Sport of the Week

We're done with the Olympic sports. We made it all the way through Winter so now we just get to sit back and relax. Wrong, it means we get to move on to other sports. This week it's the popular Asian sport of Throwball. John and Geoff take you through the details.

Find Sport of the Week every single Monday, right here, on iTunes or Stitcher.

Short and sweet because, well, you probably know more about hockey than we do. Canada wins. A lot.

It's Olympic Bobsleigh time! We thought about just doing a full episode around the truths and lies in Cool Runnings, but instead decided to look at the history of the sport and the biggest winners through the years. We do eventually get to the Jamaican bobsled team, but it's not the focus. Anyway, thanks for joining us for another week and look for us every single Monday!

One of the more graceful sports in the Winter Olympics, it also holds the most unique costumes. New in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics will be the use of music with vocals in the singles and pairs events. We cover all of that including the storied history of figure skating in this week's episode.

You can find a new Sport of the Week every single Monday right here, on iTunes, or any other podcast listening device.

More skis than you can shake a pole at. It's Cross Country Skiing and the Nordic Combined. Both events coming up in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, so we're taking an extended look at its history and top winners.

Where/When did it start

Cross Country began in 1924 with women starting in 1952

Nordic countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_countries

Different than Scandanavia

How do you win?

Cross Country Skiing: Have the fastest time

Hill split into 3 equal parts of uphill, downhill and flat

Events

Mens

CC: Men's 15km Free, 15km + 15km Skiathlon, Sprint Classic, Team Sprint Free, 50km Mass Start Classic, 4 x 10km Relay

Nordic: Individual Gundersen NH/10km, Individual Gundersen LH/10km, Team Gundersen LH/4x5km

Womens

CC: Ladies' 10km Free, 7.5km + 7.5km Skiathlon, Sprint Classic, Team Sprint Free, 30km Mass Start Classic, 4 x 5km Relay

Nordic: Not in this Olympics but coming in 2022, just started ski jumping in 2014

Men thought their uteruses would fall out

Great piece from Deadspin on the history and sexism behind women in ski jumping: https://deadspin.com/why-it-took-90-years-for-womens-ski-jumping-to-make-the-1520520342

Events

Individual - Staggered starts

Skiathlon - Everyone starts at the same time

First half classic technique, second half skate skiing technique

Classic - more similar to walking

Skate Skiing - looks a lot like the speed skating start that you see. Push outwards.

Sprint

Shorter distance

Team Sprint

Short distance with two athletes alternating legs

Mass Start

Everyone starts together in one big ol race

Relay

Four athletes per team

First two classic, last two skate skiing

Nordic Combined

Ski Jump first, best time gets to start the cross country with competitors starting 4 extra seconds for each point behind they were

Team

5km at a time, best team finish in the Ski Jump starts, followed 1.333seconds behind

Best Known for the sport

Nordic

Norway 13/30, Finland 4/14, Austria 3/13....US (9th) ¼

Norway swept the first 4 Olympics

Cross Country

Norway 40/107, Sweden 29/74, Soviet Union 25/68, Finland 20/76, US 1 silver only (Bill Koch 1976)

Fun Facts

US has a pair of brothers competing, Bryan and Taylor Fletcher, both of whom have been skiing since Age 4

The word “ski” is a Norwegian word which comes from the Old Norse word “skid”, a split length of wood.

Most Famous

Felix Gottwald of Austria - 3 gold medals, 7 total

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIER PHILIP BOIT MADE HISTORY WHEN HE BECAME THE FIRST KENYAN TO COMPETE AT THE OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES, RACING IN THE 10KM CLASSIC EVENT AT NAGANO 1998. DESPITE COMING LAST, HE WAS ENTHUSIASTICALLY EMBRACED BY THE WINNER, NORWEGIAN BJORN DAEHLIE. IT WAS A MOMENT THAT MARKED THE START OF A LASTING FRIENDSHIP.

In the 10km classic cross-country skiing, Boit came in 92nd and last place.

With a time of 47:25, next closest 39:39

5 athletes did not finish, so Boit was not dead last

What's the difference between a short track and "long-track" speed skating? Well, you'll have to listen to the above to find out or read the notes below. It's another Monday, so we're going over another sport and with the Winter Olympics starting one month from today, we're extremely excited (John is at least). Check back in next Monday for more history and event rundown of a Winter Olympic sport.

We're somewhat new to these sports, so if we get something wrong, feel free to let us know via the contact page or by calling 614-398-3243 and leaving a brief voice message.

