It's Grεεκ To Me

RichardTheBruce

Honorable mention, if I can use that term here. Future event, maybe, Summer Games.

Die Another Day, Lee Tamahori, 2002.
The glacial calving tsunami parasailing adventure.

j_w_pepper

Don't forget another "Olympic" aspect.

RichardTheBruce

Ice Hockey

https://olympic.org/ice-hockey#
Ice hockey is a fast, fluid and exciting team sport. It draws big crowds at the Olympic Games thanks to the drama and tension of the matches.

A Canadian past
Ice hockey originated in Canada in the early 19th century, based on several similar sports played in Europe, although the word “hockey” comes from the old French word “hocquet”, meaning “stick”. Around 1860, a puck was substituted for a ball, and in 1879 two McGill University students, Robertson and Smith, devised the first rules.

Stanley Cup
The first recognised team, the McGill University Hockey Club, was formed in 1880 as hockey became the Canadian national sport and spread throughout the country. In 1892 the Governor General of Canada donated the Stanley Cup, which was first won by a team representing the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association.

International growth
The sport migrated south to the United States during the 1890s, and games are known to have taken place there between Johns Hopkins and Yale Universities in 1895. Ice hockey spread to Europe around the turn of the century, and the first Olympic Games to include ice hockey for men were the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games.

Olympic history
Six-a-side men’s ice hockey has been on the programme of every edition of the Winter Games since 1924 in Chamonix. Women’s ice hockey was accepted as an Olympic sport in 1992, and made its official debut in 1998 in Nagano.

Unsurprisingly, Canada dominated the first tournaments. However, in 1956, and until its dissolution, the Soviet Union took over and became the number one team. It was interrupted only by USA victories in 1960 in Squaw Valley and in 1980 in Lake Placid.

RichardTheBruce

Goldfinger, Ian Fleming, 1959.
Chapter Six – Talk of Gold

…
The telephone rang. Colonel Smithers impatiently snatched up the receiver. 'Smithers speaking.' He listened, irritation growing on his face. 'I'm sure I sent you a note about the summer fixtures, Miss Philby. The next match is on Saturday against the Discount Houses.' He listened again. "Well, if Mrs Flake won't play goals, I'm afraid she'll have to stand down. It's the only position on the field we've got for her. Everybody can't play centre forward. Yes, please do. Say I'll be greatly obliged if just this once. I'm sure she'll be very good - right figure and all that. Thank you, Miss Philby.'

Colonel Smithers took out a handkerchief and mopped his forehead. 'Sorry about that. Sports and welfare are becoming almost too much of a fetish at the Bank. I've just had the women's hockey team thrown into my lap. As if I hadn't got enough to do with the annual gymkhana coming on. How ever' - Colonel Smithers waved these minor irritations aside - 'as you say, time to get on to the smuggling. Well, to begin with, and taking only England and the sterling area, it's a very big business indeed. We employ three thousand staff at the Bank, Mr Bond, and of those no less than one thousand work in the exchange control department. Of those at least five hundred, including my little outfit, are engaged in controlling the illicit movements of valuta, the attempts to smuggle or to evade the Exchange Control Regulations.'

'That's a lot.' Bond measured it against the Secret Service which had a total force of two thousand. 'Can you give me an example of smuggling? In gold. I can't understand these dollar swindles.'

Chapter Seventeen – Hoods’ Congress

…
Mr Springer had the glazed eyes of someone who is either very rich or very dead. The eyes were pale blue opaque glass marbles which briefly recognized Bond and then turned inwards again in complete absorption with self. The rest of Mr Springer was a 'man of distinction' - casually pin-striped, Hathaway-shirted, Aqua-Velva'd. He gave the impression of someone who found himself in the wrong company - a first-class ticket holder in a third-class compartment, a man from the stalls who has been shown by mistake to a seat in the pit.

Mr Midnight put his hand up to his mouth and said softly for Bond's benefit, 'Don't be taken in by the Duke. My friend Helmut was the man who put the piqued shirt on the hood. Daughter goes to Vassar, but it's protection money that pays for her hockey-sticks.' Bond nodded his thanks.

'And Mr Solo of the Unione Siciliano.'

Mr Solo had a dark heavy face, gloomy with the knowledge of much guilt and many sins. His thick horn-rimmed spectacles helioed briefly in Bond's direction and then bent again to the business of cleaning Mr Solo's nails with a pocket knife. He was a big, chunky man, half boxer, half head waiter, and it was quite impossible to tell what was on his mind or where his strength lay. But there is only one head of the Mafia in America and,.if Mr Solo had the job, thought Bond, he had got it by strength out of terror. It would be by the exercise of both that he kept it.

