The 21st Winter Olympics commences in Vancouver on 12th February. I can’t ski, and I’m terrible at skating, but I do enjoy watching the events on television. If I’ve counted correctly, there are 21 different events for spectators to watch. Here’s a list of the ones that interest me most.
Thirteen Winter Olympic Sports
1. Downhill Skiing – the object is to ski down a hill as fast as you can.
2. Slalom – the skier weaves in and out of poles, aiming for the fastest time possible without missing a turn.
3. Figure skating – this event comes in pairs, women’s and men’s figure skating. It’s dancing on ice with jumps and turns and wonderful costumes. There is a compulsory part of the event plus a free skating program.
4. Snowboarding – it’s a combination of skateboarding and skiing. There is a slalom event plus the trick event, which is done in an area called a half pipe.
5. Crosscountry skiing – as the name suggests, the skier navigates a course of up to 50km long. It’s sort of like running on skiis and is very physically demanding.
6. Speed skating – this is like running a sprint race except the competitors wear skates. They wear tight suits – very sexy.
7. Curling – it’s sort of like bowls on ice. There is a granite stone that is propelled down an ice rink. Sweepers brush the ice in front of the stone to make it go either faster or slower in the hope it will reach the target at the other end of the rink.
8. Luge – a sport for a single person or two people. The person lies on a sled and travels down the ice track feet first. The object is to go fast and not crash.
9. Bobsleigh – Either four or two men push their sled to start and then jump in, trying to get to the bottom of the course as fast as they can. You might be familiar with the movie Cool Runnings made about the Jamacian bobsleigh team.
10. Ice Hockey – it’s hockey on ice. It’s played on an oval rink with two teams of six players on the ice at the same time.
11. Ski Jumping – the competitors ski down a steep ramp, then jump as far as they can. The skier with the longest jump wins.
12. Skeleton – it’s lying in a face-first position on the sled, and traveling down the ice track at high speed. The fastest time wins.
13. Biathlon – is a combination of cross country skiing and rifle shooting. It’s a timed event with a penalty given each time a target is missed.
I have to admit that I hate speed and prefer to keep my feet on the ground. Apart from Wii Fit, I haven’t tried any of these sports.
Have you tried any of these sports? Do you enjoy watching the Winter Olympics (on TV or in person)?
Related posts:
February 4th, 2010 at 3:40 am · Link
I can’t say I’ve done any of these sports – at least, not intentionally, LOL!
Still, I feel compelled to confess I’m not a big fan of figure skating. Am I weird for that?
Happy TT!
Ciao!
February 4th, 2010 at 4:17 am · Link
Hi Shelley!
Um, nope. Skating, but not fast. Sort of skating — and trying to stay upright at the same time very slowly — sort of skating. I just go at a different speed.
Here is mine – 13 Best novel first lines!
February 4th, 2010 at 5:53 am · Link
My mom loved watching the figure skating. I inherited her love. Sigh. I miss her…
Happy T13!
February 4th, 2010 at 6:46 am · Link
Good post. I like the Luge. Happy TT!
February 4th, 2010 at 7:22 am · Link
I’m not really a winter sport person – I enjoy watching winter sports more than summer sports, for the most part – but I enjoy DOING summer sports more.
Probably because nearly all winter sports involve things that would murder my knees and ankles. lol.
February 4th, 2010 at 7:53 am · Link
Lots of fun stuff- that’s for sure!
Have a great Thursday!
http://iamharriet.blogspot.com/2010/02/they-said-were-not-laughing-at-you-were.html
February 4th, 2010 at 7:55 am · Link
Living in Florida we don’t get many chances at ice / snow sports, but I do like to ice skate!
Skeleton – now that sounds exciting. In a “I’d never do that in a million years” sort of way
February 4th, 2010 at 7:59 am · Link
I love to watch figure skating and ice dancing. It’s such a gorgeous sport.