Quick overview of what it is

 If Nascar was on ice and the cars were people. So essentially a combo of Ice Age and the movie Cars.

Where/When did it start

Do we really need to get into where ice skates came from? I’ll give you a guess. Yep, Northern  Europe

Scientists found a pair near Finland at the bottom of a lake and were dated to about 3,000 BC.

Made of animal bone and not made as a hobby

Bone to iron, iron to steel

Not trying to do a bit, but imagine being that first guy to slap bones on his feet

From there, the Dutch made some modifications in the 1300s

1763, first true skating competition was held in England on the Fenlands. 15 miles long across canals

In the netherlands their distance race is called Elfstedentocht (eleven cities tour), 200km long, started in 1909

Speed skating started in late 1800s, all were held outside

Short track began at the beginning of the 1900s in Canada and the US, where it gained popularity for the mass start appeal.

Only recently (since 1994) have the long track events been held indoors, with 1988 Calgary as the first indoor track

1924 speed skating was introduced at the olympics, 1960 women were allowed to participate

Short track started 1992

How do you win?

Be the fastest skater around the track

Two false starts are disqualified

Average speed is around 30mph

Events

Short Track - started in 1988 as demonstration became standard in 1992

Mens

500m, 1,000m, 1,500m, 5,000m Relay

Womens

500m, 1,000m, 1,500m, 3,000m Relay

Speed Skating

Men's 500m, Men's 1,000m, Men's 1,500m, Men's 5,000m, Men's 10,000m, Men's Mass Start, Men's Team Pursuit

Ladies' 500m, Ladies' 1,000m, Ladies' 1,500m, Ladies' 3,000, Ladies' 5,000m, Ladies' Mass Start, Ladies' Team Pursuit

Biggest Difference between the two event types

Short Track is on a 111m track, whereas regular is 400m

Short track is more about technique as it’s tighter turns and has higher potential for wipeouts

Full track is more about power

500-5,000m is done with only 2 skaters at a time, Short track is 4 to 8 depending on length

Team Pursuit is for three athletes per team. Different than track relay. All three race at the same time, racing against another team of three. Have to finish all three before other team finishes all three

Some events have a staggered start

Long track they generally just do one round whereas short track has several rounds

Mass start is 16 laps, entire field races (max of 24)

Each 4 laps there are sprint points awarded

5, 3, 1 given out for first, second, third

At the end 60, 40, 20 are given out

Best Known for the sport

Short track - dominated by teams from Asia and North America

South Korea, China, Canada and the United States have won 104 of 120 medals awarded

South Korea leads the medal tally (and gold medal tally), with 42 medals including 21 golds

US has 4 gold, 19 total

Speed Skating

Netherlands 35/105, US 29/67, Norway 25/80

Fun Facts

Blue is the fastest color: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/sports/olympics/fastest-color.html

Extreme version called Crashed Ice, sponsored by Red Bull (Sweden is great at this, specificaly Jasper Felder (7 championships)

Not sure on the validity, but some say because there

Welcome to the New Year. Each week we go over a new sport on Mondays and this year will be no different. Featured this week is the Olympic sport of Skeleton. Shoot down the course as fast as you can, head first on your stomach and don't crash. Finish as the fastest racer and you win. Easy as that. For the latest sport of the week, subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcast listening app.

Raw Notes

Quick overview of what it is

Like Luge, but head first on your belly.

Where/When did it start

Kind of started with Native Americans using the sled as a way to transport cargo

First used to race in the mid 1800s in the Swiss Alps

The Cresta Run in St. Moritz Switzerland has been open for 150 years and is best known for helping propel Skeleton forward

Took a break between 1948 and 2002 Olympics

Deemed to be too dangerous

The sport was dubbed “skeleton” after the first metal sleds introduced in 1892 were said to resemble a human skeleton.

How do you win?

Crucial to start the race holding the sled with the hand closest, then you transfer as you lie down

Timed down to hundredths of seconds

Be the fastest and stay on the track

All about that start - spiked shoes (similar to luge spiked gloves) help you at the start

If you see feet dragging, chances are that racer is not doing well. This is a method of slowing down to avoid flying off the track on the next turn.

