Sport!

[Linda7Italian]

The Winter Paralympics 2026! After a great opening ceremony in Verona, Italy, I shall now be completely sofabound as I watch not only the Six Nations Rugby (forza Italia!) but also the fabulous paralympians on the snow in Italy. What a feast of sport!

[SansEspoir]

I'm so torn on paralympics.
Not because the athlethes aren't awesome and deserve to have some fun, but it's often used against us other disabled people who are actually disabled by our problems that we're just not trying hard enough because we're not able to do what they do.

It's a sad ableist world
They are okay with never having won any gold, because they're regular people and not athlethes.
We are not accepted as regular people, because we should be paralympians.

But that was my little rant of the day.
Ignore me and go back to national pride and competition.

[Linda7Italian]

Forgive me but I think these athletes are doing more than just "having some fun" , most having trained for the last four years or more. I tend to watch and joyously celebrate their achievements without anything more than the admiration I have for all sportspeople.

[SansEspoir]

Yes, you're right. Sorry.
I apologise for my wording.
I meant the olympics are fun in general, for ablebodied and disabled alike.

[Linda7Italian]

Ho capito:-) Totally agree. I'm now watching Italy try to beat England in the rugby! I think my eyes will soon be square .

[Linda7Italian]

An historic moment for Italian rugby as they beat England 23-18 in the Six Nations 2026 rugby. Mi dispiace Inghilterra but I couldn't help shout with gioia as I've followed gli Azzurri for many years and watched them grow.

Another great match, Scotland beat France 50-40, yes really!

[Vlot Vlaams]

An historic moment for Italian rugby as they beat England 23-18 in the Six Nations 2026 rugby. Mi dispiace Inghilterra but I couldn't help shout with gioia as I've followed gli Azzurri for many years and watched them grow.

Another great match, Scotland beat France 50-40, yes really!

I would have bet Italy even doesn't have a rugby team. It's not a sport I would have listed under "name 5 sports Italy is famous for"

That would be football, cycling, motor racing, fencing, tennis. But not rugby...

Okay so they won, good for them.

Scotland France ? Such a score ? No way ...You must be halucinating, or at least that score is.

How can one get such high score? I mean if one team has a weak defence you may see 30-6 or so,

But BOTH having such high score ? Maybe defense was asleep on both sides.

[Linda7Italian]

Ciao VlotVlaams, you're right about rugby and Italy but over the years it has caught on and stadiums are now filled to capacity. High scoring is easily possible if both teams are scoring several tries and converting them, and giving away penalties etc. Indiscipline and losing players to the sin bin is a gift to the opposition.

One thing about rugby, there are no theatrics and no attacking the ref. There are occasionally "handbags at dawn" but what the ref says goes, and that's it. I grew up with a father and brother who were both great players and it was a family ritual to watch together when the big matches were on tv, so I happily carry on the tradition.

[Vlot Vlaams]

The a-political setup of the 2026 para- gave me a warm feeling that "reason" and ""adult sportive behaviour" was back.

Those who boycotted the opening, my country included - I feel deeply ashamed - should also have stayed home the rest of the event.

Boycotting the opening but appearing the next day to compete for medals is something entirely hypocrite. It feels hollow, a gesture that does not quite know what it wants to be.

Those with healthy minds - the majority of the para- subcomittees - understood that sport should remain sport—only sport, and nothing but sport.

As a result, long forgotten flags were raised again, and hymns played, while athletes stood there simply proud of what their bodies had managed to do.

From the very beginning, perhaps there was a flaw in the Olympic idea: athletes were asked to represent countries instead of themselves. Medals became national property. Tables were drawn, totals counted, and pride measured by flags rather than by effort.

But sport, at its heart, is individual. A runner runs. A skater skates. A gymnast balances between gravity and courage. Why should a medal belong to a nation?

Nothing in sport has ever felt more nationalistic, more triumphalist, than the Olympic scoreboard of countries.

If athletes truly wanted to compete freely—simply as themselves, without the weight of whatever political winds might blow across their homelands—perhaps they would all walk away one day, and all together boycott anything that is flags oriented.