February 4th, 2010 at 8:01 am · Link
To answer your question at the end….nope and nope. Well, I’ll take that back, just reading about them in the news and seeing clips of it on the news.
My 13 is listed below my Thursday Thunks…scroll down a bit on my blog entry. It’s all about odd surnames and their origins today —like Suess, etc. Here they are I’m going through the Mr. Linky right now, so if you’ve stopped by already and I didn’t know…….thanks for the visit.
February 4th, 2010 at 8:55 am · Link
One time I got totally into Curling. It’s awesome.
I can’t WAIT for the Olympics.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:12 am · Link
I much prefer the winter olympics to the summer games! We actually went to the winter olympics in Salt Lake and that was really cool!
*hugs*
Paige
My TT is at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/
February 4th, 2010 at 9:18 am · Link
I’m going to try to watch some of the Olympics. I don’t have any favorites.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:48 am · Link
I used to love ice skating when I was little and always wanted to take lessons. I love watching the ice sports most in the Olympics–figure skating, speed skating (some of the best in the world have come from Wisconsin!), and hockey (our UW women’s coach, Mark Johnson, is leading Team USA [women] this year).
February 4th, 2010 at 11:14 am · Link
I am an Olympics fiend! I’ve gone ice skating once, and managed to remain upright (save for one spill) for 4 hrs.
I can hardly wait for the Olympics though. I’m so stoked!
February 4th, 2010 at 11:38 am · Link
I actually blew out my knee downhill ski racing. I trained with an Olympian in dresage and horsemastership, and would have loved to train for the Olympics in swimming. I don’t like watching so much because the ads drive me nuts and I find the commentators mostly inane, but I think the figure skating is poetry in motion.
Thank you for sharing your favorites!
Happy TT!
February 4th, 2010 at 12:04 pm · Link
Is snow angel making an Olympic event? I can do that.
13 Characters from Rose and Prince Brendan
February 4th, 2010 at 1:13 pm · Link
I love watching the Olympics, winter and summer. My favorite winter sport is the ice skating hands down.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:21 pm · Link
I haven’t watched much of the Olympics lately, but did enjoy what I watched of the Summer.
In the past, I enjoyed watching the skating and skiing.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:44 pm · Link
I see that a lot of you like to watch figure skating. I think it’s a perfect sport to watch on TV. I enjoy watching the way the skaters fit their routines and the music together. I still remember Torvil and Dean. They were awesome.
A Catherine – ouch. Knee injuries are painful!!
I promise you that our TV coverage is heaps better in NZ. We still have ads but even our ads are ten times better than American ones.
February 4th, 2010 at 2:34 pm · Link
I always like the skating best. It’s the most artistic.
February 4th, 2010 at 2:43 pm · Link
Great list. Figure skating is my favorite.
Happy Thursday!
February 4th, 2010 at 2:44 pm · Link
Wii fit!! Love ski jumping on that thing.
I ice skated in college as one of my gym requirements. That was fun. Very far from professional, but a good way to get out of the dorm room.
Great reminder about the events. They’re so close now.
February 4th, 2010 at 5:49 pm · Link
I think you know I once played ice hockey. Loved it. Miss it.
We’re all about snowboarding over here. Opening Act #1 even bought himself a board!
February 4th, 2010 at 7:13 pm · Link
I ahven’t tried any of those sports, I’m not much into sports. The only sport I actually ever played was softball and that’s only because I could hit it really far, so it didn’t really matter that I didn’t run fast. lol
I don’t like watching most sports on tv, I don’t usually watch the olympics.
The only thing I ahve watched on tv that’s sort of a sport is the UFC. Who doesn’t want to watch half naked men beating the crap out of each other? lol
February 6th, 2010 at 11:44 am · Link
I haven’t done any of these, but I do love to watch them on tv. I watch as much of the Olympics as I can. Summer and Winter both. I collect Olympic postcards but haven’t managed to get any yet for this years.