Vancouver XXI Winter Olympics Begin

Filed under: Entertainment,Florida News,Just For Fun,Leisure |

Well, today’s the day that the 21st Winter Olympics begin and they run all the way through to 28 February. The Winter Olympics feature many winter sports held on snow or ice, such as alpine sking, cross country skiing, figure skating, bobsledding and ice hockey.  Cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating have been competed at every Winter Olympics since 1924. Other athletic events have been added as the Games have progressed. Some of these events, such as luge, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing have earned a permanent spot on the Olympic programme. Others, like speed skiing, bandy and skijoring  have been demonstration sports  but never incorporated officially as an Olympic sport.

With a population of more than 2.5 million people, Vancouver will be the largest metropolitan area to ever host a Winter Olympic Games. Vancouver is a beautiful low-altitude, seaport city with a perfect climate to host the games. Most of the venues will be located in the Vancouver metropolitan area, with the exception of the alpine, Nordic, and sliding events, which will be held in Whistler…a truly wonderful place. 

The big news ahead of the events is the news that American ski star Lindsey Vonn is injured and may not compete in the  first test of the women’s downhill run.

Vonn, who stunned fans and media alike by announcing she had picked up a shin injury during training in Austria last week, was left grimacing in agony after pulling her ski boots on for the first time in days.

The 25-year-old two-time World Cup champion had harboured hopes of winning at least one, and at most three gold medals here in Whistler.

However, after gingerly walking past onlookers as her coach carried her skis to the lift, a dejected looking Vonn looked a million miles away from the top step of the Olympic podium.

Vonn was set to start the first downhill training run for her first scheduled race, the super-combined on Sunday, with bib number 16. Let’s hope she recovers…the world deserves to see the best compete.

Injuries also seem to be dominating the world of men’s ice hockey as well.

The list of Olympic walking wounded grew this week with Canadian forward Ryan Getzlaf going down with an injured left ankle while playing for the Anaheim Ducks in the National Hockey League.

Canadian general manager Steve Yzerman announced that Philadelphia Flyers forward Jeff Carter was put on standby in case Getzlaf can’t play in Canada’s first game against Norway next Tuesday.

“I talked to Ryan and his condition is improving. He will try to play this weekend. He needs to skate and see what he can tolerate. Healing is a slow process,” Yzerman said.

Doctors carried out a medical scan on Getzlaf Tuesday which revealled no broken bones.

Injuries are not just limited to Canada with defending champions Sweden also suffering.

Forward Tomas Holmstrom is listed as day-to-day with a leg injury and defenceman Niklas Kronwall is out with a knee injury.

Sweden was given a scare last month when Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson separated his shoulder and ended up missing 11 NHL games before making his return to the Senators line-up.

The United States is one of the hardest hit teams by injuries in the weeks leading up to the Games.

Team USA lost defenceman Mike Komisarek due to a season-ending shoulder injury that will need surgery while they are also without defenceman Paul Martin of the New Jersey Devils with a broken arm.

Ryan Whitney of Anaheim and Tim Gleason of the Carolina Hurricanes were named as replacements by American general manager Brian Burke.

Finnish goaltender Niklas Backstrom has been battling a sore back but he is expected to return to the Minnesota Wild lineup this week.

Forward Teemu Selanne also vows to be ready for Vancouver despite breaking his jaw in a January 13 game against Boston.

He will wear a protective face guard over the jaw area.

It was the second serious injury this season for the Ducks star Selanne, who will be competing in his fifth Olympic Games, after missing 17 games earlier this season with a badly broken hand.

Slovakia is still waiting word on the status of superstar forward Marian Gaborik who is out of the New York Rangers’ lineup after suffering a thigh laceration in practice on Tuesday.

The injury occurred when Gaborik collided with Swedish Olympic goaltender and Rangers’ teammate Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist’s skate sliced into Gaborik’s thigh causing a deep gash that required stitches.

Here’s a link to the schedule for the 16 day event and a video preview:

vodafone tl yükleme kontör yükleme hamile giyim turkcell fatura alanya escort işbankası kredi kartı borç sorgulama elektrik faturası ödeme turkcell tl yükleme tl yükleme hgs yükleme pvp serverler site ekle r57 shell indir antalya escort yapı kredi borç sorgulama finansbank borç sorgulama akbank borç sorgulama ogs yükleme enerjisa fatura ödeme clk akdeniz fatura ödeme