Fall Olympics / The Slushy Games

Warm weather at the Winter Olympics played a major part in the $51 billion extravaganza. Greg Laden calls the Sochi games more of a "Fall Olympics" as competitors bit the slush on the slopes and the half pipe. At the Extreme Park, casualties among women outnumbered casualties among men by nearly 3 to 1. Why the gender imbalance? Greg wonders if the men's and women's courses are not suitably dimorphic, or if better training would make a difference. On The Pump Handle, Celeste Monforton takes the panoptic view with the official Olympic injury and illness surveillance system. During the last winter games, in Vancouver, 11.2% of all athletes were injured, 7.1% got sick, and a single person was killed. In Vancouver, as in Sochi, women were injured at a significantly higher rate than men. Is it possible to reduce the injury rate for women? And can the IOC predict a suitable venue for winter sports as Arctic air becomes increasingly motile?

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I find it interesting that people are suggesting that the Georgian move on South Ossetia a few days ago occurred when it did because the Olympics are on and no one would notice because they would all be watching the sports.
The Olympics in Beijing (pronounce) are of course being boycotted by this blog.
When I was growing up in Ireland, the Olympics were something worth watching; amateur athletes not getting monetary compensation, giving it their all, and happy to do so because it was the Olympics.
The Beijing Olympics are not too far away, and an iconic part of the preparation for the 'Games' is the