The Opening Ceremony!

[chitowngirl]

1 minute ago, PaulaO said:

What order are the countries entering?  I thought it was alphabetic.

Alphabetic by the South Korean alphabet. 

[Ohwell]

Too many damn commercials!

[chitowngirl]

That’s the joy of being pre recorded. They can put in commercials and not miss anything.

[Vanderboom]

7 minutes ago, PaulaO said:

What order are the countries entering?  I thought it was alphabetic.

Here's the list.

[galaxygirl76]

I'm always happy to see new countries competing at the windlter games. I hope we'll see other southern hemisphere countries joining the only two that have won medals, it's good for sport.

[Ohwell]

My gawd.  Those gloves. 

[mtlchick]

Hours later I'm still cracking up that the USA enters the stadium to Gangham Style. 

[PaulaO]

Ah, the Korean alphabet.  Thanks for the clarification.  I hate the Gangnam music.  Or however it is spelt.  The U.S. team's gloves are hideous.  Time to find a new designer.

[TigerLily20]

I appreciate the extra time on USA but I wanted to see the other countries not just people taking selfies.....

[Snow Apple]

Why is the US team wearing oven mits?

[GreyBunny]

Czech Republic does the wave.  (ETA, it's a ski jump landing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first gold medal, per below).

The CBC announcers talked about how political tensions determine who sits next to who, for example Mike Pence (barf) can't be near Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un's sister.  They said trying to arrange the seating is like "your worst wedding nightmare."

Edited February 10, 2018 by GreyBunny

[galaxygirl76]

5 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

My gawd.  Those gloves. 

They don't match the rest of the outfit at all. It's truly awful.

[Ohwell]

I swear, if they go to commercial and skip Tonga I'm gonna cut somebody. 

[stealinghome]

Was it just me, or did the husband of the married USA pairs figure skating team have the wife up on his shoulder for a minute as they walked? If so, really cute.

The Bermuda delegation looked like they could feel the frostbite creeping across their bodies.

[Dots And Stripes]

2 minutes ago, stealinghome said:

Was it just me, or did the husband of the married USA pairs figure skating team have the wife up on his shoulder for a minute as they walked? If so, really cute.

The Bermuda delegation looked like they could feel the frostbite creeping across their bodies.

I thought I saw the same thing. Part cute, and part helpful. Too bad NBC only showed them because they were in the shot with Nathan Chen. I like Nathan, but they really could stand to learn the names of a few more athletes.

[AuntieDiane6]

Quote

  11 MINUTES AGO, OHWELL SAID:

My gawd.  Those gloves. 

They don't match the rest of the outfit at all. It's truly awful.

Oh come on ... As a country, we have a terrible financial deficit and so, I applaud Ralph Lauren for buying multi-purpose gloves at Central Tractor Supply.  Wave at the crowds in the evening, bale hay with them in the morning, pull a tray of cookies from the oven with them in the afternoon!

[PaulaO]

Sweden's jackets were soooo boring.  No yellow!  I can say that cuz I'm Swedish.

[GreyBunny]

TONGA!!  Nekkid and oiled from the waist up!  Wearing a skirt!  Pita FTW!

He took up x-country skiing just so he could be the flag-bearer again.  Har!

Edited February 10, 2018 by GreyBunny

[Daisy]

26 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

I enjoy it for the randomness of the sport they're competing in.  Nigeria is fronting a women's bobsled team? Why not?  (I had figured they were sprinters who wanted to do a winter sport.) 

 

On a complete aside, the more I hear NBC's Olympic theme, the more I appreciate the CBC's theme and how they change it up to reflect the country that is hosting the games.  

 

They come in order of the official language of the host country. 

 

i <3 both. 
the NBC BOM BOM BAH BOM BOM gets me into the Olympic Mood like nothing else. :)

[Shaynaa]

So the Ireland flag holder is from San Diego but is representing Ireland because one of his grandparents is from there?  That's some nice nation shopping.

[chitowngirl]

Albania! Albania! Sing along with me!!

[Daisy]

did i miss Canada?

i missed Tonga.

[chitowngirl]

Tonga hasn’t been shown on NBC yet.

[PaulaO]

My friend's grandfather was born in Ireland.  She could become an Irish citizen if she could find Gramp's birth certificate.

[mojoween]

I can’t imagine the stamina of the dancers in the middle who danced in a circle the entire time the Parade was going on.

[Shaynaa]

Just now, Daisy said:

did i miss Canada?

i missed Tonga.

No you didn't.  They are 80th and I think we are in the 60's at the moment.

[Mumbles]

Ugh. So much Olympic “tourism” going on, like the kid from San Diego who’s snowboarding for Ireland because of an Irish grannie.  I wonder how many other “Olympians” have conveniently bought citizenship’s so that they can achieve a lifelong dream of skiing in the Olympics.

I was losing my mind during the opening at all of NBC’s discussion of “Asian culture” and “Asian values”, as if Asia is a monolith.

You can tell who NBC’s favorites are from who got camera time when they came out....there are other people on the team besides Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White.

