5 offbeat stories that will make you care about the Olympics
The double toilet in Sochi may have captured the Internet’s attention this week, but it’s not the only quirky Olympic thing to go viral this week. Here are five of our favorites:
Dutch speed skater flips competitor double bird
If you can’t beat ‘em, get caught on camera flipping them off (or something).
Sjinkie Khegt couldn’t beat Russian competitor Viktor Ahn, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, at the European short-track speed skating championships over the weekend.
As Ahn skated over the finish line with his arms raised in triumph, Knegt was photographed behind him with his arms held aloft in an entirely different manner.
The Dutch team was disqualified from the event, which was the last major tournament before the Olympics, due to Khegt’s conduct, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
He later apologized, saying the move was “not the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”
U.S. Opening Ceremony uniforms disappoint almost everyone
The U.S. Opening Ceremony uniforms for the Sochi Olympics debuted Thursday on the “Today” show to widespread Internet snark.
Designed by Ralph Lauren and made in the USA, the uniforms look like what would happen if you held an ugly Christmas sweater party on the Fourth of July. At the North Pole.
“The US Olympic uniform looks like if I ate an entire American flag and then vomited,” tweeted Adam Wagner.
“My eyes … they’re confused,” one Gawker commenter said. “Which pattern to focus on?! Stars! Stripes! Flags! Circles! Letters! Numbers! I’m overwhelmed.”
Norway curling team’s uniforms disappoint almost no one
The U.S. may have accidentally stepped into a uniform nightmare, but Norway is known for going all out for the Olympics.
The Norwegian curling team’s pants even have their own Facebook page.
This year, the team went with a dizzying red, white and blue chevron pattern.
“Put it like this, you’ll not see me wearing them,” Norway coach Pal Trulsen told the Associated Press. “Except maybe at a bad-taste party or something.”
Canada releases awkward team photos
Criticism of Olympic portraits is nothing new. In 2012, AFP photographer Joe Klamer was roundly criticized for his portraits of U.S. athletes.
Now, it’s the Canadian Press’ Jimmy Jeong’s turn. The Week recently awarded the “gold medal in awkward Olympic portraits” to the Canadian Winter Olympics team, whose portraits include no props, but rather swirls of light meant to help indicate their chosen sport.
“I can’t decide if these are awful or awesome,” one commenter wrote on PetaPixel. “It’s like I’m back in time or something looking at album art from the ‘60s or high school portraits from the ‘80s.”
Olympic snowboarder calls his truck home
Justin Reiter was recently named to the 2014 U.S. Olympic snowboarding team, but before that, he was living out of his truck in Park City, Utah.
“For the first two weeks, I stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot, which was dark,” Reiter told KSL. “It was free; it was very close, but it was not quiet.”
He said living out of his truck allowed him to save money and focus on training, and obviously it paid off.
Contact Stephanie Grimes at sgrimes@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @steph_grimes
