In essence, it's a twisty hilly downhill course, where four snowboarders go down simultaneously - first to the finish wins. Some contact is allowed (like pushing someone out of the way), but more aggressive behavior (pulling someone's jacket) is not.
I know that description doesn't do it justice - you really have to see it to believe it. And it's drawn some amazing crossover appeal - I loved it, my mom loved it, and the media is just eating it up. An American won the men's event - Seth Westcott.
And a woman from the USA (Lindsey Jacobellis) would have won as well, but when she had a huge lead at the end, she decided to be a dumbass show-off, did a little trick on the last hill, and fell. So the Swiss boarder, Tanja Frieden (who happens to be Westcott's girlfriend) sailed in to take the gold. Again I say - dumbass.
It's hard to find any free video, but try this one for a quick example of what this sport looks like. Enjoy!
5 comments:
An Olympic question for ya... what's the difference between pairs figure skating and ice dancing?
The short version - in ice dancing the couple is always in contact - no jumps, no lifts. It's pretty much ballroom on the ice.
A simple explanation of ice dancing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/Ice_dancing
Aha, makes sense. So ice dancing is a little sexier, but with less flying?
I feel like I need to rent The Cutting Edge again...
Um, excuse me, but it was I who mentioned my new obsession of people knocking each other off a snowy track - it's like full contact skiing - like hockey - like roller derby - freakin' awesome!!
:) So sorry for the oversight. To any and all who mentioned it, I thank you.
Further clarification on ice dancing - there are lifts, but the woman can't be lifted over the man's head. And they can be out of contact, but only for brief periods.
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