Winter Olympics News

It’s still over two years until the Vancouver Olympics, but when you’re a world class skater, that time hardly seems like enough. Evan Lysacek hopes that it’s enough time to prepare him to win a gold in Vancouver in 2010. You can read more in his recent interview here.

If you’re a fan of Apolo Ohno, and you haven’t been watching Dancing With the Stars, you should be. I’ve been really impressed by Apolo’s dance skills. And he and his partner are just as cute as can be. So, tune in on Monday nights to see Apolo showcasing a whole different set of moves than he shows on the short track.

If you just can’t get enough of the Winter Olympics, and you can’t wait for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, then you can at least start buying souvenirs. The first of what will eventually be 17 collector’s coins are set to start circulating February 23.

12 year old Stephanie Orton has had a rough life. After being removed from her parents for neglect and living in foster care, her grandmother was finally able to adopt her. To help her build confidence, her grandmother enrolled the 7 year old in skating lessons. Since then Stephanie has flourished, in skating and in life. Recently she was told that her $15,000 a year skating lessons will be covered by an anonymous family from Michigan. Hopefully, this will enable her to pursue her Olympic dreams.

Cesare Vaciago, the chief executive officer for the Turin Olympic Organizing Committee, believes that the Vancouver organizers have underestimated the cost of construction for the Olympics venues for the 2010 Olympics.

Vancouver officials defend their budget, saying they have fewer venues to build than the Italian city of Torino.

It would be nice to think that for a half billion dollars you could build whatever buildings you needed to build for an Olympics. Apparently, that’s not necessarily so.

Lady ski jumpers aren’t the only ones who hope to add their sport to the Vancouver Olympics. Four other events will be considered for inclusion in the 2010 Vancouver games when the Olympic committee meets in November. The other events are ski-cross (similar to snowboard cross, which was a big hit in Turin), team luge, individual curling, and a team ski event.

Out of these, I’d be most interested to see the ski-cross and individual curling events. I can’t imagine how the curlers will push the stone and then sweep for themselves. Presumably, it must be played a bit differently.

If things continue along the current path, Vancouver will be the site of the very first women’s ski jumping Olympic medal. Currently, there are no Olympic events for women in the area of ski jumping, but this could all change soon. The International Ski Federation voted Friday to include an individual women’s event in the 2009 World Championships. This is the first step towards allowing the women to compete in the Olympics.

The short answer is— yes. But if the question is “will Apolo Ohno be competing at the Vancouver Games”, then the answer would be “maybe”. In a recent interview, Apolo Ohno said he’s been too busy to think about whether he wants to commit the next 3 1/2 years to training to compete in Vancouver in 2010.

Canada is preparing to utilize NATO or Norad (backed up by the U.S. Airforce) for patrolling the skies during the Olympics. I hope this means that they plan to pay for the service. While I have no problem helping our neighbors to the north, I do think that the security needed to host a modern Olympics is something that ought to be taken into consideration when a location bids to host the Olympics.

I didn’t realize that joining the National Guard was so popular among Olympic athletes, but apparently it is. Courtney Zablocki just joined, after finishing fourth in Turin. Joining the Guard allows her to receive a stipend while continuing to train. Zablocki hopes to to compete in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

You would think environmentalists would be thrilled that the government of British Columbia has announced a plan to save the spotted owl. You would be mistaken. Environmental groups think that the plan, which ends shortly after the 2010 Winter Olympics, is simply for the benefit of the international community as the Olympic spotlight is focused on Vancouver.

Country music sensation Toby Keith has been spending some time learning the sport of curling. He says he has ambitions of attending the Vancouver Olympics as a competitor. It would certainly be good publicity for the sport.

It’s four years down the road, and in skating that can be a lifetime, but Sasha Cohen plans to attempt one more Olympics bid. She will probably skip this year’s Grand Prix events, due to commitments to the Champions on Ice tour. But after that, she hopes to return to a more traditional competitive schedule and plans to include a trip to Vancouver in her future.

Oh, I don’t know how this is going to work out. Generally speaking, the Olympic Committee frowns upon sites that attempt to represent themselves as official sites. I don’t know how they feel about spoofs, but they don’t seem to have a big sense of humor about these types of things.

There is a site that has spoofed the Vancouver Olympics official site. Visit it quick, as it could be gone soon. Apparently, they’re not too happy with Canada, how it handles multi-culturalism, how it handles the Native populations. Well, basically, they’re just not happy. But they are funny.

Most people don’t just decide to be Olympians. Most of have trained a large portion of their lives for their chosen sport. But sometimes, while watching the Olympics, someone gets the bug. Matt Deminico is one of those people. After watching the Turin Olympics, he has decided to take up short track skating, with the goal of competing in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. You can read all about his progress on his blog. Good luck, Matt, and keep us posted!