until July 2002. That year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) changed the rules, allowing EB-1s to apply for their green card and visa at the same time. Had this policy been in effect when Belbin began the process, she would have been eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship by the end of 2005 (there is a mandatory waiting period of five years between the time a person obtains a green card and when he or she becomes eligible to apply for citizenship). Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich) introduced the amendment, which would allow the new rules to apply to those, like Belbin, who began their naturalization process before the July 2002. The bill passed on Dec. 21 and was signed by Bush on December 30. Belbin took her citizenship test and was sworn in on December 31, and is now a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada. (For more, read Belbin's bumpy road ------------------------------ Plus we pushed through a Jamaican Bobsledder and won a silver so I say it's even Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badams Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 isnt her (american) husband her dancing partner? does that change anything?I read she is actually dating a Canadian Figure Skater. WOW!!! I really know too much about this crap. hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guigsy Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 oh really? i've been listening to a talk radio show here at work this morning, so i can get the hockey updates, and that topic came up... thought they said her partner was a husband or fiancee, but i may not have heard right... or, they could have their information wrong.. or something else could have muddled this up...anyhoo.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 ahh i didn't do my homework.erase rant erase rant erase ranteven though it hurts somewhere deep inside losing a potential (?) medal to the americans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaimoe Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Have you heard Belbin talk? The Americans can have her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badams Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 oh really? i've been listening to a talk radio show here at work this morning, so i can get the hockey updates, and that topic came up... thought they said her partner was a husband or fiancee, but i may not have heard right... or, they could have their information wrong.. or something else could have muddled this up...anyhoo..........This is from her biography on NBC.comHer hobbies include auto-crossing, a type of car racing she does with her boyfriend, Canadian figure skater Fedor Andreev (the son of one of Belbin and Agosto’s coaches, Marina Zoueva).Personally I'd like to date her myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badams Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Have you heard Belbin talk? The Americans can have her.Yes, her voice is rather annoying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdy Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 understatement of the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 i watched the pairs again last night and all the girls looked like floozies.. one of the announcers even made a comment that they should be dancing in vegas not in turin.I heard that too. I thought, what a bunch of pretentious pricks. Am I the only one who loves tacky? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now