2 runs

Stay hard to that inside line. Hitting a curve at the outside makes you go way high

Events

Men’s - 30 men will compete

Total weight of rider and sled may not exceed 253 pounds (115kg)

The sled may not weigh more than 94 pounds (43kg)

Women’s - started in 2002 - 20 women will compete

Total weight of rider and sled cannot exceed 202 pounds (92kg)

The sled may not weigh more than 77 pounds (35kg)

Update from /u/freyaviv via Reddit

They missed a big asterisk in the weight rules. The sled can weigh below the minimum 29 kilos (women) / 33 kilos (men) and if it does, there is no combined (sled + athlete) weight limit. The athlete and the sled have no max weight as long as the sled is below the minimum. If the sled is above the minimum (29 kilos for the women, 33kilos for the men) then the athlete and sled combined must be below 92 kilos (women) / 115 kilos (men). Most of the women have a min weight sled and they can weigh whatever they want. The men is more of a mixed bag. But if you weight 220lbs (like these guys talk about), you could still compete as long as the sled is below 33kilos.

Best Known for the sport

Unlike luge, the US has 8 medals, 3 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze

Great Britain 2/6

Canada 2/4

Switzerland ⅓

Italy 1/1

Latvia 0/3

Fun Facts

Average speed is 74 miles per hour (120km/H)

Riders face 4Gs of pressure as they go around the turns

Track and Field athletes transition well into skeleton

Most Famous

Akwasi Frimpong - [ah-kwe-si Frim-poe-ng] - First ever skeleton athlete from Ghana. The thighs on this dude are nuts and he loves to dance after his runs.

Martins Dukurs [martins doo-coors] - Latvian has 2 silver medals from 2010 and 2014

His older brother (Tomass) also races skeleton

Coached by their father who worked at a speedsled track

Noelle - Pikus-pace [pike-iss pace]

She won five medals at the FIBT World Championships, competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and won the silver medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Other Important Updates from /u/freyaviv via Reddit

No Americans are sponsored by Redbull. There are a few Germans, 1 Belgian and 1 Austrian that are sponsored by Redbull.

Africa is guaranteed one "continental" spot at the games, pending that Akwasi is ranked to 60 in the world

Martins Dukurs is due to be upgraded to a Gold medal after the 2014 Olympic Gold medalist was banned for doping and stripped of his

Special Christmas Bonus Edition! John spoke with John Espin, the founder of the Stupid Robot Fighting League and went over the ins and outs of the sport, favorite robots and what it takes to participate. You can find all of the fights at the Stupid Robot Fighting League YouTube channel, but we've put some below as well so you get a good idea of the sport. Thanks again to John Espin for joining us in the interview and keep an eye out for more sports of the week every single Monday.

Stupid Robot Fighting League is a YouTube Show where two teams of 3 people build a fighting robot from recycled materials in two hours.

The twist is that there are no robotics.

You only need to be able to operate a drill and twist wire to create an awesome fighting robot.

Welcome to Stupid Robot Fighting League!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CzHU8UO3ok&t=1s

Two Journalists try Stupid Robot Fighting for the first time!

https://youtu.be/YsDebNf_j1Y?t=1m2s

Have you ever wanted to fling yourself off a mountain at 55 miles per hour and then travel 200 meters in the air before landing nicely on the ground? Well, if this sounds like it's your thing then Olympic Ski Jumping may be the perfect sport for you. John and Geoff are back with another sport going over the history, best known ski jumpers and how each event is run. Listen now and every Monday for a new sport of the week.

Raw Notes:

Quick overview of what it is

You fly down a hill and jump off a giant ramp. No tricks, you just have to become as aerodynamic as possible and then land without dying.

Where/When did it start

This hasn’t been around for quite as long as others and we’ve already gone over the history of skiing a bit, but the first major jump (that was recorded) was in 1808 and the jumper Olaf Rye (don’t hate me Norway) jumped 9.5 meters

First major ski jumping event was held in 1866

Ragnar Omtvedt went 51 meters in 1913, Sepp Bradl went over 100 meters in 1936, 2015 Peter Prevc went over 250 meters

Many techniques have been developed to help contribute to further distances

Kongsberger Technique, Windisch, parallel, v-style and h-style

Began in the Olympics in 1924

How do you win?

"keeping the skis steady during flight, balance, good body position, and landing." are all points that are judged

5 judges, high and low are discarded, three runs

Points awarded per meter past the K-point, or how far the jumper must jump, 2 points on Large, 1.8 on Normal

Events

Men's Normal Hill Individual - K-98

Jump further than 98 meters as best you can. Land flawlessly. No problem.

Men's Large Hill Individual - K-125

Jump further than 125 meters as best you can. Land flawlessly. No problem.

Men's Team

A team consists of four members.

