Subject: 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games

The snow is really bad for the biathlon today...

no, snow was very good. :)

ugly race today :o(
unfair conditions, direction and graphical displays of the tv-coverage were also bad

why can't they make a mass start if the condition are like this, would be fair and more spectacular :o(

General description of a biathlon competition

* In a Biathlon competition, the biathlete skis distances varying from 6 to 20 km and stops at the shooting range to shoot two or four times, with both the ski distance and number of shooting bouts depending on the type of competition in question.
* The shooting distance is always 50 m and five rounds are fired in each bout at five targets, except in the Relay competition in which the competitor has three spare rounds for each bout. There are two shooting positions, prone and standing, which are done in a sequence depending on the competition.
* Target diameters are very small, 115 mm for standing and 45 mm for prone. During the entire competition, from start to finish, the clock is running for the competitor - there is no time-out for shooting.
* Penalties for missed targets are imposed either as one minute of added time per target for the Individual competition or as a 150 m penalty loop - done immediately after each bout of shooting - for all other competitions.
* In essence, the competitor starts at the start line, skis one course loop (length depending on the competition), comes to the range and shoots, skis another loop, shoots, and so on, and then finishes with a ski loop to the finish line after the last bout of shooting.

* For the Individual and Sprint competitions, starts are done with one competitor at a time with a 30 second interval. In a Pursuit competition, starts are based on time intervals from the qualifying competition, and for the Mass Start, all competitors start together simultaneously.
* In the Relay competition, the first members of all teams start simultaneously and after completing their part, tag the next member to start them on their way.
* In principle, throughout the competition, the biathletes are responsible for their own actions, such as selecting a shooting lane in the Individual, Sprint and Pursuit competitions (assigned in the Relay and Mass Start first shooting by start numbers), and for counting the number of missed plates on their targets and then skiing the correct number of penalty loops. However, they must always follow the stipulations of the Event and Competition rules.
* Mixed Relays are also held; in these, female biathletes have to complete the first and the second round of the relay respectively, while the third and fourth relay round are each completed by a male biathlete. In other respects, the procedure for the Mixed Relay competition is as in the above description.


(edited)

i'm aware of the rules, but they should be changed ;o)

with mass start that could have been an interesting race

Mass start with 90 atletes, trak must be wide min 100m

the number of athletes is an argument, but still better than a race like this

Mass start would make it even worse to observe. At the moment it`s good enough.

as someone who rarely sees any skiing races on tv, I always asked myself this: how can you overtake another skier, without messing up the skis or hindering the guy in front of you? In a diatlon, it's not a big issue, I guess, but in cross country skiing?

They have a lot of kilometers for that. See it as a climbing stage of cycling. They are falling of on the back side and on the end someone can get away on the front.
In biatlon they do not get away. And when someone try to they shoot her in the back ;)

I always wondered why so many germans are doing that sport:)

anyway, I saw the freestyling skying for men, the crazy sleigh thing, ice skating 1500m for women and pieces of usa-china ice hockey for women. Olympic are the shiz.
the chinese ice dancing couple was amazing, too!

with this awful graphical display they used yesterday, it would be really tough to follow the mass start, but usually (with the display they use in world cup events) it is far better to follow and far more exciting.

and no, if only 10 of 90 competitors have chances to win a medal it's definitely not good.

i guess you didn't watch the combined event yesterday, that's what a cross country race should be like.
but yes it is comparable to cycling. also slipstreaming is of importance.

I only watched the beginning and the finish. At the start I didn't understand how they could possibly overtake one another, but the finish of the nordic was awesome.

Naku, i think you're only sad about the conditions for the austrian team. It was the same for the whole german team (starters from no. 31 and later). No chance to win anything.

But hey, that's outdoor sport. Conditions can change during the event. It's actually part of the thrill. It's the same for ski jumping too.

Also at the shooting range the wind conditions change every second. No way to make it equal for everyone.

no, i have no problem that no austrian has won something. we had a starter in the first 10, who had chances. i'm more upset that the competition was that awful to watch. biathlon can be a great sport to watch, but that was just boring.
i know that it is an outdoor sport, i know that this is a part of the game. but unlike ski jumping or alpine skiiing, where you cannot avoid this factor of luck, it would be possible in all those cross country competitions. it's called mass start, it is already a common thing in those sports and, btw, far more interesting to watch.
only downside is the number of competitors. but i'd prefer a mass start with 30 athletes, with fair chances, to 90 starters, if only 10 lucky ones have a chance to win something.

in this case it is even worse, since the persuit is also limited to 6-10 medal candidates already and that's just sad at the olympics :o(