2010 Olympics Vancouver, Canada - Bring It On!

With the slump in the global economy and the cloudy, chilly days of winter (at least in the Northern Hemishere) it seems like everyone needs to get fired up about something. What better way to kick off the year 2010 than with the Winter Olympics? The olympic games are the perfect way to spark a fire and unite the world in a little friendly competition. In fact, the torch has already been lit. On October 30th 2009 the torch was lit in Vicoria, Canada. It has been, and will continue to roam through Canada until opening ceremonies on February 12th, 2010. I for one am ready to kick back and let the games begin!

Did you know Team USA got the second highest amount of medals in the 2006 Winter Olympics? They are also third in the standings for all time Winter Game golden honors with a totally of 78 gold medals. Twenty-eight of those medals were won in Speed Skating, 13 in Figure Skating, and 12 in Alpine Skiing. The US athlete with the record for most Winter Olympic medals is Bonnie Blair. She won six medals in Speed Skating from 1984-94. Apolo Ohno is tied for second with five medals.  Get ready to cheer for this guy.  He could break the all-time record in this Olympics with just two medals! The games with the least amount of medals were the 1900 Olympic games in Paris team. Team USA won a total of 0 medals. In fact, none of the countries were awarded medals. Instead, the winners were presented with valuable pieces of art. This year the medal chances for this Olympics for Team USA are looking great. For world medals in 2009, USA champions earned at least one world medal in 11 of the 15 sports. 9 out of the 15 were Gold!  Go Team USA!

Alpine Skiing

The closest I'll ever get to this sport is probably on my Wii Fit. Alpine skiing is over 150 years old and originated in Europe. It became more popular with the invention of the ski lift in the early 20th century. There are five events in the Olympics that are included in Alpine skiing. At the last winter games Austria dominated winning 14 medals!

• Down Hill
• Super G
• Giant Slalom
• Slalom
• Super Combined

Athletes to watch in 2010 - Lindsey Vonn, Team USA, is trying for 3 golds this year. In Men's the competition between Austria and the Swiss team is going to be fierce. Austria is led by Benjamin Raich with 23 year old Carlo Janka leading the Swiss.

The Biathlon is a combination of cross-coutry skiing and riffle shooting. Yet another event that the coordinationally challenged should avoid. I'm not against guns at all. I'm just against me with a gun. There are also five events in the Biatlon. Germany won this most medals in this event last time with 11 total.

• Individual Start
• Sprint
• Pursuit
• Relay
• Mass Start

Athletes to watch - Norway's Ole Einar Bjorndalen is hoping to win his 5th gold medal this year.  If he can do so, he will be the only athlete to ever win that many gold medals in the Biathlon.  Germany's Magdalena Neuner is the woman to watch.  She has 6 World Championship gold medals.

The Bobsleigh reminds me of the log ride at Six Flags. I don't know why. This event was introduced to the Olympics in 1924. However, women didn't start competing in the Bobsleigh until the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Today there are three events. In Torino, Germany won the most medals in this event as well. They won 3 medals with Switzerland close behind winning 2.

• Two-man
• Four-man
• Women's

Athletes to watch - The Bobsled is generally dominated by Germany.  However, the American, Candian, and British teams are starting to close that gap.  Will one of these teams be able to close down this power house in 2010?

The first civilian cross-coutry event was held in Norway in 1843. It was added to the Olympics in 1924. The event has six categories. The Russian Federation won 7 medals in the last winter games in Cross Country. Sweden was next with 5.

• Individual Start
• Mass Start
• Pursuit
• Individual Sprint
• Team Sprint
• Relay

Athletes to watch - Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic and Poland's Justyna Kowalcyzk are the top athletes for this event.  They both won at the Tour de Ski in Val di Fiemme, Italy, earlier this month.

My husband always wants to watch the Curling. To me it just looks like a bunch of people sweeping the ice. A game has 10 'ends' (a lot like innings in baseball). Each team tries to get the most points by getting the large stones in the rings. They get these stones to the rings by sweeping a path in the ice in front of the stone to control its direction. The game originated in Scotland more than 500 years ago. In the Olympics the have a men's and women's tournament.

Athletes to watch - Team Canada won in Torino and are looking to repeat the victory this year.