Calculated score of all 4 members

Women’s Normal hill individual - K-98 - First run was at Sochi in 2014

Jump further than 98 meters as best you can. Land flawlessly. No problem.

Best Known for the sport

Finland - 10/22

Norway - 9/30

Austria - 6/25

US - 1 medal back in the first winter olmpics in 1924 - Anders Haugen, Norwegian descent

Sarah Hendrickson could win one this year

Terms

K-point

Inrun

outrun

Telemark Landing

Popularity

Fun Facts

Locked in the minds of anyone that watched the wide world of Sports as it was the “agony of defeat” clip in the intro

Slovenia's Vinko Bogataj in 1970

Skiers shoot off the ramp around 90km/h about 55 mph

Eddie the Eagle, movie about man who in 1988 finished last in both the 70 m and 90 m events.

He became the British ski jumping record holder, ninth in amateur speed skiing (106.8 mph (171.9 km/h)), and a stunt jumping world record holder for jumping over 6 buses.

Most Famous

Sara Takanashi has OVER 50 WORLD CUP WINS, FOUR CRYSTAL GLOBES AND A WINTER YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES GOLD MEDAL TO HER NAME. BUT AFTER FINISHING FOURTH WHEN WOMEN’S SKI JUMPING MADE ITS OLYMPIC DEBUT AT SOCHI 2014, SHE WILL BE AIMING TO TOP THE PODIUM AT PYEONGCHANG 2018, WHERE SHE WILL START AS FAVOURITE ON THE BACK OF SOME IMPERIOUS FORM.

She’s 21

Adam Malysz

4 World Cup titles (a record shared with Matti Nykänen and Sara Takanashi), 4 individual Winter Olympic medals, 4 individual World Championship gold medals (an all-time record), 39 individual World Cup competition victories, a total of 96 World Cup podiums (individual and team), and being the only ski jumper to have won 3 consecutive World Cup titles. He is also a winner of the Four Hills Tournament, and the only three-time winner of the Nordic Tournament.

 

Have you ever been sledding? Well, luge is a lot like that, except you're going down the hill at eighty miles per hour in this little track that will slam you around if you're not careful. Only the best make it to the Winter Olympics, and well, Germany appears to be the best. John and Geoff go over the history and current state of Luge in the Winter Olympics in this edition of Sport of the Week.

You can find Sport of the Week every single Monday. Subscribe on iTunes or another podcast listening app to keep up with the latest.

Raw Notes Below:

Where/When did it start

Vikings invented it. Built big old luge sleds back in 800 AD

Luge is the French word for Toboggan

Introduced into Olympics in 1964, Innsbruck, Austria

Biggest difference between luge and skeleton is skeleton goes head first, luge goes feet first

1879: Davos, Switzerland, builds the first luge track.

1883: Switzerland hosts the first international sled race.

Reach above 80 mph

Manuel Pfister of Austria, reached a top speed of 154 km per hour (95.69 mph) on the track in Whistler, Canada prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Who plays it

Since weight is an advantage, male athletes must weigh at least 198 lbs (90 kg), and women must weigh at least 165 lbs (75 kg)

Events - Track length is between 6/10th mile and 9/10th mile

Men's Singles

4 attempts, all times added up after day 2

Women's Singles

4 attempts, all times added up after day 2

Doubles

Could be male/male, male/female, female/female

Two runs in one day

Team Relay

Women’s single, Men’s single, double

Woman goes, has to hit a button at the finish line which opens the gate and the man goes, hits to button, doubles go

Little flappy guy that hangs down

Introduced in 2014

Best Known for the sport

Germany - 75 medals (4 versions of their country - Germany, West Germany, East Germany, United Team of Germany)

Luge to Germany is really what baseball is to the U.S. in a lot of ways. A good example is they have elementary school championships,

Swept Sochi in all 4 categories

Italy - 17 total, 7 gold - still mostly ethnic Germans

Austria - 19 total, 5 gold

...US no gold, but 5 medals

Terms

Steels

Bridges

Runners and bow

Spiked gloves

delivery boys' sleds

Fun Facts

Performance is timed to one thousandth of a second

US Team is sponsored by White Castle

No world records, as all tracks are different lengths

Finishing without the sled disqualifies you

Most Famous

Armin Zöggeler - Italy (2 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze) [Armeen Zoog uh lair]

only athlete to have won one medal in a single individual event in six Olympics (furthermore consecutive).

Georg Hackl - Germany (3 gold, 2 silver) [GAY-org

In 2002 went to Porsche to make his sled faster (got a silver)