A bluffer’s guide to the Winter Olympics

Do you know your Skeleton from your luge? Your speed skating from your short track speed skating? Here, the College View gives you a rundown of some of the sports which feature in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Alpine skiing

Ten medal events make up the alpine skiing discipline at the Winter Olympics. There are separate men’s and women’s events, divided into Downhill, Giant Slalom, Slalom, Super-G and Super Combined categories.

Alpine skiing also includes one of the youngest competitors at the Winter Olympics, 16-year-old Ghassan Achi from Lebanon.

• Irish Interest
Shane O’Connor and Kirsty McGarry compete in the alpine skiing event in the men’s and women’s slalom, respectively.

• Frontrunners
Several medals in alpine skiing have already been won. The USA leads the medal table; with one gold, three silver and two bronze.

Norway has won one gold medal and one silver, while Germany and Switzerland have won a gold medal each. Austria and Sweden have both won a single bronze medal each thus far.

Biathlon

With roots in a 19th century training exercise for the Norwegian Army, biathlon combines alpine skiing and rifle shooting to make one cool-looking sport.

Participants must race around a track, stopping at intervals to shoot targets with the rifle slung over their shoulder. In each shooting round, the competitor must shoot five targets.

If they fail to hit five targets, they are penalised either by time addition or otherwise. Ten gold medals are up for grabs across five biathlon categories.

• Frontrunners
So far, Norway lead the biathlon medal table with two gold and two silver medals. The Norwegians are followed by Slovakia (one gold, one silver), Germany (one gold, one silver) and France (one gold, three bronze).

Bobsleigh

You’ve all seen Cool Runnings. Jamaica we have a bobsleigh team, et cetera. This sport involves far more teamwork and coordination than it may initially seem.

Bobsleigh is organised into three categories in the Winter Olympics; two-man, four-man and women. Thirty teams will compete in each of the men’s events, while 40 teams will compete for the gold medal in the women’s events.

• Irish Interest
Ireland has one team in the women’s bobsleigh event; made up of Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin.

Their entrance to the Olympics was disputed, notably by Brazil and Australia, because they entered the qualifying campaign late.

• Frontrunners
Germany and the USA are likely to be dominant in the women’s bobsleigh event as well as the two men’s events.
Switzerland, Russia and Canada also stand a good chance of coming away with medals.

Cross-country skiing

Along with speed skating, cross-country skiing has the most number of medal events (12). Stamina is the name of the game here, as distances vary from fifteen kilometres to 50 kilometres, while the relay event is held over 40 kilometres for a team of four.

• Irish Interest
21-year-old PJ Barron competed in the fifteen kilometre cross country event.

Speaking on the Irish Olympic Council’s website, Barron said; “participating in the 15km race was a huge experience and a learning curve for me. ”

“I felt I was skiing well but I didn’t have the speed I wanted. I skied the hills technically the way I wanted to but it was not fast enough.”

• Frontrunners
Norway are dominating the event so far, with two gold and two bronze medals. The chasing pack is comprised of Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Estonia, Poland and Italy.

Curling

Often cited as one of the world’s most boring sports, Curling is oddly therapeutic if viewed at a certain time of night or early morning.

The principle is similar to Shuffleboard or Bowls; players take turns sliding granite stones across the ice in the direction of a marked target (the house).

The closer the stone is to the house, the better. Two sweepers (with brooms) move in front of the stone as it slides to attempt to direct the stone. Curling is another winter sport that relies on teamwork and cooperation.

• Frontrunners
Among the ten teams playing in the round-robin tournament, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland advanced to the semi-finals (with the hotly fancied British team narrowly missing out).

Canada, as the team which finished top of the table, are favourites to win the gold medal.

Figure skating

As seen in Blades of Glory; only without Will Ferrell, Jon Heder or anything else in that film.

32 nations compete over four events; men’s singles, ladies’ singles, pair skating and ice dancing.

Judges award marks out of ten for skating skills, transitions, performance/execution, choreography and interpretation. The skater with the highest points score wins.

• Frontrunners
So far, China lead the medal table, with one gold and one silver (both in pair skating). The USA follow on the table, with one gold in the men’s singles category.

This Olympic Games is the first games since 1960 in which no Russian pairing has won the gold medal pairs and is also the first games since 1992 that a Russian skater hasn’t won in the men’s singles category.

Ice hockey

One of the most high-profile winter games, mainly thanks to the success of the NHL.

Ice Hockey contains some of the great personalities of this Winter Games, such as Canadian captain Sidney Crosby and veteran Russian centre Sergei Fedorov.

The men’s Olympic competition is made up of three groups of four. The top four teams go through to the quarter finals, while the other eight teams play for the remaining four quarter final spots.

The women’s event is similar, with two groups of four. The top two teams play for the gold medal.

• Frontrunners
The star-studded Canadian team are hot favourites to win the gold, after being drawn in the same group as a tired looking USA team, Switzerland and Norway.

Their rivals for the gold are likely to be Russia, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

Luge

The sport that has unfortunately been getting the most media attention, after Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a crash in a practice run at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

Luge involves lugers sliding at high speeds (up to 150 km/h) around an ice circuit, in order to get the quickest time.
It differs from Skeleton, most notably, because the lugers race feet-first as opposed to head-first.

• Frontrunners
Germany top the medal table with five medals, followed by Austria, Latvia and Italy.

Skeleton

Quite similar to luging, skeleton (like luge) is run on sleds that have no braking or turning mechanism. As a result speeds can similarly reach up to 150 km/h. The sport originates from Switzerland, who have faded away as a force in skeleton events.

• Irish Interest
Wexford’s Patrick Shannon finished 27th overall in the men’s skeleton event. Speaking on the Olympic Council of Ireland’s website, Shannon said; “I was disappointed at my first run. The tension and excitement, plus the unbelievable atmosphere at the start gate got to me. I have never seen anything like it before, with hundreds of fans roaring encouragement and waving flags.”

“Nothing I have ever experienced in World Cup racing had prepared me for this mind blowing Olympic experience.”

• Frontrunners
Canada and Great Britain head the skeleton medal table, with one gold medal each. The accolade for the greatest number of medals accumulated belongs with Germany, with two medals overall.