And surely, somewhere, a clever organizer would seize the moment and create a gathering that is simply sport: no flags, no politics, only competition and respect.

I sometimes think back to other sporting memories.

The days when the ice-hockey machine of the untouchable line with Boris Mikhailov, Vladimir Petrov, and Valeri Kharlamov moved across the ice with a kind of inevitability. With the genius and perfect fluidity of a ballet solo by Rudolf Nureyev.

When games against Czechoslovakia carried a fierce brilliance.

When Valeriy Borzov appeared almost from nowhere and outran the world in the 100 and 200 meters.

When Nadia Comăneci - 5 times gold, 14 yr - floated above the uneven bars and the scoreboard had to invent a perfect ten.

Then Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. A masterpiece.

And when a young unexperienced American hockey team, unknown and untested, somehow defeated the giants everyone believed could not be beaten.

Russia, Rumenia, Britain, America.
It shouldn't play any role.

Those were great sporting moments.
Back then, it felt simpler.
Back then, it felt like sport.

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Speaking of flags… this has long been a never-ending debate on this forum—especially when it comes to representing languages.

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PS: hmmm ... I have no idea how to organize such flagless non-nationalist events for team sports... nor for the hymns...maybe play the gold medal winner's favorite ??

[Linda7Italian]

Fraid it's a complicated world these days with sport sometimes taking a back seat when it comes to sport! I enjoyed your mention of those great moments when everything seemed more simple, so I now try to watch all sport for sport's sake, with a clear head, no politics, no flags - not easy as football particularly shows.

[John Little]

If you ask me, none of the winter athletes are right in the head. I mean, what sane person would throw themselves down hill at enormous speed on a tea tray?

[Linda7Italian]

Or four-up in a metal capsule hurtling down an icy tunnel! or attempting quadruple spins on a couple of sharp blades or dancing an icy bolero! If it's in ya DNA, what can ya do!

[Vlot Vlaams]

Or four-up in a metal capsule hurtling down an icy tunnel! or attempting quadruple spins on a couple of sharp blades or dancing an icy bolero! If it's in ya DNA, what can ya do!

Downhill skislopes are indeed very steep. In summer our walking path crossed such slope and with the boulders not covered by snow we couldn''t keep us from falling.

In winter I had done this long slope in 22 minutes, gently zigzagging for not gooing too fast. It's holiday, for fun, right.

The guys in competetion do it in some 100 seconds...

[John Little]

Or four-up in a metal capsule hurtling down an icy tunnel! or attempting quadruple spins on a couple of sharp blades or dancing an icy bolero! If it's in ya DNA, what can ya do!

Downhill skislopes are indeed very steep. In summer our walking path crossed such slope and with the boulders not covered by snow we couldn''t keep us from falling.

In winter I had done this long slope in 22 minutes, gently zigzagging for not gooing too fast. It's holiday, for fun, right.

The guys in competetion do it in some 100 seconds...

My case rests

[Linda7Italian]

A feast of Six Nations rugby today with Wales v Italy, Ireland v Scotland and France v England. Who to shout for is difficult as the Azzurri are my favourites but so is Finn Russell and it would be wrong not to support my own . Brave lads all, so we shall see!

[Vlot Vlaams]

A feast of Six Nations rugby today with Wales v Italy, Ireland v Scotland and France v England. Who to shout for is difficult as the Azzurri are my favourites but so is Finn Russell and it would be wrong not to support my own . Brave lads all, so we shall see!

They didn't make it, did they?

[Linda7Italian]

Sadly no and France won by just two points! England haven't exactly shone throughout the series but held off la belle France until the last few seconds. We have seen some fantastic rugby, full of va va voom, skill and sportsmanship, and these brave guys all deserve a medal.

[Linda7Italian]

And then Bravo bravo, Kimi Antonelli wins the Chinese Grand Prix in a Mercedes, then Russell and then, bravo bravo, Lewis Hamilton for Ferrari! Good to see him back on the podium.

What a fine young modest 19 year old ís Antonelli. So different from certain others, iffya know what I mean .