2008 Woodie Awards
Winter Olympic games a monumental worldwide event
Olympic Insight
By Jared Ursta
Rocket Assistant Sports Editor
Issue date: 2/17/06 Section: Sports
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The games are currently being held in Torino, Italy.
The Winter Olympics consists of 15 sports. According to nbcolympics.com, these sports include; alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsled, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combine, short track, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding and speed skating.
Alpine skiing is broken up into four different events; downhill, super-g, giant slalom and combined. In all five events there are men's and women's events. Downhill is just what the name implies. In this event, athletes race down the steepest and most dangerous course of the skiing events. It's a race against the clock, and the fastest person down the hill gets the gold. Super-G stands for super giant slalom. This event combines downhill and giant slalom. The athletes make one run each and the fastest time wins. Giant Slalom, is a looser version of the slalom, the turns are fewer and wider than a regular slalom. Skiers make two runs on the same hill on different courses, the time is added together and the fastest time wins. Slalom is scored the same as the giant slalom is but the difference is that slalom features quick turns and a shorter course. The last of the Alpine Skiing events is the combine, which has one downhill run and two slalom runs and the three scores are added together. The fastest time wins the event.
The biathlon has five different events, and it combines cross-country skiing and shooting. The five events are sprint, pursuit, mass start, individual and relay. The only differences between each of the events are the variations with distance, start format and penalty format.
Curling is a sport that has gained popularity since the 2002 Winter Olympics. There are two, four member teams that compete against each other. It is often called "chess on ice." The goal of the match is to throw your team's colored stones down the ice towards the bullseye. The way that a team wins is by scoring the most points at the end of the match.
Figure skating is probably the most recognized Winter Olympic sport, with the exception of hockey. In figure skating there are men's and women's, pairs and ice dancing. The men's and women's competition are broken into two categories, the short program and free skate. The short program the skaters can only perform eight required elements and it cannot last for more than 2 minutes and 50 seconds. The eight required elements consist of a triple jump, double jump, two triple jumps or a quadruple jump, and a triple or double jump. Spin combination with only one change of foot and at least of two positions with at least six revolutions on each foot the minimum number of revolutions required in each position is two and two-step sequences of a different nature. In the free skate the skaters have 4:20 to 4:40 to complete a program including jumps, spins, and step sequences.
As for the women's event there is also a long and short program. The short program can last no longer than 2:50 and it must include; double axel, one triple jump preceded by connecting steps, one jump combination consisting of a either of a triple jump, double jump or two triple jumps, a flying spin with a minimum of eight revolutions, layback or sideways leaning spin with a minimum of eight revolutions, spin combination with only one change of foot and at least of two positions with at least six revolutions on each foot the minimum number of revolutions required in each position is two, a spiral step sequence and a step sequence. Then in the free skate the skaters have between 3:50 and 4:10 to complete a program including jumps, spins, and step sequences.
The pairs also have a free skate and short program. In the short program the pairs have maximum of 2:50 to complete a routine that includes; any hip-lift take off, one twist lift, one throw jump, one solo jump, solo spin with only one change of foot and at least one of position with a minimum of five revolution on each foot, death spiral, step sequence and a pair spin combination with only one change of foot and at least one change of position with no less that eight revolutions. In the free skate program, the couple has between 4:20 and 4:40 minutes to complete a routine including lifts, twist lifts, throw jumps, jump and spin elements, death spirals and step sequence.
The other popular sport that is associated with the Olympics is ice hockey. This Olympic sport doesn't need any rules explanation. The big rivalry is always the United States vs. Canada. The expectations are high for both the men's and women's team and everyone is looking to see if the United States and Canada women's team will continue their streak of facing each other in every major hockey championship.
The youngest of the Winter Olympic sports snowboarding, will pit the best snowboarders from all over the world in three events, half pipe, Parallel Giant Slalom and Snowboard cross. Half pipe, which got its start at the X-games, brings the extreme touch to Olympics. Another of the popular sports is speed skating, which also gained more popularity after the Salt Lake City games of four years ago by the surprising effort of Apollo Anton Ohno. In speed skating there are seven different events; the 500, 1,000, 1,500, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 meter races. The 3,000 meter race is only for women and the 10,000 meter race is only for men. Each event consists of two skaters going head to head to see who wins. In team pursuit, it pits three skaters of one country versus three of another country.
