Olympian Outfits

[Lynne79]

Thank you Kristina for the info. I knew that she had been training in the US for some time, but not that she had been awaiting citizenship. I don't know much about the citizenship process in general.

 

MrsMoose, you certainly didn't offend me and hope I didn't iritate anyone either.

 

(I'm new here - starting looking for info for our first cruise, so I hope everyone does let me know if I do anything 'frowned upon' on the board.)

[seagulls]

I am an avid figure skating fan and make a point of watching every competition I can. If you read the rules laid down for costumes, it states that costumes should be relatively modest. Well whoever has the job of monitoring skating attire must be taking a long, long snooze right now. Many of the costumes I am seeing lately are hideous and almost obscene. And furthermore, not to be too indelicate many of the skater's panties which used to be substantial are now made of flimsy material that leaves nothing to the imagination. Too bad every female couldn't be outfitted by Vera Wang an ex skater who knows a thing or two about fashion I would say.

 

As for the men I will not even go there!

[MrsMoose2001]

Thank you Kristina for the info. I knew that she had been training in the US for some time, but not that she had been awaiting citizenship. I don't know much about the citizenship process in general.

 

MrsMoose, you certainly didn't offend me and hope I didn't iritate anyone either.

 

(I'm new here - starting looking for info for our first cruise, so I hope everyone does let me know if I do anything 'frowned upon' on the board.)

 

I am happy I did not offend you I hope I didnt offend anyone else, they are just my opinions on the games.

 

I dont know what the average wait time is now for the US citizenship. But if she got it solely and quicker than others because she can compete than I have issues about that. But then again I think the sports players are paid in the stratosphere for what they do, I mean its not brain surgery or life threatening, and I just think some of those salaries for players are paid astronomical amounts of money that I will never understand the whole thing. But again just my opinions and probably not popular either, lol:)

[Hoyaheel]

Hee hee--the Today Show is airing a segment on how heinously ugly some of the costumes are(specifically, ice skating/ice dancing).

[MrsMoose2001]

I heard about it but didnt watch that segment. Also they say the food at the olympic village is awful. This is not a flame to anyone here, just voicing my opinion on the whole Olympic thing and just my opinion even though I wont be popular

 

I hear this on the news. DH had the news on this morning, and what was said was they expected Armani and D&G for the athletes and that a lot of the uniforms and or costumes are awful. Our comment in unison was, well gee, they are athletes, many train on private and govt grants and they need Armani,when they get a real job we can talk Armani, now the Olympic athletes need Armani, why dont we give them a Russian Sable and some diamonds to go with it. Sorry

 

Now the food I hear is awful and that I think is sad. You need good food for strength and stamina to compete or do any sport and basic good health. I heard on the US and Canadian tv news that the food is just awful. You dont need Armani and D&G et al to be a good athlete, you need good equipment and you need good healthy decent food.

 

I get it if they say the clothes are ugly, but Ive been hearing, gee this is Italy where are the cashmere and designer stuff, and you certainly dont need that to be a good athlete. People are actually disappointd that the clothes is not designer, now that I will never get.

[Hoyaheel]

The segment on the costumes lambasted skaters from all countries (including the US) so you can't really blame it on D&G or Armani....

[MrsMoose2001]

The segment on the costumes lambasted skaters from all countries (including the US) so you can't really blame it on D&G or Armani....

 

Oh I wasnt blaming it on any manufacturer and or designer. I was complaining that it is mentioned that they were expecting Armani and D&G.

 

I dont think I made myself clear. I wasnt blaming anyone for the way they look, I dont even know what they look like myself, I was blaming the media for commenting that they were ugly and NOT Armani or D&G and that they didnt see any cashmere etc. and that the (they media) was expecting top of the line cashmere and Armani et al.

[Cruise Arizona]

I love the Olympics, every sport from curling to luge and everything inbetween.

 

Figure skating is my favorite, because I am an ex-competitive skater. Never really did anything with it because that was 25 years ago when school figures were so important, and I found them tedious and boring, and I never got them caught up to the leve of my free skating.