Chapter Eighteen – Crime de la Crime

..
Miss Pussy Galore said in a deep, bored voice, 'Sorry mister, none of my set of bent pins could take that kind of piggy-bank.' She made to get up.
Goldfinger said amiably, 'Now hear me through, gentlemen and - er - madam. Your reaction was not unexpected. Let me put it this way: Fort Knox is a bank like any other bank. But it is a much bigger bank and its protective devices are correspondingly stronger and more ingenious. To penetrate them will require corresponding strength and ingenuity. That is the only novelty in my project - that it is a big one. Nothing else. Fort Knox is no more impregnable than other fortresses. No doubt we all thought the Brink organization was unbeatable until half a dozen determined men robbed a Brink-armoured car of a million dollars back in 1950. It is impossible to escape from Sing Sing and yet men have found ways of escaping from it. No, no, gentlemen. Fort Knox is a myth like other myths. Shall I proceed to the plan?'

Billy Ring hissed through his teeth, like a Japanese, when he talked. He said harshly, 'Listen, shamus, mebbe ya didn't know it, but the Third Armoured is located at Fort Knox. If that's a myth, why don't the Russkis come and take the United States the next time they have a team over here playing ice-hockey?'

RichardTheBruce

For Your Eyes Only, Ian Fleming, 1960.
“Quantum of Solace”

…
The Governor examined the end of his cigar, took a quick pull and held the cigar upright so that the long ash would not fall off. He watched the ash warily throughout his story and spoke as if to the thin trickle of blue smoke that rose and quickly disappeared in the hot, moist air.

He said carefully: "This man — I'll call him Masters, Philip Masters — was almost a contemporary of mine in the Service. I was a year ahead of him. He went to Fettes and took a scholarship for Oxford — the name of the college doesn't matter — and then he applied for the Colonial Service. He wasn't a particularly clever chap, but he was hard working and capable and the sort of man who makes a good solid impression on interview boards. They took him into the Service. His first post was Nigeria. He did well in it. He liked the natives and he got on well with them. He was a man of liberal ideas and while he didn't actually fraternize, which," the Governor smiled sourly, "would have got him into trouble with his superiors in those days, he was lenient and humane towards the Nigerians. It came as quite a surprise to them." The Governor paused and took a pull at his cigar. The ash was about to fall and he bent carefully over towards the drink tray and let the ash hiss into his coffee cup. He sat back and for the first time looked across at Bond. He said: "I daresay the affection this young man had for the natives took the place of the affection young men of that age in other walks of life have for the opposite sex. Unfortunately Philip Masters was a shy and rather uncouth young man who had never had any kind of success in that direction. When he hadn't been working to pass his various exams he had played hockey for his college and rowed in the third eight. In the holidays he had stayed with an aunt in Wales and climbed with the local mountaineering club. His parents, by the way, had separated when he was at his public school and, though he was an only child, had not bothered with him once he was safe at Oxford with his scholarship and a small allowance to see him through. So he had very little time for girls and very little to recommend him to those he did come across. His emotional life ran along the frustrated and unhealthy lines that were part of our inheritance from our Victorian grandfathers. Knowing how it was with him, I am therefore suggesting that his friendly relations with the coloured people of Nigeria were what is known as a compensation seized on by a basically warm and full-blooded nature that had been starved of affection and now found it in their simple kindly natures."

RichardTheBruce

For Your Eyes Only, John Glen, 1981.
Hockey rink rough-housing.

j_w_pepper

Additional catchword for later: The yacht with which Bond travelled to Silva's island in SKYFALL is named "Chimaera". There's also a TVR sports car with that name :-).

RichardTheBruce

On the way, @j_w_pepper. Once these Olympic events are done I've got it standing by.

RichardTheBruce

Figure Skating

https://olympic.org/figure-skating
Figure skating has developed from a practical way to get around on ice into the elegant mix of art and sport it is today.

Early pioneers
The Dutch were arguably the earliest pioneers of skating. They began using canals to maintain communication by skating from village to village as far back as the 13th century. Skating eventually spread across the channel to England, and soon the first clubs and artificial rinks began to form. Passionate skaters included several kings of England, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon III and German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Steel Ballet
Two Americans are responsible for the major developments in the history of the sport. In 1850, Edward Bushnell of Philadelphia revolutionised skating when he introduced steel-bladed skates allowing complex manoeuvres and turns. Jackson Haines, a ballet master living in Vienna in the 1860s, added elements of ballet and dance to give the sport its grace.

Oldest sport
Figure skating is the oldest sport on the Olympic Winter Games programme. It was contested at the 1908 London Games and again in 1920 in Antwerp. Men’s, women’s, and pairs were the three events contested until 1972. Since 1976, ice dancing has been the fourth event in the programme, proving a great success.

Hollywood star
Sonja Henie made her Olympic debut in Chamonix in 1924, aged just 11, and was so nervous she had to ask her coach what to do midway through her routines. However, she won gold in the next three Olympic Games and developed a huge legion of fans. She later moved into films, where she greatly increased the popularity of her sport.

RichardTheBruce

Live and Let Die, Ian Fleming, 1954.
Chapter XV - Midnight Among the Worms

...
He had moved to the central passage-way before he found the poison fish which were one of his objectives. When he had read about them in the files of the Police Headquarters in New York, he had made a mental note that he would like to know more about this sideline of the peculiar business of Ourobouros Inc.

