By: Kevin Finn
Sentry Staff Reporter
Every four years the best winter athletes in the world join together to participate in the world’s most historic sporting event: the Olympic Games. In just a few weeks athletes from over 88 countries will descend on Sochi, Russia in pursuit of ultimate glory. These athletes come from places as exotic as Zimbabwe, and as small as Togo. However are all in pursuit of one goal: the Olympic Gold.
The games have made recent news for the politics surrounding them much more than the actual competition, but there has still been a lot of talk about exciting events that are about to take place. Earlier this month American skier Lindsey Vonn announced that she will not be competing for Team USA. This is a real let down for most Americans and will likely cut down on the American medal count.
The games feature a variety of events with each one falling into three main categories: skiing, skating and sledding.
The skiing events cover a wide range of events including downhill, jumps, cross-country and of course snowboarding.
There are five different alpine skiing events, the combined, downhill, slalom, giant slalom and super G. American Bode Miller is looking to improve on his 2010 success in Vancouver. Miller is one of the best known American skiers and probably the most versatile. He has won past Olympic medals in all five disciplines. Also in the medal hunt is Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal. Svindal won three medals in Vancouver and is the favorite to dominate the ski slopes in Sochi.
Ski jumping includes two events, the large and normal hills. On the ski jumps the Americans look to improve on their disappointing performance in 2010 in which they won no medals. Switzerland is sending Simon Ammann to Sochi to defend its national pride in ski jumping.
Cross country skiing has distances of 15 km, 30 km and 50 km as well as two relays and a sprint. In cross country skiing Team USA looks to knock off the dominate teams of Norway who are led by Petter Northug who won two medals in Vancouver.
Snowboarding includes the halfpipe, giant slalom, parallel slalom, parallel giant slalom and snowboard cross. In the snowboarding events American fan favorite Shaun White goes to Russia in pursuit of his third Olympic gold medal. In the cross snowboarding competition Maelle Ricker will lead Team Canada to try and win another gold in the women’s snowboard cross.
In addition, Olympic athletes compete in the biathlon which is a competition of skiing while target shooting.
Skating is one of the oldest events and includes figure skating, speed skating and hockey.
Figure skating has both men’s and women’s individual events as well as two combined events. The Chinese have come out with several strong skating teams in past Olympics and look to continue with their success in Sochi.
Speed skating is a popular event and has events from 500 m to 10,000 m and one team event. Team USA will be without star Apollo Ohno who has decided not to compete. South Korean Lee Seung-Hoon will lead a powerful South Korean team looking for another successful Olympics.
Hockey is one of the most popular Olympic events especially for Americans. The US team looks to take revenge for its disappointing 2010 gold medal game loss to Canada. The American are led by Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane who competed on the US team in 2010. Team USA’s goalie is the Buffalo Sabers’ Ryan Miller.
The bobsled is always a fascinating event that never fails to disappoint.
The bobsled has three events, the two man, four man and womens. Bobsled is an event that requires near perfection. One error can cost a team an event. Races are won and lost by a few seconds. It is not uncommon to have a few sleds flip over the course of a games and often sledders are injured during the event. The American teams are traditionally filled with former linebackers who can run on ice and have good balance. Most of the race is won in the first leg when the sledders push the cart down the ice and jump in. However during the race steering is very important. One mistake can cost a team a chance at Olympic glory. The sleds can weigh up to a ton but race along the ice at speeds over 60 miles per hour. The US teams are looking to continue on their newfound success from Vancouver. The Germans and Swiss have traditionally dominated the event and look to continue to do so.
Another deadly sledding event is the luge. In Vancouver one Georgian athlete met his end while competing in the event. During luge races the luger jumps on a sled and slides away. Lugers have been known to reach almost 100 miles per hour. Similar to luge is the skeleton which involves an athlete sliding down a track on a sled but instead of being on his back, skeleton athletes slide on their stomachs. The United States has been very successful in this event and looks to continue to do so.
Curling is one of the strangest Olympic events. No one on earth fully understands it. A bowler throws a rock down a sheet of ice where two sweepers try and clear its path so they can get it to stop at the center of the target. The Canadian and the Swiss have had a lot of success in recent Olympics. Many students follow the Olympics. Junior Arthur Speck is a big fan of curling.
“My favorite event is the curling. I thinks its really cool,” Speck said. “I watch the Olympics every other year.”
The Olympics is often surrounded by politics and controversy but its original goals have always remained the same: to promote friendly international competition especially for athletes that are not as well known. The Olympics excites many Americans and it should continue to do so this year.
Featured Image Courtesy of mcwade.com