 

Anyway, I have really enjoyed watching the skating, and I have to say that the Ice Dance costumes are my favorite in a bad way. They are so over the top and excessive, like ball-room costumes. In general, if they weren't out there Ice Dancing so beautifully, they would mostly be huge fashion don't.

 

The single ladies costumes are usually much more subdue, but every now an then there will be some girl about who I think, "What was she thinking".

Vera Wang used to compete in figureskating and has designed outfits for Nancy Kerrigan and Michel Kwan. I also seem to remeber that some skater, I think it was Surya Bonilee, of France, a few years ago had her costumes designed by Gautier with disastrous results.

 

To answer the question about Tanith Belbin and her US Citizenship, each country's Olympic Comittee sets the rules about the citizenship requirement. In some countries it is very lax, hey if your great grand parents came from here...you can compete for us. For the US you have to be a citizen. So while the International Skating Union and the United States Figure Skating Association only require that one partner be a citizen of the representative country, the USOC requires both to be US citizens. So that is why you can compete for USA as half of a partnership, at the World Championships, and not be US citizen, but you have to be a citizen to be in the Olympics. For the US dance team of Rene Rocca and Gorsha Sur, Sur was from Russia and did not gain US citizenship in time for one of the Olympics in the 90's, and I am thinking it was probably 94 that they were trying for, but I might be confused on that.

 

Anyway, as for the desingers doing the outfits, I think it another form of advertising for them. Getting the name out.

 

The ladies finals is tomorrow, so I hope it will be enjoyable.

[Hoyaheel]

I loved Sasha Cohen's gypsy-esque outfit--a little flashy but appropriate--the costume enhanced the performance but didn't overwhelm everything else (like, in my opinion, the costume of the ukrainian couple that got the bronze for ice dancing:rolleyes: ) I'm exhausted from staying up late but am looking forward to the long programs tonight!

 

My husband is a former pairs skater (just as a youth/teen) and his comments on skaters can be quite amusing asides as we watch the performances!

[Soxfan05]

I basically have no use for the Olympics these days. Hubby has on some of it and I hate it but I hear it and I hear that Switzerland has canadian hockey players. This to me seems just wrong. Used to be you had to be an amateur and you actually were a citizen of the country you compete for and no drugs.

 

Now I hear the skiiers have pain meds injected into them to ski, the drug scandels, the whole think, just plain dont care as to who wins what.

 

I agree also a little less background would be nice. It's no longer purely about the sport and about endorcements. Nancy Kerrigan when she got the silver, the whole thing was about how much less money she will now make because she lost the gold I heard this on the news shows not from actually watching the Olympics.

 

I said to DH, if the Swiss team has canadian players, you might as well route for Switzerland because Canada probably has the russians. In pro sports I dont care, I think its fine, but this is where the athelets supposedly represent their country and you have pros mixed with amateurs, just a mess in my opinion and it just seems that so much of the original of what the Olympics stood for is just not there anymore that I cant stand it.

 

.

 

 

Sorry folks just my opinion.

 

I just checked into this thread for the first time. I didn't bother because I feel the same way you do Mrs. Moose. On top of the issues you state, I also feel that the level of excellence has been compromised. The idea of being an Olympic "star" and lucrative endorsements is overshadowing the true meaning of the Olympics. Look at the speed skater who refused to take part in the relay with his countrymen and Lindsey Jacoboulis (sp?) who lost the gold because she was so focussed on posing for the camera, she took a tumble. What an embarassment.

[MrsMoose2001]

I just checked into this thread for the first time. I didn't bother because I feel the same way you do Mrs. Moose. On top of the issues you state, I also feel that the level of excellence has been compromised. The idea of being an Olympic "star" and lucrative endorsements is overshadowing the true meaning of the Olympics. Look at the speed skater who refused to take part in the relay with his countrymen and Lindsey Jacoboulis (sp?) who lost the gold because she was so focussed on posing for the camera, she took a tumble. What an embarassment.

 

Wow, well I am glad to hear that I am not totally crazy for thinking the way I do.