Here the tanks were smaller and there was generally only one specimen in each. Here the eyes that looked sluggishly at Bond were cold and hooded and an occasional fang was bared at the torch or a spined backbone slowly swelled.

Each tank bore an ominous skull-and-crossbones in chalk and there were large labels that said VERY DANGEROUS and KEEP OFF.

There must have been at least a hundred tanks of various sizes, from the large ones to hold Torpedo Skates and the sinister Guitar Fish, to smaller ones for the Horse-killer Eel, Mud Fish from the Pacific, and the monstrous West Indian Scorpion Fish, each of whose spines has a poison sac as powerful as a rattlesnake's.

Bond's eyes narrowed as he noticed that in all the dangerous tanks the mud or sand on the bottom occupied nearly half the tank.

He chose a tank containing a six-inch Scorpion Fish. He knew something of the habits of this deadly species and in particular that they do not strike, but poison only on contact.

RichardTheBruce

From Russia With Love, Ian Fleming, 1957.
Chapter Eight – The Beautiful Lure

…
While she dried her hands, she examined herself in the big oval looking-glass over the washstand.

One of her early boy-friends had said she looked like the young Greta Garbo. What nonsense! And yet tonight she did look rather well. Fine dark brown silken hair brushed straight back from a tall brow and falling heavily down almost to the shoulders, there to curl slightly up at the ends (Garbo had once done her hair like that and Corporal Romanova admitted to herself that she had copied it), a good, soft pale skin with an ivory sheen at the cheek-bones; wide apart, level eyes of the deepest blue under straight natural brows (she closed one eye after the other. Yes, her lashes were certainly long enough!) a straight, rather imperious nose---and then the mouth. What about the mouth? Was it too broad? It must look terribly wide when she smiled. She smiled at herself in the mirror. Yes, it was wide; but then so had Garbo's been. At least the lips were full and finely etched. There was the hint of a smile at the corners. No one could say it was a cold mouth! And the oval of her face. Was that too long? Was her chin a shade too sharp? She swung her head sideways to see it in profile. The heavy curtain of hair swung forward and across her right eye so that she had to brush it back. Well, the chin was pointed, but at least it wasn't sharp. She faced the mirror again and picked up a brush and started on the long, heavy hair. Greta Garbo! She was all right, or so many men wouldn't tell her that she was---let alone the girls who were always coming to her for advice about their faces. But a film star---a famous one! She made a face at herself in the glass and went to eat her supper.

In fact Corporal Tatiana Romanova was a very beautiful girl indeed. Apart from her face, the tall, firm body moved particularly well. She had been a year in the ballet school in Leningrad and had abandoned dancing as a career only when she grew an inch over the prescribed limit of five feet six. The school had taught her to hold herself well and to walk well. And she looked wonderfully healthy, thanks to her passion for figure-skating, which she practised all through the year at the Dynamo ice-stadium and which had already earned her a place on the first Dynamo women's team. Her arms and breasts were faultless. A purist would have disapproved of her behind. Its muscles were so hardened with exercise that it had lost the smooth downward feminine sweep, and now, round at the back and flat and hard at the sides, it jutted like a man's.

`How many men?'

Tatiana coloured to the roots of her hair. Russian girls are reticent and prudish about sex. In Russia the sexual climate is mid-Victorian. These questions from the Klebb woman were all the more revolting for being asked in this cold inquisitorial tone by a State official she had never met before in her life. Tatiana screwed up her courage. She stared defensively into the yellow eyes. `What is the purpose of these intimate questions please, Comrade Colonel?'

Rosa Klebb straightened. Her voice cut back like a whip. `Remember yourself, Comrade. You are not here to ask questions. You forget to whom you are speaking. Answer me!'

Tatiana shrank back. `Three men, Comrade Colonel.'

`When. How old were you?' The hard yellow eyes looked across the table into the hunted blue eyes of the girl and held them and commanded.

Tatiana was on the edge of tears. `At school. When I was seventeen. Then at the Institute of Foreign Languages. I was twenty-two. Then last year. I was twenty-three. It was a friend I met skating.'

`Their names, please, Comrade.' Rosa Klebb picked up a pencil and pulled a scribbling pad towards her.

Tatiana covered her sobs. `No, never, whatever you do to me. You have no right.'

`Stop that nonsense.' The voice was a hiss. `In five minutes I could have those names from you, or anything else I wish to know. You are playing a dangerous game with me, Comrade. My patience will not last for ever.' Rosa Klebb paused. She was being too rough. `For the moment we will pass on. Tomorrow you will give me the names. No harm will come to these men. They will be asked one or two questions about you---simple technical questions, that is all. Now sit up and dry your tears. We cannot have any more of this foolishness.'

RichardTheBruce

Goldfinger, Ian Fleming, 1959.
Chapter Nineteen - Secret Appendix

...
And there was only one man in the whole world who could stop it. But how?

