According to the NBC Olympics website, the top five countries with the most gold medals in bobsled are: Switzerland, Germany, US, Italy, and Canada. Here’s a list of each country’s main contenders for the gold this year:
Switzerland
Sabina Hafner
Beat Hefti
Ivo Rueegg
Germany
Karl Angerer
Thomas Florschuetz
Sandra Kiriasis
Andre Lange
Cathleen Martini
Claudia Schramm
US
Steve Holcomb
John Napier
Shauna Rohbock
Erin Pac
Bree Schaaf
Helen Upperton
Italy
Simone Bertazzo
Canada
Kailli Humphries
Pierre Lueders
Lyndon Rush
Helen Upperton
Some athletes in particular catch the eye of the NBC Olympics website in their “What To Expect” article on bobsledding:
Andre Lange- Germany's Andre Lange, who has won two straight Olympic gold medals in four-man, is also the defending champion in two-man. In Torino, he became just the fifth driver ever to win two-man and four-man gold at the same Games and the third athlete (second driver) to win three career bobsled gold medals. In 2008, he won the overall World Cup crown for the fourth time and claimed both the two- and four-man world titles. Last season was more challenging -- Lange struggled with injuries to his crew and equipment problems -- but he still managed a silver medal showing in four-man at the 2009 World Championships. Lange now has 17 career world and Olympic medals, one more than Italian bobsled legend Eugenio Monti.
Steve Holcomb- The U.S. men were shut out of the medals in Torino, but Steve Holcomb has since solidly established his place among the world's top drivers. He claimed the overall World Cup title in 2006-07 and at the 2009 World Championships, the Park City native drove his four-man "Night Train" sled to the first world title for the American men in half a century, beating Andre Lange by nearly a second. That win came one year after a degenerative eye condition left Holcomb legally blind and on the brink of retiring from the sport. He had collamer lenses inserted behind each iris, an experimental procedure that improved his vision from 20-500 to 20-20 in about 10 minutes, and his career was back on track.
Nicola Minichiello- Looking to expand the British bobsled program, Nicola Minichiello turned to modern means: Facebook. The two-time Olympian and former heptathlete sent friend requests to athlete acquaintances in track and field and rugby. Gillian Cooke, who had been a pole vaulter and long jumper, accepted and a few weeks later, received a message asking if she wanted a shot at being Minichiello's brakeman. By August 2008, she was testing out her abilities on a push track. And six months later, the duo was celebrating Great Britain's first world title in 44 years. Minichiello will look capitalize on her world championship momentum in Vancouver, something she was unable to accomplish last time around. Minichiello had a strong showing at the previous pre-Olympic World Championships, finishing second in 2005, but ended up ninth in Torino.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Biathlon Key Athletes
According to the NBC Olympics website, the top five countries with the most gold medals in alpine skiing are: Germany, Soviet Union, Norway, Russia, and East Germany. By today’s political standards, some of these countries are now the same. Here’s a list of each country’s main contenders for the gold this year:
Germany
Michael Greis
Andrea Henkel
Magdalena Neuner
Kati Wilhelm
Russia
Olga Medvedtseva
Svetlana Sleptsova
Ivan Tcherezov
Olga Zaitseva
Norway
Halvard Hanevold
Emil Hegle Svendsen
France
Vincent Defrasna
Simon Fourcade
Sweden
Carl Johan Bergman
Helena Jonsson
Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek
Some athletes in particular catch the eye of the NBC Olympics website in their “What To Expect” article on the biathlon:
Michael Greis: Germany's Michael Greis is expected to do well again. Greis won three gold medals in Torino (15km mass start, 20km individual, 4x7.5km relay). He was a member of the bronze medal-winning relay team at the 2009 World Championships and could again win multiple individual medals in 2010.
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen: Nine-time Olympic medalist Ole Einar Bjoerndalen will look to add to his collection at age 36. Having won three individual gold medals (20km individual, 10km sprint, 12.5km pursuit) at the 2009 Worlds, he has demonstrated that he is still among the men to beat.
Kati Wilhelm: Veteran Kati Wilhelm the way for the Germans. She won two gold and two silver medals at the 2009 World Championships.
Germany
Michael Greis
Andrea Henkel
Magdalena Neuner
Kati Wilhelm
Russia
Olga Medvedtseva
Svetlana Sleptsova
Ivan Tcherezov
Olga Zaitseva
Norway
Halvard Hanevold
Emil Hegle Svendsen
France
Vincent Defrasna
Simon Fourcade
Sweden
Carl Johan Bergman
Helena Jonsson
Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek
Some athletes in particular catch the eye of the NBC Olympics website in their “What To Expect” article on the biathlon:
Michael Greis: Germany's Michael Greis is expected to do well again. Greis won three gold medals in Torino (15km mass start, 20km individual, 4x7.5km relay). He was a member of the bronze medal-winning relay team at the 2009 World Championships and could again win multiple individual medals in 2010.
