11/05/24
February 16, 2006
Ever wonder who creates those annoying pop-up ads?: It turns out one of them is now an Olympic gold medallist.
posted by aupa_athletic to other at 02:20 PM - 26 comments
"He's less than pleased to talk about his business." Gee, I wonder why?
posted by wingnut4life at 03:20 PM on February 16, 2006
There is a special place in hell for him and his gold medal.
posted by grum@work at 03:22 PM on February 16, 2006
He should do some promo for V1aGru.
posted by justgary at 03:30 PM on February 16, 2006
I hope they present him with a "genuine Rolex replica" in honor of his achievement.
posted by Bury Bonds at 04:41 PM on February 16, 2006
A guy like that sure could use a Pen1.s enlargement. Man, we could go on like this forever. Hopefully we won't though.
posted by NoMich at 04:43 PM on February 16, 2006
I wonder if there was a little dude jumping around and shouting some kind of ad slogan while they were doing his medal presentation?
posted by wingnut4life at 04:59 PM on February 16, 2006
His win was a big fuck you to the Canadian program. The guy is Canadian and still lives in Vancouver and his business is Canadian. He trained with the Canadian program. But when the program wouldn't allow him to spend more time with his business, thinking only about training and training, he left for the Australian program, got himself a passport, and won gold for them. That was the first F-U to the Canadian freestyle team. The second was the fact that by winning the event (he was the last skiier), he knocked a Canadian out of bronze position into the purgatory of fourth place. The second F-U. Frankly, irregardless of his business, I'm glad for him and pissed with our program.
posted by mkn at 05:03 PM on February 16, 2006
If he would have went first on the second run he would not have got gold, or possibly the podium at all. And if he did win, the medal belongs in Canada. How much snow is there down-under anyways?
posted by kosmicdebris at 06:19 PM on February 16, 2006
I would be interested to hear the truth of this story because this article has about the fourth different explanation I've heard for why Begg-Smith changed countries.
posted by Amateur at 07:33 PM on February 16, 2006
How much snow is there down-under anyways An area greater in size than the whole of Switzerland is covered by snow. Unfortunately only for about 3 months of the year, its hideously expensive to ski on, and with no true downhill runs. It's cheaper for Aussies to ski in New Zealand, even with the airfare factored in.
posted by owlhouse at 07:34 PM on February 16, 2006
And mkn, we should feel angry at the Canadian freestyle ski program? Three skiers in the top 20 (top 14 actually) in men's moguls, Olympic champion (and 4 in the top 12) in women's moguls ... Sounds like they're doing OK. They didn't bend over backwards to accomodate a 15-year-old kid, he went somewhere where he could do everything his own way, and it worked out for him. It's not such a tragic story, IMO. The other Begg-Smith wasn't even close to making it out of the final round.
posted by Amateur at 07:43 PM on February 16, 2006
And a trivia question for spofi members: Has an athlete at their hometown Olympics ever competed under the flag of a foreign nation? (Begg-Smith will do so if he defends in 2010.)
posted by Amateur at 07:45 PM on February 16, 2006
Amateur - I'm confident there were a few Australian triathletes competing for other countries at Sydney 2000. One of the women may have even won a medal (Brigitte McMahon? Or was she originally a Kiwi?). Anyway, given the limit of competitors, and the strong Australian team, a number made the choice to compete for other countries. More than a quarter of Australian were born overseas, so family/parents/grandparents qualifications are pretty easy to find.
posted by owlhouse at 08:12 PM on February 16, 2006
owlhouse, the question is just slightly more specific, since Begg-Smith is not just Canadian, his "hometown" (definition ambiguous) is Vancouver. But it sounds like there were probably a few Sydneysiders competing in 2000.
posted by Amateur at 08:20 PM on February 16, 2006
Point taken. I'll do more research. /dusts off files
posted by owlhouse at 09:09 PM on February 16, 2006
(off-topic) irregardless is probably the most used non-word i know. just so people know, irregardless is the wrong way of saying regardless.
posted by DudeDykstra at 09:35 PM on February 16, 2006
And mkn, we should feel angry at the Canadian freestyle ski program? I didn't say anything about you, I said *I* am pissed. Besides, they are setting it up like this. In their drive for more and more medals -- with a stated goal to be on top of the medal count in 2010 -- they are creating the expectations and setting up a situation where any medal lost is a failure. Why else are they protesting the women's 500m short track? Her skate was a little off the ice? Who the fuck cares? It's not like the gap between 2nd and 3rd was close. She won the race, let her have it -- it might be the only medals the Bulgarians get. Canadian officials are getting greedy for medals.
posted by mkn at 11:05 PM on February 16, 2006
People seem to casually and conveniently forget how many medals Canada has won with rented athletes from Jamaica, Nigeria and all over the Carribbean. In fact, next week if you're cheering on Pierre Luders in the two-man bobsled, remember that his brakeman (can't remember his name - Lancelles Brown, or something) had his citizenship rushed through backdoor channels in order to qualify as Canadian for the games. So meh. As for Begg-Smith - here's a kid who has a very successful business that he's not about to give up while he trains for his sport. Canada was inflexible in tailoring an approach, so he went elsewhere. Good for him. The Canadian freestyle team has since said they will loosen the restrictions for training. Frankly, I think Begg-Smith sure showed us. Maybe we can convince him to switch back.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 07:56 AM on February 17, 2006
I agree Weedy, good for him. I'm just not so sure about the "bad for Freestyle Canada" part. They both made their choices, and those choices worked out better for Begg-Smith in this instance. Would it work out better, in general, if Freestyle Canada changed their way of doing things? I have no idea. But I don't think that this one case proves the point either way. As I pointed out, the other Mr. Begg-Smith -- who also "benefited" from the extra freedom in Australia -- finished well behind all three Canadians. That doesn't prove anything, either.
posted by Amateur at 08:46 AM on February 17, 2006
mkn, I disagree about the short-track protest. The rules -- as inscrutable as they may be -- are the rules, and the Bulgarian clearly and obviously broke them (I noticed it at the time and at full speed). The short track officials were wrong not to disqualify her, and the COC is right to pursue this to their last appeal. There is nothing unsportsmanlike in insisting that officials follow the rules of the game. Of course they wouldn't be doing it if there weren't two Canadians directly impacted; but somebody else would be.
posted by Amateur at 08:51 AM on February 17, 2006
Maybe we can convince him to switch back. From his interviews at the CBC, I think not. Asked if he thought Canada deserved a share of his medal, he answered, straight faced, "No". And that was all he had to say about Canada.
posted by qbert72 at 09:47 AM on February 17, 2006
Here's a good article on the decision to move, from an Australian perspective.
posted by Amateur at 10:00 AM on February 17, 2006
He runs a slimy buisness selling slimy "products", has a slimy history, represents Australia for slimy reasons, and now has a slimy medal in his hand. And whomever he comes close to gets some of that slime rubbed off. This not only undermines the spirit of Olympic competition, but also disgraces his host nation. Hopefully Canada can find some Ukranians who run a Prostitution ring before the next Olympics. Then they'll show that Canuck Wallaby bustard. If I wanted to be disguted by the People on the podium, I'd watch politics.
posted by LostInDaJungle at 11:11 AM on February 17, 2006
LIDJ, I have no idea if I agree with that, but I like it.
posted by yerfatma at 11:53 AM on February 17, 2006
Some idiot said: the Bulgarian clearly and obviously broke [the rules] Or maybe not. The Canadian protest was dismissed...
posted by Amateur at 02:51 PM on February 17, 2006
Thank you for the info......I'll be back in a few hours with his personal address If anbody here wants to send him a "friendly letter"!!!