The opening ceremony was spectacular showcasing modern Russia to the largest gathering of countries in the Winter Olympics ever! The stadium was converted to a fairyland with fog, clouds and snowflakes that converted to Olympic Rings. There were lots of dances choreographed to music and lighting and a finale of fireworks!
For 16 days this February, over 3,000 participants are in Sochi to play the 2014 Winter Games. There are fifteen sports that are a combination of individual and team versions of a few main sports. The sports will be played on ice and snow. There are primarily three main types of winter sports:
- Skating on ice
- Skiing on snow
- Sledding on snow
Let’s look at some of these in more detail.
Figure Skating, is called that because ice skaters leave marks or figures on clean ice. Early skaters noticed that they could draw on the ice – shapes like a circle or a figure 8! Some of the shapes are easy to understand, like the circle. It takes practice and skill to make it perfectly round and end up exactly where you started. The Olympic skaters are so good that circles are too simple - they make complex and beautiful drawings in their competitions. In addition to drawing on ice, figure skaters can do tricks like spins and jumps. At the Olympics, skaters perform their special skating routines choreographed to music - It is treat to watch.
Speed skating, is pretty much just about speed. That’s why it’s called speed skating. Form is important as long as it makes you go faster than the other skaters. Speed skating at the Olympics has different formats, such as short track and long track speed skating. But the purpose is pretty much the same – go faster than anybody else.
Curling, doesn’t get started for a few days after the opening ceremony, but once it starts, it seems to keep going almost to the very end.
Curling is not a game of hairstyling with irons. It is an old sport played on ice with rocks - granite rocks actually.
The game is all about the skills involved in placing the stones to get the highest score and there’s a lot of strategy involved. The game is like Shuffleboard on ice. Teams have to “throw” the rocks close to the target and their teammates help by clearing and "sweeping" the ice around the target, so the stone can come closest to the target. The team with the largest number of stones closest to the target wins.
Skiing Freestyle skiing, is like regular skiing, but freestyle basically has no rules. The idea is to get to the bottom of the mountain as fast as you can without killing yourself or anybody else. There is no nicely groomed path. In places you don’t even ski on the snow – you fly through the air!
Alpine skiing, is just a fancy way of saying downhill skiing because that’s what the contestants do – ski down a hill – a steep hill. They go very fast. In fact, athletes can go over 90 miles an hour! Imagine that! Without a seat belt! Yikes. The point of alpine competition is to get to the finish line as fast as you can, so skiers will be going as fast as their skill, their equipment, and the snow allow.
Biathlon, is ski cross country over a long course, then athletes stop at designated spots to shoot at targets that are at different distances. The skiers shoot either lying down or standing up. The winner is the fastest skier. But what about the most accurate shooter? Doesn’t that count for more than just speed. Well... yes – and no. The point is that at each shooting station, each shooter has to hit all five targets. If you miss, you have to ski a penalty loop for each missed target. So the winner is still determined by who finishes first.
Ski jumping, is about gliding down a long and very steep ramp then springing into the air to fly as far as you can. Because the skiers are going really, really fast and because the ramp is pretty far from the ground, every skier who reaches the end of the ramp does some actual flying. If you’ve ever pretended you can fly, you’ll want to watch these competitions.
Snowboarding, is a new edition to the Olympic games. Snowboarders can do pretty much anything skiers can do – like racing downhill on a groomed course in what is called the slalom, or doing tricks. Trick snowboarding is like freestyle skiing but snowboarders call it slope-style. There is also a snowboard contest where four snowboarders compete at the same time to see who is fastest.
The most popular winter time activity around the world is sledding. All it takes to sled down a hill covered with snow is something to slide on.
Luge, is a form of sledding where one or two persons slide down the hill feet first and face up on sleds with no steering and no brakes. Luge riders can get up 90 miles per hour and the luger with the fastest time wins.
Skeleton, is a form of sledding down the hill lying face down and going head first. The shape of this type of sled looks like a human skeleton and that’s why the event is call the skeleton.
Bobsled, (Europeans call it bobsleigh) has riders inside a special sleigh that exposes only their heads. Just like the other sledding sports, the object is speed. Unlike the other two sledding events, bob-sleighers can steer and they have brakes. Players in the bobsled are moving back and forth to increase their teams speed and viewers can see their helmets “bobbing” - hence the funny name.
Which one is your favorite? Watch the Olympics and let us know!