[mtlchick]

I want to hug Iran's flagbearer.  

[Daisy]

6 minutes ago, Shaynaa said:

No you didn't.  They are 80th and I think we are in the 60's at the moment.

 

thanks :)

[Shaynaa]

I love seeing countries that may not usually have a big presence at the games but the nation shopping gets annoying.   One of the Israeli pairs skaters is from New York but switched to Israel because her mother has dual citizenship.  Allowing someone to compete for a country because they have one grandparent from there seems pretty absurd.  Do you suppose the IOC will ever crack down on this?

[chitowngirl]

2 minutes ago, Mumbles said:

 I wonder how many other “Olympians” have conveniently bought citizenship’s so that they can achieve a lifelong dream of skiing in the Olympics.

They don’t “buy” citizenships. The Dushesney’s skated for France, their mother’s homeland, instead of Canada. Less competition.

[GreyBunny]

The Koreans have marched in together with two flag bearers - one from the north and one from the south. 

(Canada also had two flag bearers - Virtue and Moir)

[galaxygirl76]

1 minute ago, mtlchick said:

I want to hug Iran's flagbearer.  

She was so happy to be there, it warmed my cold heart.

[Ohwell]

Go Jamaica!

[Daisy]

the summer olympics don't have that much "hey, i'm from here, and there" right?

[annzeepark914]

1 minute ago, Shaynaa said:

I love seeing countries that may not usually have a big presence at the games but the nation shopping gets annoying.   One of the Israeli pairs skaters is from New York but switched to Israel because her mother has dual citizenship.  Allowing someone to compete for a country because they have one grandparent from there seems pretty absurd.  Do you suppose the IOC will ever crack down on this?

The IOC crack down on anything?  If they couldn't outright ban Russia from the 2016 and this year's O's for doping, they're not gonna crack down on anybody.

I had to skip the opening ceremony as I can't take that bombastic Olympic theme music any more, nor the sweet cultural lessons.  (think I've seen too many O's)  I'm ready for more team skating!

[Dots And Stripes]

1 minute ago, Shaynaa said:

I love seeing countries that may not usually have a big presence at the games but the nation shopping gets annoying.   One of the Israeli pairs skaters is from New York but switched to Israel because her mother has dual citizenship.  Allowing someone to compete for a country because they have one grandparent from there seems pretty absurd.  Do you suppose the IOC will ever crack down on this?

As far as I know, it's up to the country who they will grant citizenship to. Israel allows Jewish people born anywhere to gain citizenship. There are a few Israeli athletes this time around who grew up in the U.S. I seem to recall the U.S. expedited Tanith Belbin's citizenship to allow her to compete for the U.S. when she went on to win silver.

I think some of this "shopping" comes for good reason. It is legitimately hard to train for a lot of these events in countries without facilities and some athletes relocate for better coaching and better opportunities. I think it's better to have the "shopping" then to shut out some of the smaller countries that might not have a delegation otherwise.

[Mumbles]

5 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

They don’t “buy” citizenships. The Dushesney’s skated for France, their mother’s homeland, instead of Canada. Less competition.

Actually, some countries offer citizenship in exchange for a large check and voila, all of the sudden some hedge fund guy and his wife are skiing for Domenica:

https://www.deadspin.com/dominicas-fake-ski-team-scammed-the-olympics-and-the-p-1529973935/amp

This happened in tbe last Olympics. I'm sure it's still happening.

[galaxygirl76]

5 minutes ago, Daisy said:

the summer olympics don't have that much "hey, i'm from here, and there" right?

It's rampant in track and field. There are so many African runners that compete for mostly European and Asian countries. Especially Qatar is bad because they offer them good money to compete for them.

[chitowngirl]

I like Kyrzekstan’s hats!

[mtlchick]

That reminder that while I am still mixed on Canada's outfit, I need to replace my maple leaf mittens.   

[Ohwell]

YAAAAAASSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[chitowngirl]

Hello!

[mtlchick]

Oh Pita.  Never change (well you did, you lost 30 lbs for cross country.)

Edited February 10, 2018 by mtlchick

[PaulaO]

Tonga Tonga Tonga!

[tanyak]

2 minutes ago, galaxygirl76 said:

It's rampant in track and field. There are so many African runners that compete for mostly European and Asian countries. Especially Qatar is bad because they offer them good money to compete for them.

Bahrain as well. It's comical.

Heyyyyyyy, Pita! 

[kili]

Quote

Czech Republic does the wave.

They were actually doing a ski jump landing (telemark). They were celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jiří Raška winning their first gold medal at the Winter Olympics. 

Cool.

Edited February 10, 2018 by kili

[Ohwell]

I hope my Tonga BF puts a shirt and coat on in the stands.  Don't want him to catch cold.

The French are so cool.

[Ohwell]

This is something. 

ETA:  Too bad it's just for the Olympics.

Edited February 10, 2018 by Ohwell

[WhitneyWhit]

I got a little teary eyed with the two Koreas walking in together.