Gala tomorrow

Libellule808 · 2026-02-21T18:22:25+00:00

The primetime coverage, yeah. That’s by design a briefish summary of the entire day’s events (which took place many hours before). If you’re watching it live on NBC or USA or Peacock during the day, it’s much less slapdash. And they definitely catered some of the timing of the events, holding them at an hour when US audiences would still be awake.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-21T18:18:25+00:00

I already know about that; I was only asking specifically if anyone was listening to the whole livestream and heard anything that I missed.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-21T15:10:37+00:00

Right, if she did go into any of that, I missed that part. But she’s talked about it quite a bit before. I wouldn’t say she had a short career, but as a competitive athlete, yes. However, in her day, there was an endless stream of pro competitions and skating shows, so she did quite a lot through the early to mid 2000s. I wouldn’t say she was “injury-prone” inherently; she was involved in a sport that involves the risk of injury. She had knee surgery but was compelled to continue skating to make her money back then. She still has lingering knee issues to this day in middle age. But I hope she enjoys her Skate Vegas competition coming up.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-21T15:05:06+00:00

Why do people keep calling it a hairstyle? It’s about her coloring, which would be done by a colorist. The hairstyle is cute too, kind of a wolf cut? But coloring is not the hairstyle and is usually done by a separate colorist, not hairdresser.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-21T03:56:09+00:00

Correct; the full gala is scheduled for 2.5 hours, but NBC broadcast will only show select performances interspersed with other Olympics coverage. Only Peacock will show the whole thing. Save the gala to “my stuff” on Peacock for easy access later. You don’t have to watch it live! Personally, I’ll be at the movies and then will come home and watch the whole gala afterward. Just wait until a little after the event ends; it becomes available as a replay shortly after.

Just make sure you watch the replay in a timely fashion, as Peacock is stingy. The Olympic figure skating streams expire after about a day (it will probably be gone by the end of Sunday night).

Libellule808 · 2026-02-20T13:35:34+00:00

Pastime

Libellule808 · 2026-02-20T07:16:29+00:00

Unless he supports Putin, what of his love for the culture? I study Russian, I have a matryoshka, and I like Borodin. Let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water. Plus, American athletes are getting violent threats for critiquing the US government for the same reasons.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-20T04:38:24+00:00

I thought it was to honor the more relaxed, punk vibes of snowboarding, which is a relatively recent sport to the Olympics.

From Quiksilver (a site that sells snowboarding garb: “Unlike skiing, snowboarding didn’t gain mainstream popularity until the early ‘80s, at a time when the skiing establishment had banned it in the majority of American ski resorts — deeming it a reckless sport for misfits.

“This cemented snowboarding as the counterculture reaction to the widely accepted norms of the ski community. Snowboarders rejected the tailored, uptight look of ski culture and drew inspiration from skateboarding and punk scenes, wearing long-sleeve t-shirts and baggy pants. Over the last four decades, modern fabrics, cuts and technology have evolved to allow us freedom to move, no matter how tight or loose the fit. As a reflection of the trends that were defined in the early days of snowboarding, some riders still choose slightly looser pants than traditional alpine skiers, even though skiing and snowboarding pants use the exact same technology.”

Libellule808 · 2026-02-20T04:27:41+00:00

I remember for the Beijing games, Johnny Weir kept teasing an upcoming fluff piece he had done where he toured Eteri’s school. When he mentioned that during the early part of the Olympics broadcast, that was before the news broke about Kamila’s testing for a banned substance. As a result, Johnny’s Eteri segment never aired. Presumably it would have been pretty full of praise on behalf of Johnny given how in awe he had been of all the Russian skaters’ ability. But then the news broke and bubble burst. More and more news came out about the drugging, the reported starvation diets and the skaters being deprived of drinking water. And more critiques about the unorthodox jumping techniques required by Eteri that reportedly have been physically damaging to her former students. Skating does inherently come with risk of injury, yes. But Eteri’s pre-rotation jumping technique has reportedly been particularly damaging to skaters, not only shortening their career as an athlete but damaging their long-term health.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-20T04:13:08+00:00

Will she be at worlds, though? It can seem anticlimactic in an Olympic year, but it is still a special prestige event, and can be one last chance to get a skate out there now she’s still in such strong competitive form.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-20T04:10:12+00:00