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen: Nine-time Olympic medalist Ole Einar Bjoerndalen will look to add to his collection at age 36. Having won three individual gold medals (20km individual, 10km sprint, 12.5km pursuit) at the 2009 Worlds, he has demonstrated that he is still among the men to beat.
Kati Wilhelm: Veteran Kati Wilhelm the way for the Germans. She won two gold and two silver medals at the 2009 World Championships.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
2010 Vancouver Olympic Medal Designs Revealed
(Info taken from nbcolympics.com and engadget.com)
Last Thursday the gold, silver and bronze medals were displayed by British Columbia Premier Godron Campbell. The circular medals will weigh 1.1 to 1.3 pounds - the heaviest in Olympic and Paralympic history. The medals are based on two large artworks of an orca whale and raven by Canadian designer Corrine Hunt.
The medal designs took lots of collaboration, including work from Hunt, industrial designer Omer Arbel, the Royal Canadian Mint, Teck Resources Limited, and VANOC’s in-house design team.
The Paralympic medal is a squared circle shape with the raven as the motif. The black wings and profile appear in a three-part composition in the style of a totem pole. The raven was used as a symbol of transformation and healing abilities. The raven also serves as a representation of determination, creativity and wisdom.
Each medal is struck nine times to achieve the distinctive look as part of the 30-step medal fabrication process.
The Royal Canadian Mint will produce 615 Olympic and 399 Paralympic medals for the 2010 Winter Games at their headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario.
Ore for the metals came from mines in Canada, Alaska and Chile. The medals' undulating surfaces represent the sea and mountains of Canada's west coast.
Engadget.com had even more information on these unique medals:
“They also contain a few surprises that aren't immediately apparent -- namely, they're all made at least partly from recycled circuit boards. Of course, the circuit boards have also been recycled beyond recognition, but each of the medals do apparently sport a one of a kind design. Sure, it's not enough to make a dent in the e-waste problem, but it's a heckuva way to kick start a trend.”
Last Thursday the gold, silver and bronze medals were displayed by British Columbia Premier Godron Campbell. The circular medals will weigh 1.1 to 1.3 pounds - the heaviest in Olympic and Paralympic history. The medals are based on two large artworks of an orca whale and raven by Canadian designer Corrine Hunt.
The medal designs took lots of collaboration, including work from Hunt, industrial designer Omer Arbel, the Royal Canadian Mint, Teck Resources Limited, and VANOC’s in-house design team.
The Paralympic medal is a squared circle shape with the raven as the motif. The black wings and profile appear in a three-part composition in the style of a totem pole. The raven was used as a symbol of transformation and healing abilities. The raven also serves as a representation of determination, creativity and wisdom.
Each medal is struck nine times to achieve the distinctive look as part of the 30-step medal fabrication process.
The Royal Canadian Mint will produce 615 Olympic and 399 Paralympic medals for the 2010 Winter Games at their headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario.
Ore for the metals came from mines in Canada, Alaska and Chile. The medals' undulating surfaces represent the sea and mountains of Canada's west coast.
Engadget.com had even more information on these unique medals:
“They also contain a few surprises that aren't immediately apparent -- namely, they're all made at least partly from recycled circuit boards. Of course, the circuit boards have also been recycled beyond recognition, but each of the medals do apparently sport a one of a kind design. Sure, it's not enough to make a dent in the e-waste problem, but it's a heckuva way to kick start a trend.”
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Alpine Skiing Key Athletes
Want to know more about the 2010 Olympic sports and the athletes to watch out for? Well so do we! Since there are 15 sports, this will be the first of 15 blogs talking about one sport in particular and the key athletes to take note of in the games. This week we talk about alpine skiing. The top five countries with the most gold medals in alpine skiing are: Austria, Switzerland, France, United States, and Italy. Here’s a list of each country’s main contenders for the gold this year:
Austria
Benjamin Raich
Marlies Schild
Rainer Schoenfelder
Kathrin Zettel
Switzerland
Daniel Albrecht
Didier Cuche
Lara Gut
Carlo Janka
France
Jean-Baptiste Grange
Julien Lizeroux
Marie Marchand
US
Julia Mancuso
Ted Ligety
Lindsey Vonn
Stacey Cook
Hailey Duke
Bode Miller
Marco Sullivan
Steven Nyman
Scott Macartney
Andrew Weibrecht
Italy
Nadia Franchini
Some athletes in particular catch the eye of the NBC Olympics website in their “What To Expect”article on alpine skiing: Lindsey Vonn, Aksel Lund Scindal and Anja Paerson.