The next day was an unending blizzard of paper-work. Every half-hour a note would come in from Goldfinger's operations room asking for schedules of this, copies of that, estimates, timetables, lists of stores. Another typewriter was brought in, maps, reference books - anything that Bond requisitioned. But not once did Oddjob relax the extreme care with which he opened the door to Bond's knock, not once did his watchful eyes wander from Bond's eyes, hands, feet when he came into the room to bring meals or notes or supplies. There was no question of Bond and the girl being part of the team. They were dangerous slaves and nothing else.

Tilly Masterton was equally reserved. She worked like a machine - quick, willing, accurate, but uncommunicative. She responded with cool politeness to Bond's early attempts to make friends, share his thoughts with her. By the evening, he had learnt nothing about her except that she had been a successful amateur ice-skater in between secretarial work for Unilevers. Then she had started getting star parts in ice-shows. Her hobby had been indoor pistol and rifle shooting and she had belonged to two marksman clubs. She had few friends. She had never been in love or engaged. She lived by herself in two rooms in Earls Court. She was twenty-four. Yes, she realized that they were in a bad fix. But something would turn up. This Fort Knox business was nonsense. It would certainly go wrong. She thought Miss Pussy Galore was 'divine'. She somehow seemed to count on her to get her out of this mess. Women, with a sniff, were rather good at things that needed finesse. Instinct told them what to do. Bond was not to worry about her. She would be all right.

RichardTheBruce

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Ian Fleming, 1963.
Chapter 17 - Bloody Snow

...
Bond, a grey-faced, lunging automaton, somehow stayed upright on the two miles of treacherous Langlauf down the gentle slope to Samaden. Once a passing car, its snow-chains clattering, forced him into the bank. He leaned against the comforting soft snow for a moment, the breath sobbing in his throat. Then he drove himself on again. He had got so far, done so well! Only a few more hundred yards to the lights of the darling, straggling little paradise of people and shelter!

The slender campanile of the village church was floodlit and there was a great warm lake of light on the left of the twinkling group of houses. The strains of a waltz came over the still, frozen air. The skating-rink! A Christmas Eve skaters' ball. That was the place for him! Crowds! Gaiety! Confusion! Somewhere to lose himself from the double hunt that would now be on - by SPECTRE and the Swiss police, the cops and the robbers hand in hand!

He looked up Wearily: 'Zwo Franken. Two francs. Deux francs.' The routine incantation was slurred into one portmanteau word. Bond held on to the table, put down the coins, and got his ticket. The man's eyes focused. 'The fancy dress, the travesti, it is obligatoire.' He reached into a box by his side and threw a black and white domino-mask on the table. 'One franc.' He gave a lop-sided smile. 'Now you are the gangster, the spy. Yes?'

'Yeah, that's right.' Bond paid and put on the mask. He reluctantly let go of the table and wove through the entrance. There were raised tiers of wooden benches round the big square rink. Thank God for a chance to sit down! There was an empty seat on the aisle in the bottom row at rink level. Bond stumbled down the wooden steps and fell into it. He righted himself, said ' Sorry,' and put his head in his hands. The girl beside him, part of a group of harlequins, Wild Westerners, and pirates, drew her spangled skirt away, whispered something to her neighbour. Bond didn't care. They wouldn't throw him out on a night like this. Through the loud-speakers the violins sobbed into 'The Skaters' Waltz'. Above them the voice of the MC called, 'Last dance, ladies and gentlemen. And then all out on to the rink and join hands for the grand finale. Only ten minutes to go to midnight! Last dance, ladies and gentlemen. Last dance!' There was a rattle of applause. People laughed excitedly.

God in Heaven! thought Bond feebly. Now this! Won't anybody leave me alone? He fell asleep.

Hours later he felt his shoulder being shaken. ' On to the rink, sir. Please. All on to the rink for the grand finale. Only a minute to go.' A man in purple and gold uniform was standing beside him, looking down impatiently.

Hours later he felt his shoulder being shaken. ' On to the rink, sir. Please. All on to the rink for the grand finale. Only a minute to go.' A man in purple and gold uniform was standing beside him, looking down impatiently.

'Go away,' said Bond dully. Then some inner voice told him not to make a scene, not to be conspicuous. He struggled to his feet, made the few steps to the rink, somehow stood upright. His head lowered, like a wounded bull, he looked to left and right, saw a gap in the human chain round the rink, and slid gingerly towards it. A hand was held out to him and he grasped it thankfully. On the other side someone else was laying to get hold of his free hand. And then there came a diversion. From right across the rink, a girl in a short black skating-skirt topped by a shocking-pink fur-lined parka, sped like an arrow across the ice and came to a crash-stop in front of Bond. Bond felt the ice particles hit his legs. He looked up. It was a face he recognized - those brilliant blue eyes, the look of authority now subdued beneath golden sunburn and a brilliant smile of excitement. Who in hell?

The girl slipped in beside him, seized his right hand in her left, joined up on her right. 'James' - it was a thrilling whisper - 'oh, James. It's me! Tracy! What's the matter with you? Where have you come from?'

'Tracy,' said Bond dully. 'Tracy. Hold on to me. I'm in bad shape. Tell you later.'

Then Auld Lang Syne began and everyone swung linked hands in unison to the music.

