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Fun Facts To know About The Winter Olympics And USA’s Favorite Athletes From The Past and Present

2nd March, 2010 - Posted by health news - No Comments

The 2010 Winter Olympic games are gearing up to start soon

here, being held in Vancouver, Canada. The Winter Olympics happen every four years and have been going on since the very first one happened in 1924 in France. These games are quite a bit smaller than the Summer Olympics as there are not as many sports to compete in that involve snow or ice. Since the first winter games started some events have {been around|existed such as various types of skating events, skiing races and bobsledding. The United States have hosted the winter games four times, more than any other country. Athletes train hard year round using Olympic plates and different training equipment. A lot of athletes also are sponsored by companies and have to promote them at events such as a treadmill sale.There are many moments things that happened with American athletes during the Winter Olympics and this article will discuss just some of those times.

The Olympics in Squaw Valley was the first to incorporate some of the new events for the Olympics. Because this area was not too developed, there was a huge urgency to build, hotels, shops and even roads to prepare for the Olympics. This was also the first time that a special athlete’s village was constructed and the first time computers were used for the stats of all of the events. The beginning of agrand opening and closing ceremonies also happened at Squaw Valley with Walt Disney planning those events in 1960.

In 1976, the figure skater, Dorothy Hamill became called USA’s sweetheart after winning the gold medal in the Olympics. Her trademark spin was trademarked as the Hamill Camel and a lot of young girls wanted her her short haircut and bought the doll fashioned after her. Lake Placid hosted the winter games for the second time in 1980 and it had some issues surrounding it with the possibility of it being boycotted but it went on as scheduled Eric Heiden set the world and Olympic records in all five events in speed skating which made him a star. The other great event in 1980 was known as “The miracle on Ice” when the American hockey team defeated the favored Soviet team.

The 1994 games in Lillehammer, Norway were complete with scandal for US figure skaters, Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. The most famous scandal was when the ex-husband of Tonya Harding attacked Kerrigan by hitting her leg with a metal pipe trying to eliminate her from competing against Harding. Although injured, Kerrigan skated but Oksana Baiul of the Ukraine won the gold medal.

The 2010 Olympic games is to be held in Vancouver which will be the biggest metropolitan city to host the winter games. Most of the events will be in the metro area while the skiing events will be held at Whistler. Short track speed skater, Apollo Ohno will return for his third Olympics and try to beat Eric Heiden’s record of 5 medals won. Other Americans to look for are Lindsay Vonn in Alpine skiing and the fan favorite, Shawn White, aka “The Flying Tomato” in snowboarding.