Lindsey Vonn: Four years after she suffered a frightening crash during a training run at the 2006 Torino Games, Lindsey Vonn is poised to become one of the top stories in 2010...In the years since [the accident], Vonn has become the most successful female skier in US history, winning both the World Cup overall and downhill titles for the second consecutive year following the 2008-09 season. The versatile two-time champion could contend for a medal in each of the five Olympic events she enters, though downhill and super-G are her strongest. Vonn will face a competitive international field that includes Sweden’s Anja Paerson, Austria’s Kathrin Zettel, and Germany’s Maria Riesch, one of Vonn’s best friends.
Aksel Lund Scindal: If Lindsey Vonn is to be considered the newest queen of the sport, then Norwegian should be appointed its Viking king. The two-time overall World Cup winner will be 27 years old in Vancouver, arguably the prime of a skier's career, and could leave with multiple medals. In recent years, men's skiing has lacked a global icon in the mode of Austria's Hermann Maier or Italy's Alberto Tomba. Svindal has the skill (five world medals), physical presence (6-foot-5, 210 pounds), panache (regular English Tweeter) and requisite crash account (facial fractures, missing teeth), to carry Alpine's mainstream mantle into the future. Svindal could find his first Olympic medal on the very first day of competition in the men's downhill, an event he attended as an 11-year-old at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.
Anja Paerson: As it stands now, Sweden's Anja Paerson has five career Olympic medals, more than any other active Alpine skier. Of the women, only Croatia's Janica Kostelic has more (six) in Olympic history. In her two Olympic appearances, the reigning slalom champion captured medals in four of the five disciplines (save super-G), a testament to her dynamic ability. Paerson, who's also a seven-time world champion, will be 28 in Vancouver and has stated that she plans to retire following the Games. If she manages to win two medals, a not unlikely scenario, the Swede will leave skiing as the sport's most decorated female ever.
Austria
Benjamin Raich
Marlies Schild
Rainer Schoenfelder
Kathrin Zettel
Switzerland
Daniel Albrecht
Didier Cuche
Lara Gut
Carlo Janka
France
Jean-Baptiste Grange
Julien Lizeroux
Marie Marchand
US
Julia Mancuso
Ted Ligety
Lindsey Vonn
Stacey Cook
Hailey Duke
Bode Miller
Marco Sullivan
Steven Nyman
Scott Macartney
Andrew Weibrecht
Italy
Nadia Franchini
Some athletes in particular catch the eye of the NBC Olympics website in their “What To Expect”article on alpine skiing: Lindsey Vonn, Aksel Lund Scindal and Anja Paerson.
Lindsey Vonn: Four years after she suffered a frightening crash during a training run at the 2006 Torino Games, Lindsey Vonn is poised to become one of the top stories in 2010...In the years since [the accident], Vonn has become the most successful female skier in US history, winning both the World Cup overall and downhill titles for the second consecutive year following the 2008-09 season. The versatile two-time champion could contend for a medal in each of the five Olympic events she enters, though downhill and super-G are her strongest. Vonn will face a competitive international field that includes Sweden’s Anja Paerson, Austria’s Kathrin Zettel, and Germany’s Maria Riesch, one of Vonn’s best friends.
Aksel Lund Scindal: If Lindsey Vonn is to be considered the newest queen of the sport, then Norwegian should be appointed its Viking king. The two-time overall World Cup winner will be 27 years old in Vancouver, arguably the prime of a skier's career, and could leave with multiple medals. In recent years, men's skiing has lacked a global icon in the mode of Austria's Hermann Maier or Italy's Alberto Tomba. Svindal has the skill (five world medals), physical presence (6-foot-5, 210 pounds), panache (regular English Tweeter) and requisite crash account (facial fractures, missing teeth), to carry Alpine's mainstream mantle into the future. Svindal could find his first Olympic medal on the very first day of competition in the men's downhill, an event he attended as an 11-year-old at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.