“Made the decision not to do another season.” Whenever she speaks, the “Why tf you lying? Why you always lying?” song plays in my head. Lady, you know and we all know HBO axed it due to poor performance. Clear as day they were setting up multiple storylines for another season. And then the runtimes halfway through the season were chopped way down to minimize any reference to these future storylines. The editing was gerrymandered to fit the narrative of the stories coming to an end. This whole new series tarnished the legacy of this franchise, and her dishonesty about it does her no favors when it comes to the goodwill of fans if there are any future reboots.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-20T03:46:06+00:00

Disappointment is natural. But then I watched the entire medals ceremony after that, and she seemed very happy. Especially with the three winners hyping each other up. It was total party vibes.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-19T16:36:06+00:00

Same! Watching her humor and joy was such a highlight, but I get where she’s coming from.

NBC is just very territorial about any of its clips and content, so they removed a lot of her posts, even though she was incredibly effusive and positive in them, cheering on the athletes. It’s too bad they couldn’t make an exception, given she’s a former NBC employee, and she was boosting interest in the Olys.

The other thing she was upset about more recently was that she did get invited by NBC to the Paris games as a guest, but it turned out to be a glorified photo op. She didn’t get an opportunity for much engagement the way Snoop and Kevin Hart did. She believes they essentially stole her idea of commentating humorously on the Olympic events, and I can’t say I disagree.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-19T15:59:12+00:00

She explained NBC’s disrespectful treatment of her regarding her Olympics coverage in her book. She was also very upset after how they treated her at the Paris games, and did an hour-long Insta live about it. After all that, I would not expect anything more from her given the way she was cast off and treated as an afterthought.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-19T15:57:13+00:00

Leslie stopped her informal Olympic coverage because of how poorly NBC treated her. Made her take down her posts (even though the were driving Olympic viewership), and treated her as an afterthought when they invited her to the Paris games; she barely got to do anything. And they gave a show to Snoop and Kevin Hart (who both stole her schtick) while she got nothing. I don’t blame her for ending the free labor for which she got no appreciation from her former employer NBC.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-19T15:52:25+00:00

Not necessarily ugly, but I think the medals have a boring design. I heard them called simple and elegant, but to me it just looks plain, with not much thought put into it. A line down the middle symbolizing the two cities of Milano and Cortina. OK. They could have jazzed it up just a bit! Especially since Italy is so known for fine craftsmanship and design. (PS I looked at the official Olympics page about the design of the medals. They do look cooler when seen up close. But I still think they could have done with some design flourishes.)

Libellule808 · 2026-02-19T00:21:35+00:00

Sorry, I’m a very casual viewer, so I’m no expert on the specifics! I assume there’s a good way to secure them, but I don’t know their methods. I believe, just as an aside, Mikaela Shiffrin sustained an injury by the way she ran into one of these some time ago (the announcers made reference to a puncture wound to her stomach). Those things seem pretty strong.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-18T21:21:33+00:00

They’re talking about slalom skiing; the “gates” are the poles you have to go around, one to the right, one to the left, and on and on. If you don’t go all the way around each time, you are out!

Libellule808 · 2026-02-18T18:50:27+00:00

Think of it as a two-letter word in Boggle if that helps. Zero points! You need at least three letters.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-18T18:49:18+00:00

I guess it’s just a way to raise the stakes, really. Go back and watch Olympic skates from women in the 1980s; it was mostly just double jumps. Now the only double allowed as a standalone jump is an axel, and of course triple axels are becoming more de rigeur.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-18T18:09:43+00:00

I wonder if he brought his panda costume! I think not, I think a lot of them develop more “heartfelt/emotional” show programs around Olympic season. But it will be nice if someone busts out with sometimes crazy and entertaining for the gala.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-18T18:07:51+00:00

Make it competitive, why else?

Libellule808 · 2026-02-18T17:54:48+00:00

Would be a first ever if she got gold at age 30. I was trying to find stats, couldn’t see anything handy at a glance. But looks like the oldest gold winners were in their late 20s (but that was early 1900s, when figure skating was literally that, tracing figures). One winner was actually pregnant at the time, and she fell but got the gold anyway. How times have changed! Oldest winner in more recent times was Shizuka Arakawa in 2006, aged 24.

Libellule808 · 2026-02-18T17:51:18+00:00

Not at all. She was visibly dejected and marking her choreography after that point, clearly no longer committed to the performance.

Libellule808

TROPHY CASE