Meenzer

Elise Christie. She fell in the 500m, she fell in the 1,500m and got injured, then she fell in the 1,000m and looked like she might be injured again but there was a restart and she qualified but then she got disqualified.

I suppose that's true.

(Fast-forward five years: "It was a SUGGESTION not a PROMISE, Remoaner cuck")

I can see why they're in a bit of a bind over it - they need to be seen to include as many countries as possible for what's supposed to be a world event, and winter sports are expensive and naturally geographically constrained to certain regions. But at the same time they can't have people turning up and not even being able to ski/skate/whatever, whereas everyone (even a burly shotputter) can run to some extent. Hence you get the fudge of "you have to prove your worth in multiple points-scoring events beforehand but they don't necessarily have to be good ones. Or actually on snow".

I suppose it's no different to when they let that American Samoan shotputter run the 100 metres.

It's a bit like how the oiled-up Tongan flagbearer (and several other no-hopers) got themselves into the cross-country skiing. Different set of criteria from sport to sport, but the principle is similar: turn up to enough qualification events and don't fuck up too badly and eventually you'll accumulate enough points to qualify (assuming you're from a country with no better/more willing/richer participants). Here's a few posts from a Finnish nerdfriend from another forum, from a few weeks ago when people were still trying to get the points they needed: _____________ The qualification rules for cross-country skiing and alpine skiing have a few loopholes. In both sports, qualification is based on FIS points. In FIS points, lower is better. If you win a World Cup race, your FIS score for that race is 0.00. Otherwise, your score depends on the quality of the competitors, the status of the race and your time difference to the winner. In cross-country skiing, qualification is based on the average of your best five races during the qualification period. If you have fewer than 300 FIS points and your nation has no other eligible skiers of your gender, you qualify. The catch? As long as the race is run under FIS rules and meets a certain set of conditions, the winner of *any* race will get fewer than 300 points. You can gather up a bunch of mates none of who are anywhere near Olympic level, run a few very close races, and voilà, everyone qualifies to the Olympics. And this was exactly what was done. There were four very... interesting roller ski races held in Bogotá six weeks ago. http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&competitorid=215379&raceid=31551 http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&competitorid=215379&raceid=31553 http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&competitorid=215379&raceid=31555 http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&competitorid=215379&raceid=31557 Everyone involved except Madrazo and Taufatofua qualified. And here's an example of how two of them fared in another race. http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&raceid=28879 For context, none of the Finns in this race are likely to be in the Olympic team. The winner might be but probably won't. _____________ The Tongan qualified today. Weird race, too. http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&raceid=30423 Sanctions 3110005 FERNANDEZ Yonathan Jesus CHI Written reprimand, ICR 205.1 Competitiors mustalso follow the FIS rules regulations. 3540004 MADRAZO German MEX Disqualification, 343.7 Help from pacemakers or pushing is not allowed ??? _____________ There was another race today, and Madrazo, too got the FIS points he needed to qualify. http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&raceid=30425 Comparing times between different races over the same distance is often meaningless because terrain and weather conditions make a big difference in the sport. Still, a winning time of 54 minutes is woefully slow compared to the world level. In the World Championships last year the winning time was 36:44.0 and the slowest time, by a Mongolian skier, was 50:06.4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIS_Nordic_World_Ski_Championships_2017_–_Men's_15_kilometre_classical#Final It's also slow compared to what Dagur himself is capable of. Just under 43 minutes in Norway in November (148th place). http://data.fis-ski.com/dynamic/results.html?sector=CC&raceid=30200 Either the blizzard affected the race badly or the Icelanders were hired to ski at a leisurely pace to game the FIS points. _____________ Fast-forward to the Olympics, and... _____________ Remember the weird roller ski races in Bogotá I wrote about earlier? Five of the seven participants in those races were the slowest five finishers today. www.fis-ski.com/cross-country/events-and-places/event=41093/race=29764/ _____________ With apologies for the mass paste (and the formatting - the quote function is not my friend today), but it's fascinating just how game-able the rules are if you've got the determination, the funding and the right passport. Roller ski ffs.

No, it wouldn't have been anyone. Which would have been better for the sport, don't get me wrong.

Not sure about that last bit mind, it's not like there are any Hungarians queuing up for her place. It's still pointless though and absolutely an exercise in cash-splashing.

This is all just PROJECT FEAR, remember?

Let me introduce you to Lewisham Council's bi-weekly bin collections. Christ, I'm middle-aged.

Cracking trip indeed (albeit I only had to come from just down the road). Cologne beer waitresses repeatedly failing to grasp that bringing those dinky 200ml glasses of Kölsch around wasn't going to work with our lot. How is it that long ago though?

I'm thrilled for Team Liechtenstein.

When the thoughts and prayers run out.

Bristanbul

Well.

Has to be Zubrowka today, surely. Close enough.

I'd forgotten he was still playing.

Fucking hell.

Maybe Bristol City will be the ones to keep Sunderland up.