In the Olympics, we see the entire range of human emotion and endeavor. We see triumph, joy, adversity. Plus moments of humor and of crushing disappointment. Of course, because these are human beings competing in these games, we also get to see our fair share of stupidity. Here's a round up of some of the dumbest stuff we've seen:
Cell Blockhead
19-year-old Speed Skater Patrick Beckert is an Olympic substitute who got the call to compete in the 1,000 meter event after Italy's Enrico Fabris was injured. So why didn't he skate in the race? He left his phone off.
Wanna Get Into A Norwegian's Pants?
More specifically, do you want to get into the crazy-looking clown pants of the Norwegian Curling Team? The king of Norway says no. Close to half a million fans on Facebook say yes. Not to put too fine a point on it, but that's about 380,000 more fans than the sport of Curling itself. The King of Norway doesn't even have a fan page. I think the people have spoken.
Associated Mess
In an Associated Press article about Team USA's surprising upset of Canada earlier this week, the American team, composed of all NHL players were described as a "bunch of unproven kids." So we suppose that American alternate captain Brian Rafalski will be considered "proven" once he wins his fourth Stanley Cup?
Skeleton (Low) Key
Canadian Jon Montgomery won a gold medal in skeleton on home soil last Friday and let out a triumphant cheer. Later, he apologized to his opponent, Latvian Martins Dukurs for his reaction, saying he never wants to cheer when someone else loses. Classy, sure, but you just won a gold medal, I think a bit of self congratulation at the moment of triumph is allowed. It's not like he went all "Trinity Squash Team" on the guy. As for Dukurs, he managed to get a second apology out of Montgomery by stepping on the Canadian's foot. (That last part was a lie.)
Moeller Breaks Incisor
German luge silver medalist David Moeller obliged a photographer by playfully biting his silver medal for a
picture. Well, it turns out the medal was real, and the athlete broke his tooth. We'd like to say that this is the dumbest thing the guy has ever done,
but then again, we're talking about someone whose idea of fun involves going 90 MPH down a deadly ice tunnel.
Kramer vs. Kramer
Sven Kramer, the Olympic champion speed skater from The Netherlands made headlines when he replied to a question about his name from a reporter from NBC by asking if she was stupid. Of course, later in the tournament, when he was disqualified for skating in the wrong lane, he realized it wasn't the media that was his enemy, it was himself. Or was it his coach?
Figure Hater
Evgeni Plushenko, the Russian silver medalist in men's figure skating already caused a stir by claiming that American gold medalist Evan Lysacek was "not the champion," because he didn't complete a difficult quadruple jump. This prompted just about everybody not named Vladimir Putin to respond by saying that Plushenko was "not a judge." But the raging Russian didn't stop there, posting on his official website that he was the winner of the "Platinum" medal at the Vancouver games. After a flood of publicity, the website has been changed, and the Plushenko camp claims it was "absolutely a mistake."