I probably look forward to this the most in the winter games. I love the costumes and the music. It's incredable the way the skaters dance gracefully across the ice. I can barely skate in a circle. A very large circle. Figure skating is one of the older Olympics sports. It first appeared at the games in 1908. There are three events with in figure skating. In Torino the Russians also had the most medals in this event with 4 medals. China and the USA tied with 2.

• Singles
• Pairs
• Ice Dancing

Athletes to watch - Canada is putting their hope in 19 year old Patrick Chan for the mens. The USA pair to watch is Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett. They were the surprise win in the US for qualification to this years games. For the womens a rivalry between South Korea's Kim Yu-Na and Japan's Mao Asada will fire the competition at the Olympic Winter Games. The US womens team is not picked to medal, but who knows? Tara Lipinsky, Sarah Hughes and Arakawa were never picked as favorites either. Update! Rachel Flatt and Mirai Nagasu won first and second in Nationals and will be giving South Korea and Japan something to think about!  They were both awesome!

I also love to watch this. I call it skiing with style. There are six different areas for this event. China and Australia tied for the most medals in this event with two medals a piece.

• Men’s Aerials
• Ladies’ Aerials
• Men’s Moguls
• Ladies’ Moguls
• Men’s Ski Cross
• Ladies’ Ski Cross

We also love to watch this one. The USA team is usually pretty awesome. Women and Men compete in separate round-robin tournaments in the Games. Men's hockey had it's premeire in the 1920 Summer Olympics and then was moved to the Winter Games in 1924. Women's Hockey didn't come into play as an Olympic sport until 1998.

Athletes to watch - Canada and the USA are both heavy favorites in Ice Hockey for both the women's and the men's team. Who will get the gold?

Sledding in open fiber glass sleds really, really fast. The luge makes me a little nervous. Yet another sport I should never even approach. There are three events in the Luge. Germany won the luge in Torino with 4 medals.

• Women's Singles
• Men's Singles
• Doubles

This is one that you just have to look up, at least I did. Nordic Combined in a combo of Ski Jumping and Cross-country. This event is a men's only Olympic sport as they only have Men's Individual and Men's Team.  Austria and Germany tied for the most medals in this event.  They both received 3.

Speed skating around a very short track. This is always good for a few crashes. It's extremly upsetting when your country's athlete goes down in a crash that wasn't their fault! This event has several categories.  Korea blew the compitition away in the last games winning 10 medals in this event!

• Men’s 500 m
• Ladies’ 500 m
• Men’s 1,000 m
• Ladies’ 1,000 m
• Men’s 1,500 m
• Ladies’ 1,500 m
• Ladies’ 3,000 m Relay
• Men’s 5,000 m Relay

Now this is really fast sledding on a very small sled HEAD FIRST! It's called a Skeleton because if you go too fast, that's all that will be left. Actually, it's named for the sled. It's thought to resemble a skeleton. The Skeleton wasn't a permanent Olympic sport until 2002. Both Men and Women compete in their respective groups.  Canada was the winner in the Slelton last time with 3 medals.

I am really good at this on the Wii! In real life I'd probably curl up at the top and cry. I love to watch this sport though. This is another member of the Olympic Sports Club for Men. The events are Men's Large Hill, Normal Hill, and Team.  Norway had 4 medals in this event in Torina.

Dude! I love the Halfpipe! All the snow boarding event are actually pretty cool to watch. The Halfpipe is where the athletes get to show off their mad skillz though. USA won the most medals by far with 7 medals in Torino.  The events for snow boarding are;

• Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom
• Ladies’ Parallel Giant Slalom
• Men’s Halfpipe
• Ladies’ Halfpipe
• Men’s Snowboard Cross
• Ladies’ Snowboard Cross

Speed skating in Winter is like Track is in Summer Games. It's the fastest human powered non-mechanical sport in the world. Another sport to watch if you're into crashes. Speed skating appeared in 1924. The Netherlands were the overall winners in Speed Skating with a total of 9 medals.

• Men’s 500 m
• Ladies’ 500 m
• Men’s 1,000 m
• Ladies’ 1,000 m
• Men’s 1,500 m
• Ladies’ 1,500 m
• Ladies’ 3,000 m
• Men’s 5,000 m
• Ladies’ 5,000 m
• Men’s 10,000 m
• Men’s Team Pursuit
• Ladies’ Team Pursuit

Atheletes to watch - American speedskater Shani Davis plans to skate in all five individual events at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.  He has big plans, but will he strike gold?