Chapter 18 – Fork Left for Hell!

...
They had been keeping up a good speed down the sloping, winding road into the valley. Bond turned to look through the rear window. He swore under his breath. Perhaps a mile behind, twin lights were coming after them. The girl said, ' I know. I've been watching in the mirror. I'm afraid they're gaining a little. Must be a good driver who knows the road. Probably got snow-chains. But I think I can hold them. Now go on. What have you been up to?'

Bond gave her a garbled version. There was a big gangster up the mountain, living under a false name. He was wanted by the police in England. Bond was vaguely connected with the police, with the Ministry of Defence. (She snorted, 'Don't try and fool me. I know you're in the Secret Service. Papa told me so.' Bond said curtly, 'Well, Papa's talking through his hat.' She laughed knowingly.) Anyway, Bond continued, he had been sent out to make sure this was the man they wanted. He had found out that he was. But the man had become suspicious of Bond and Bond had had to get out quickly. He gave her a graphic account of the moonlit nightmare of the mountain, of the avalanche, of the man who had been killed by the train, of how he had got to Samaden, dead beat, and had tried to hide in the crowd on the skating-rink. 'And then,' he ended lamely, 'you turned up like a beautiful angel on skates, and here we are.'

She thought the story over for a minute. Then she said calmly, 'And now, my darling James, just tell me how many of them you killed. And tell me the truth.'

'Why?'

'I'm just curious.'

'You promise to keep this between you and me?'

She said enigmatically, 'Of course. Everything's between you and me from now on.'

Chapter 20 - M en Pantoufles

...
'My God, Mary, this is a hell of a way to spend your Christmas! This is far beyond the line of duty. Anyway, get in the back and tell me why you're not stirring the plum pudding or going to church or something.'

She climbed in to the back seat and he followed. She said, 'You don't seem to know much about Christmas. You make plum puddings at least two months before and let them sort of settle and mature. And church isn't till eleven.' She glanced at him. 'Actually I came to see how you were. I gather you've been in trouble again. You certainly look pretty ghastly. Don't you own a comb? And you haven't shaved. You look like a pirate. And' - she wrinkled her nose -'when did you last have a bath? I wonder they let you out of the airport. You ought to be in quarantine.'

Bond laughed. 'Winter sports are very strenuous - all that snowballing and tobogganing. Matter of fact, I was at a Christmas Eve fancy-dress party last night. Kept me up till all hours.'

'In those great clod-hopping boots? I don't believe you.'

'Well, sucks to you! It was on a skating-rink. But seriously, Mary, tell me the score. Why this VIP treatment?'

'M. You're to check with HQ first and then go down to lunch with him at Quarterdeck. Then, after lunch, he's having these men you wanted brought down for a conference.'

RichardTheBruce

Figure Skating

Goldfinger, Guy Hamilton, 1964.

Bond: What's your name, by the way?

Tilly: Soames. Tilly Soames.

Bond: Here for the hunting season? I had a case just like that one.

Tilly: It's for my ice skates.

Bond: Lovely sport. Where do you skate?

Tilly: St Moritz.

Bond: I didn't know there was ice there this time of the year.

Tilly: There's a garage.

RichardTheBruce

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Peter Hunt, 1969.

Tracy, the beautiful angel on skates.

RichardTheBruce

For Your Eyes Only, John Glen, 1981.

Kristatos: My protege. A sure winner...in the next Olympics. She's completely absorbed in her skating...but innocent in the ways of the world. The day she wins the gold medal...will be the greatest in my life. Bibi, here are some new admirers for you. Mr. Bond, Mr. Ferrara, Bibi Dahl...and her coach, Jacoba Brink, once a world-class skater herself.

Bond: I've seen Miss Brink skate. I think the world will soon be seeing a great deal of your skating too.

Brink: Eighteen...nineteen...twenty. Fifty more.

Bibi: That's the pits! I'm supposed to be skating in Oslo, in lnnsbruck. Why are we in this creepy place?

Kristatos: Our plans are changed. We are going to live in Cuba for a few months.

Bibi: Cuba!

Kristatos: You can skate without distractions. I'll be your audience.

Bibi: What a drag. I want to win the gold medal!

Kristatos: We all want that.

Bibi: I know what you want. But you're too old for me. I'm splitting.

RichardTheBruce

007 James Bond Medley, Skate America, Yuna Kim. 15 November 2009. Unbelievable.
(Representing Korea: WORLD BEST - SP 76.28 point)

2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver, 007 James Bond Medley, Yuna Kim. (Same program, better quality)

Thunderfinger

Uncle Ari approves.

RichardTheBruce

"Live at Five", Raymond Benson, 1999.

On a date with a reporter, Bond recounts his adventure assisting a Russian defector and figure skating champion. OO7 himself takes to the ice.


James Bond Wiki gives these details: jamesbond.wikia.com/wiki/Live_at_Five
Mr. Benson's third and last short story.
Published in the November 13, 1999 issue of TV Guide magazine (US only).
Published the same week as the release of The World Is Not Enough in the US.
The shortest James Bond story, shorter than Fleming's own "007 in New York".