 

Posing and lost the gold? What happened to that being the major focus and not posing for a camera?:rolleyes: I heard on a news program something about 2 speed skaters I guess that was it or perhaps another issue even which I felt was really just either blown out of proportion or had no direct bearing on the Olympics even and it was sad to hear it.

 

I used to really admire the athelets way back when it was people like Jean Claude Killy, I was a kid then , and Dorothy Hamil, and even a skater I heard about Sonya Heni (sp?).

 

The ratings for the Olympics is really down according to the news and what my DH told me. Here in Canada we have two in Quebec one in french and one in english and both are disappointed at the ratings, was supposed to be much higher, and Jay Leno has even made jokes about the NBC ratings that it is very low compared to what they wer expecting.

 

I guess I am not the only one, but nice to hear it from you, I thought maybe I was wrong for feeling this way but I just cant help it, it seems like so much of what it should be is just not there :confused:

 

I will be happy when regular shows return.

[Hoyaheel]

Ah, watching the Olympics still gives me warm fuzzies:D :p Guess we're not gonna change each other's minds:o

[MrsMoose2001]

Ah, watching the Olympics still gives me warm fuzzies:D :p Guess we're not gonna change each other's minds:o

 

Thats fine with me:) I was simply voicing my opinion and my thoughts, I am happy that you are enjoying them.:)

[Cruise Arizona]

Dresses were nice, but the skating was so dissapointing. I guess they have to make those costumes water-proof for when the girls use them to wiped up the ice.

 

To be more on topic I would say that maybe I'll bring one of my old sparkly competition dresses and my skates with me if I ever cruise a voyager class ship. That way I can go skating before dinner and then just wear my skates (With blade guards of course) and fancy skating dress to the dinning room on formal night. Wouldn't that be an interesting look. :p

[bobby'sgirl]

Cruise Az. My DH dance dress for skating could be worn to the dining room. The skirt is knee length at front and longer at the back. it looks wonderful when she is testing her gold dances(Canadian). Where did you skate in your younger days....For every competitors there are many in the background from recreational skaters to competitive ones, we only get to see a few to the podium.:o

[Cruise Arizona]

Well my true competitive days wer 25 years ago in Florida and Georgia. But quite honestly, I was terrible at school figures, so 25 years ago I didn't go very far.

 

My latest dress is only from about 15 years ago. After I graduated from college I was a "recreational" competitor. I had a beautiful red dress made for a local competition. Red spandex with Austrian crystals.

 

Technically, the skirt is a standard skater length, so maybe if I'm Paris Hilton, I could wear it in the dining room.

 

 

Also, on "Olympic Ice" they had one of the guys from "Poject Runway" critiqueing the ladies costumes. Most interestingly he said that he liked the "Yen and Yang" quality to Sezuka Arakawa's costume. He was a huge Sasha Cohen fan, so he had tried to buy tickets from Scalpers, but was not sure that they had real tickets, so he ended up in his hotel room to watch the ladies skate.

[Hoyaheel]

Yeah--I loved that the guy from Project Runway said that the Roberto Cavalli dress (for Italian skater Carolina Kostner) was too SHORT! How funny! I didn't think it was too short--it's not like the rest of them are wearing ankle lengths! I liked the star motif on the Cavalli dress.

[Cruise Arizona]

I thought her dress was one of the prettiest.

 

I think two of my all time favorites were Nancy Kerrigans White Vera Wang for the 92 Olympics and her Gold Vera Wang for the 94 Olympics.

 

The project runway guy had an intersting take on Arakawa's dress, describing it as a yen/yang kind of thing.

 

Anyway I'll be watching the closing ceremonies tonigh, Andrea Boccelli is supposed to sing!!!

[Jenna1983]

The athletes are the one's who back in 2001 voted for ROOTS. The USOC was looking to update their stale look and the athlete's loved the Canadian's outfits. Therefore, they [the athletes] chose to wear ROOTS. Roots has a reputation for good quality clothing. It's comfortable yet has an athletic edge to it. As far as the ironic part about this, HBC is now an American company.