XXI Winter Olympics, Eh?: Am I the Only One Watching?

The stage has been set. About 2,500 athletes from 82 nations around the world are competing to see who’s the best at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Each time the international competition comes around, I’m glued to the TV, but does anyone else care? Most of the people I talk to don’t really know what’s going on or say they prefer the Summer Olympics. Is it because most of the sports featured are not the most popular sports played/watched in the U.S.? It seems like more people know about what happened in the Super Bowl and World Series. Here are a few reasons to get into the Olympic spirit.

The games kicked off on Friday in Vancouver, Canada. Just by tuning in, you’ll learn some interesting facts about the United States’ neighbor up north. Did you know that Canada is the second largest country in the world in area, only behind Russia? Or that despite the large amount of land, 90% of the citizens live near the Canadian/U.S. border (which is the longest in the world)? Have you realized how many celebrities hail from Canada? Michael J. Fox, Nelly Furtado, Jim Carrey, Sarah McLachlan, Bryan Adams, Wayne Gretzky…to name a few. The country’s vast landscape, Aboriginal people, and culture were showcased during the opening ceremonies through video and amazing LED screen technology.

It’s an Olympics of firsts. Cayman Islands, Columbia, Ghana, Montenegro, Pakistan, Peru and Serbia will make their first appearance in the winter games. This is also the first time athletes will participate in the ski-cross (a timed event that covers natural and artificial terrain) competition. Latvian speedskater Haralds Silovs has become the first Olympian to ever compete in two different events on the same day (during the first day of competition, Silvos raced in both long and short track). After holding the Olympics for the third time, moguls skier Alexandre Bilodeau became Canada’s hero on Sunday. He gave the country its first gold medal on Canadian soil.

Then there are the other people looking to make history. U.S. speed skating champion Apolo Anton Ohno began his quest to be the most decorated American in Winter Olympics history. He is looking to beat fellow speedskater Bonnie Blair’s total of six medals. So far he tied the record by winning a silver medal in the 1500m short track on Saturday. “The Flying Tomato,” Shaun White, plans to show off his latest trick, the “Double McTwist 1260,” in hopes of adding another gold to his collection of snowboarding medals. After ending a 30-year medal draught for Americans in ice dancing in 2006, Tanith Belbin (who was actually a Canadian citizen up until the end of 2005) and Ben Agosto hope to go from silver in Torino to gold in Vancouver. The most successful woman skier in American history, Lindsey Vonn, hopes her shin injury won’t hurt her chance for the gold. People are saying that she may be for the winter Olympics what Michael Phelps was for the summer Olympics. Those are just a few of the highly anticipated American athletes participating this year.

If all that doesn’t help, how about seeing former Dancing with the Stars contestants compete in the sports that made them famous? Apolo Anton Ohno, who I mentioned earlier, is a former winner. Louie Vito is competing in the half pipe snowboarding event.

Athletes train most of their lives for a chance to compete in the Olympics. Will records be broken? Will injury-plagued athletes rise up and claim Olympic gold? Who will get bragging rights? There will be come from behind victories, trials, tribulations and triumphs from the world’s top athletes…what’s not to like? All you have to do is just turn on the TV and watch the XXI Winter Olympics. Hey, you might even enjoy it.

By Michelle Vaccaro