The story takes place in 1985--a year John Gardner did not have a Bond novel published. It involves real life Chicago ABC (Channel 7, WLS) station anchor Janet Davies as Bond Girl.

RichardTheBruce

Short Track Speed Skating https://www.olympic.org/short-track-speed-skating

In Short Track Speed Skating, athletes compete not against the clock, but against each other. This introduces the elements of strategy, bravery and skill needed for racing.

North American origin
Short track (or indoor) speed skating began in Canada and the United States of America were they held mass start competitions on an oval track as early as 1905/06. The lack of 400m long tracks led many North American skaters to practice on ice rinks. However, practicing on a smaller track brought new challenges, like tighter turns and shorter straightaways which lead to different techniques in order to win on a shorter track. These countries began competing against each other on an annual basis. The sport’s rise in popularity was partly thanks to the North American racing rules, which introduced a “pack” style of racing. Capitalising on this, the organisers of the 1932 Lake Placid Games, with the consent of the International Skating Union (ISU), agreed to follow these rules for the programme’s speed skating events.

International recognition
Countries such as Great Britain, Australia, Belgium, France and Japan deserve a great deal of credit in the development of the sport since they participated in international open competitions before the sport was recognized by the International Skating Union. In 1967 the ISU declares Short Track Speed Skating an official sport but international worldwide competitions are not held until 1976. During this period of time countries kept competing amongst themselves.

Olympic history
After having been a demonstration sport at the 1988 Games in Calgary, short track speed skating became part of the Olympic programme in Albertville in 1992, with two individual events and two relays. The discipline comprises men’s and women’s events. Since the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, the programme of this discipline has included eight events.

It quickly became popular with the public, who are thrilled to watch rapid races on tight tracks. The skaters race so closely to each other that collisions and falls are inevitable, which is why the walls of the speed skating oval are padded.

Asian emergence
In recent Games, China and Korea have emerged to challenge North American dominance in this event. Indeed at the 2006 Turin Games, it was South Korea who emerged as the nation to beat, winning an incredible six gold medals, and 10 medals in total.

Speed Skating https://olympic.org/speed-skating

Speed skating began as a rapid form of transportation across frozen lakes and rivers. It made its debut on the Olympic programme at the 1924 Winter Games.

Early pioneers
The Dutch were arguably the earliest pioneers of skating. They began using canals to maintain communication by skating from village to village as far back as the 13th century. Skating eventually spread across the channel to England, and soon the first clubs and artificial rinks began to form. Passionate skaters included several kings of England, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon III and German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Early competition
The first known skating competition is thought to have been held in the Netherlands in 1676. However, the first official speed skating events were not held until 1863 in Oslo, Norway. In 1889, the Netherlands hosted the first World Championships, bringing together Dutch, Russian, American and English teams.

Olympic history
Speed skating appeared for the first time in 1924 at the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix. Initially, only men were allowed to participate. It was only at the Lake Placid Games in 1932 that women were authorised to compete in speed skating, which was then only a demonstration sport. It was not until the 1960 Games in Squaw Valley that women’s speed skating was officially included in the Olympic programme.

The events almost always follow the European system, which consists of skaters competing two-by-two. At the 1932 Olympic Games, the Americans organised American-style events, i.e. with a mass start. This decision brought about a boycott by many European competitors, which allowed the Americans to win the four gold medals. This system would give birth to short-track speed skating, which was added to the Olympic programme in Albertville in 1992.

RichardTheBruce

No Bond IDs for Speed Skating. Maybe some movie pitches never made it to screen.

- Bond challenged to a speed skating competition (and the eventual villain's cheating at a game of sport).
- Bond has to traverse a frozen river, channel, or lake with the only means available--skates.
- Bond follows Bond Girl on skates, villains pursue.

RichardTheBruce

Biathlon https://olympic.org/biathlon

Biathlon combines the power and aggression of cross-country skiing with the precision and calm of marksmanship.

Roots in survival
The word biathlon stems from the Greek word for two contests, and is today seen as the joining of two sports; skiing and shooting. Biathlon has its roots in survival skills practised in the snow-covered forests of Scandinavia, where people hunted on skis with rifles slung over their shoulders.

Standardising the rules
In 1948, the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon (UIPMB) was founded, to standardise the rules for biathlon and pentathlon. In 1993, the biathlon branch of the UIPMB created the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which officially separated from the UIPMB in 1998.

First competition
Biathlon-type events in Scandinavia are known to have been held as early as the 18th century. The first modern biathlon probably occurred in 1912 when the Norwegian military organised the Forvarsrennet in Oslo. An annual event, it consisted initially of a 17km cross-country ski race with two-minute penalties incurred by misses in the shooting part of the competition.

Olympic history
In 1924 in Chamonix, an ancient form of biathlon made its Olympic debut: the military patrol, this event was then in demonstration in 1928, 1936 and 1948. After some attempts to incorporate it into a winter pentathlon, biathlon appeared at the Games in its current form in 1960 in Squaw Valley. Women’s biathlon made its first appearance on the Olympic programme in Albertville in 1992.