Anja Paerson: As it stands now, Sweden's Anja Paerson has five career Olympic medals, more than any other active Alpine skier. Of the women, only Croatia's Janica Kostelic has more (six) in Olympic history. In her two Olympic appearances, the reigning slalom champion captured medals in four of the five disciplines (save super-G), a testament to her dynamic ability. Paerson, who's also a seven-time world champion, will be 28 in Vancouver and has stated that she plans to retire following the Games. If she manages to win two medals, a not unlikely scenario, the Swede will leave skiing as the sport's most decorated female ever.
Monday, December 7, 2009
2010 Vancouver Olympics emblem- The Inunnguaq
One exciting aspect of the unveiling of the location of the next Olmypics, is also the unveiling of that year’s emblem. For the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) has chosen the native American icon, inukshuk, or more specifically, the inunnguac. Here’s what Wikipedia had to say about this human-like stone formation:
An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) is a stone landmark or cairn built by humans, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found from Alaska to Greenland.
The inuksuk may have been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for hunting grounds, or as a food cache.[4] The Inupiat in northern Alaska used inuksuit to assist in the herding of caribou into contained areas for slaughter.[5]
Historically the most common type of inuksuit is a single stone positioned in an upright manner.[6] An inuksuk is often confused with an inunnguaq, a cairn representing a human figure.
The word inuksuk means "something which acts for or performs the function of a person." The word comes from the morphemes inuk ("person") and -suk ("ersatz" or "substitute").
The largest inukshuk is located in Schomberg, Ontario.
The 2010 Vancouver website goes into greater detail about the specific inunnguac used as the emblem for the 2010 games:
The Vancouver 2010 emblem is named ILANAAQ - the Inuit word for friend.
"Ilanaaq above all is a team player," said John Furlong, chief executive officer of the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). "As VANOC relies on partnerships and a shared vision to deliver the Games, so does our emblem. Each stone relies on the other to support the whole. Together, the result is a symbol of strength, vision and teamwork that points us all in the direction of excellence and it will welcome the world to Canada in 2010." The emblem was chosen by an international judging panel from more than 1,600 entries from every region of Canada submitted through the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Emblem Design Competition. Rivera Design Group of Vancouver submitted the design, created by a team including company principal and creative director Elena Rivera MacGregor and designer Gonzalo Alatorre.
Unveiled during a live nation-wide television broadcast, the Vancouver 2010 emblem shows the deep connection between Canadians and their breathtaking environment. The emblem features five stone-like formations depicted in vibrant colours found in both the natural features of the Vancouver-Whistler Games host region and across Canada. Green and blues represent coastal forests, mountain ranges and spectacular islands. The red is for Canada's signature maple leaf and the gold evokes images of the brilliant sunrises that paint the Vancouver skyline and snow-capped mountain peaks.
Here’s a picture of a bid for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. You be the judge about which one looks best!
An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) is a stone landmark or cairn built by humans, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found from Alaska to Greenland.
The inuksuk may have been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for hunting grounds, or as a food cache.[4] The Inupiat in northern Alaska used inuksuit to assist in the herding of caribou into contained areas for slaughter.[5]
Historically the most common type of inuksuit is a single stone positioned in an upright manner.[6] An inuksuk is often confused with an inunnguaq, a cairn representing a human figure.
The word inuksuk means "something which acts for or performs the function of a person." The word comes from the morphemes inuk ("person") and -suk ("ersatz" or "substitute").
The largest inukshuk is located in Schomberg, Ontario.
The 2010 Vancouver website goes into greater detail about the specific inunnguac used as the emblem for the 2010 games:
The Vancouver 2010 emblem is named ILANAAQ - the Inuit word for friend.
"Ilanaaq above all is a team player," said John Furlong, chief executive officer of the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). "As VANOC relies on partnerships and a shared vision to deliver the Games, so does our emblem. Each stone relies on the other to support the whole. Together, the result is a symbol of strength, vision and teamwork that points us all in the direction of excellence and it will welcome the world to Canada in 2010." The emblem was chosen by an international judging panel from more than 1,600 entries from every region of Canada submitted through the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Emblem Design Competition. Rivera Design Group of Vancouver submitted the design, created by a team including company principal and creative director Elena Rivera MacGregor and designer Gonzalo Alatorre.
Unveiled during a live nation-wide television broadcast, the Vancouver 2010 emblem shows the deep connection between Canadians and their breathtaking environment. The emblem features five stone-like formations depicted in vibrant colours found in both the natural features of the Vancouver-Whistler Games host region and across Canada. Green and blues represent coastal forests, mountain ranges and spectacular islands. The red is for Canada's signature maple leaf and the gold evokes images of the brilliant sunrises that paint the Vancouver skyline and snow-capped mountain peaks.
Here’s a picture of a bid for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. You be the judge about which one looks best!
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