Until the 1976 Games in Innsbruck, the events comprised an individual race and a relay. In Lake Placid in 1980, a second individual event was introduced.

In Salt Lake City in 2002, a 12.5km pursuit event was added for men and 10km for women. From Turin in 2006, a new mass-start event was introduced for both men and women. This brings together the 30 best athletes from the World Cup.

RichardTheBruce

For Your Eyes Only, John Glen, 1981.

Bibi: Uncle Ari, will you take me to the biathlon?

Kristatos: Bibi, you know I have to work this afternoon. ...Bibi wants to know if you would escort her, Mr. Bond.

Bond: I don't think--

Kristatos: I would feel better...if there were someone with her.

Bond: I'd be delighted. I'm staying at the Miramonti.

Bibi: Great!

Announcer: And now, Erich Kriegler...Iast year's East European champion.

Bibi: There's Erich Kriegler.

Bond: The East German champion?

Bibi: Isn't he beautiful?

Bond: You know something, Bibi? You're fickle.

Bibi: Hey, Erich! Come on, let's go watch him shoot. We'll have a drink at the finish.

Bond: Tell me more about your boyfriend, Erich Kriegler.

Bibi: He doesn't smoke, he only eats health foods and he won't even talk to girls. James, you're jealous.

Bond: Of course. What else can you tell me about my rival for your affections?

Bibi: They say he's a defector from East Germany.

Brink: It is time for your rubdown.

RichardTheBruce

With the biathlon, you'd think the Olympics would up their game.


Specifically: shooting competition while skiing. Moving targets. It's been done.

Could be a team sport.

Pistol marksmanship.

Harness new technology.

Gotta be good for the television ratings.

CommanderRoss

I think those bikes are not regulatory to be honest..

RichardTheBruce

Alpine Skiing https://olympic.org/alpine-skiing

Skiing has an ancient history. The birth of modern downhill skiing is often dated to the 1850s when Norwegian legend Sondre Norheim popularised skis with curved sides, bindings with stiff heel bands made of willow, as well as the Telemark and Christiania (slalom) turns.

Ancient origins
Skiing can be traced to prehistoric times by the discovery of varying sizes and shapes of wooden planks preserved in peat bogs in Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway. Ski fragments discovered in Russia have been carbon-dated back to circa 8000-7000 BC. It is virtually certain that a form of skiing has been an integral part of life in colder countries for thousands of years.

First competitions
Skiing changed its from a method of transportation into a sporting activity during the late 19th century. The first non-military skiing competitions are reported to have been held in the 1840s in northern and central Norway. The first national skiing competition in Norway, held in the capital Christiania (now Oslo) and won by Sondre Norheim, in 1868, is regarded as the beginning of a new era of skiing enthusiasm. A few decades later, the sport spread to the remainder of Europe and to the US, where miners held skiing competitions to entertain themselves during the winter. The first slalom competition was organised by Sir Arnold Lunn in 1922 in Mürren, Switzerland.

Olympic growth
Men’s and women’s alpine skiing both debuted on the Olympic programme in 1936 at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The only event that year was a combined competition of both downhill and slalom. In 1948, this was held along with separate downhill and slalom races. Four years later the giant slalom was added and in 1988 the super giant slalom became a fourth separate event.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Peter Hunt, 1969.

For Your Eyes Only, John Glen, 1981.

The Spy Who Loved Me, Lewis Gilbert, 1977.

A View to a Kill, John Glen, 1985.

The World Is Not Enough, Michael Apted, 1999.

RichardTheBruce

Cross Country Skiing https://olympic.org/cross-country-skiing

Cross country skiing is the oldest type of skiing. It emerged from a need to travel over snow-covered terrain and developed as a sport at the end of the 19th century.

Norwegian origins
For centuries in the snow-covered North, skis were required to chase game and gather firewood in winter time. With long distances between the small, isolated communities and hard, snowy winters, skiing also became important as means of keeping in social contact. The word “ski” is a Norwegian word which comes from the Old Norse word “skid”, a split length of wood.

Earliest form
Different types of skis emerged at various regions at about the same time. One type had a horizontal toe-piece binding. The modern ski bindings are based on the Fennoscandian model of the 19th century. The East Siberian type was a thin board with a vertical four-hole binding. Sometimes it was covered with fur. The Lapps used a horizontal stem-hole binding. Present-day cross country skis were developed from the type used by the Lapps.

First competition
Norwegian army units were skiing for sport (and prizes) in the 18th century. Skiing for sport appeared in Norway in the mid 19th century; the first race on record is 1842.The famous Holmenkollen ski festival started in 1892, with the focus initially on the Nordic combined event. However in 1901, a separate cross country race was added to the festival.

Scandinavian dominance
The men’s event debuted at the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924 and the women’s event debuted at the 1952 Oslo Games. The sport has traditionally been dominated by the Nordic countries.

A View to a Kill, John Glen, 1985.
OO7 seems to have done a bit of cross-country to get where he is.

RichardTheBruce

Ski Jumping https://olympic.org/ski-jumping

Over the past hundred years, ski jumping has evolved enormously with different jumping techniques allowing jumpers to achieve ever greater distances.

Beginnings in Norway
The origin of ski jumping can be traced to Ole Rye who jumped 9.5m in 1808. Norwegian Sondre Norheim is widely considered the father of modern ski jumping. In 1866 he won what has been described as the world’s first ski jumping competition with prizes, held at Ofte, Høydalsmo, Norway.

Early pioneers
After World War I, Thulin Thams and Sigmund Ruud developed a new jumping style known as the Kongsberger Technique. This involved jumping with the upper body bent at the hips, a wide forward lean, and with arms extended at the front with the skis parallel to each other. Using this technique Sepp Bradl of Austria became the first to jump more than 100 metres when he jumped 101 metres in 1936.

Further improvements
In the mid-1950s, Swiss jumper Andreas Daescher became the first jumper to hold the arms backwards close to the body with a more extreme forward lean. Then in 1985, Swedish jumper Jan Bokloev started spreading the tips of his skis into a “V” shape. Initially ridiculed, this technique proved so successful that by 1992 all Olympic medallists were using this style.

Olympic history
Ski jumping has been part of the Olympic Winter Games since the first Games in Chamonix Mont-Blanc in 1924. The normal hill competition was included on the Olympic programme for the 1964 Innsbruck Games. From 1988, the team event was added as a third competition.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Peter Hunt, 1969.
Ski jumping the rooftops looks fun.

The Spy Who Loved Me, Lewis Gilbert, 1977.
Impressive. And the ultimate.

For Your Eyes Only, John Glen, 1981.
True ski jump action.

The World Is Not Enough, Michael Apted, 1999.

RichardTheBruce

Nordic Combined https://olympic.org/nordic-combined

This sport, which has a long Olympic history, combines ski jumping and cross country skiing

Norwegian origins
For centuries in the snow-covered North, skis were required to chase game and gather firewood in winter time. With long distances between the small, isolated communities and hard, snowy winters, skiing also became important as means of keeping in social contact. The word “ski” is a Norwegian word which comes from the Old Norse word “skid”, a split length of wood.

Holmenkollen ski festival
The famous Holmenkollen ski festival started in 1892 where the main attraction was the Nordic combined event. The festival proved popular and soon attracted skiers from Sweden and other neighbouring countries. In fact King Olav V of Norway was himself an able jumper and competed in the Holmenkollen Ski Festival in the 1920s.

Nordic dominance
Nordic combined individual events have featured in every Games since the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924. Unsurprisingly, the sport has been dominated by the Norwegians, supported by the Finns. Indeed, it was not until 1960 that the Nordic grip on Olympic triumphs in this discipline was finally broken when West German Georg Thoma won the gold medal at Squaw Valley in 1960.

Freestyle Skiing https://olympic.org/freestyle-skiing

Freestyle skiing combines speed, showmanship and the ability to perform aerial manoeuvres whilst skiing. It debuted as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Calgary Games.

‘Hotdogging’

There are records of people performing somersaults on skis at the beginning of the 20th century in Norway, Italy and Austria, and in the early 1920s, US skiers started to flip and spin. Freestyle skiing really began to take off in America during the 1960s when social change and freedom of expression together with the advances in ski equipment led to development of new and exciting skiing techniques. Freestyle skiing was affectionately known as ‘hotdogging’. The name seemed to perfectly capture the breathtaking mix of acrobatic tricks, jumps and sheer adrenalin rush of the sport.

Getting recognition
Freestyle was recognised as a discipline by the International Ski Federation (FIS) in 1979. The governing body brought in new regulations in an effort to curb some of the more dangerous elements of the infant sport and the first FIS World Cup series was staged the following year.

Olympic evolution
Freestyle skiing was contested as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Calgary Games. There were events for both men and women in all three events – moguls, aerials and ballet. Four years later, the mogul event gained medal status at the Albertville Games, as did the aerial event in Lillehammer in 1994. Ski cross made its Olympic debut at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Slopestyle and halfpipe were added to the freestyle skiing programme at the 2014 Sochi Games.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Peter Hunt, 1969.
One ski should count.

The Spy Who Loved Me, Lewis Gilbert, 1977.

For Your Eyes Only, John Glen, 1981.

A View to a Kill, John Glen, 1985.
Willy Bogner ski suit here.

The World Is Not Enough, Michael Apted, 1999.

RichardTheBruce

For Your Eyes Only, John Glen, 1981.

Olympic Ice Stadium, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Belluno, Veneto, Italy.
Skating practice.

Stadio Olympica, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Belluno, Veneto, Italy
Ice hockey rink.


Olympic Ski Run, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Belluno, Veneto, Italy


Olympic Ski Jump, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Belluno, Veneto, Italy.

Olympic Bobsleigh Run, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Belluno, Veneto, Italy

Licence to Kill, John Glen, 1989.
Filming location: Otomi Ceremonial Center, Toluca, Estado de México, Mexico.
(Olympiatec Meditation Institute)