The 2010 Winter Olympic Games begin on February 12, in Vancouver Canada. The 17-day event will be televised by NBC in the United States. The schedule is set and viewers have numerous options to become involved in the games.
Opening Ceremonies for Olympic Games
The 2010 Vancouver Games kick off with opening ceremonies at 7:30 pm ET/PT on February 12. Despite 4,000 volunteers participating in the ceremonies, secrets abound as to what the event will look like. The only guarantees are the required march of the athletes, the release of doves and the phrase, "Let the Games Begin".
Winter Olympic Events
There are 15 sporting events offering 86 contests at the Winter Olympics. The sports to be showcased are:
- Alpine skiing which simply means downhill skiing. There are separate events for men and women. There are also several contests for slalom skiing, which involves weaving in and out between a series of flags.
- Biatholon combines cross country skiing and riflery. There are separate events for men and women who compete individually, or with a team. Using a 22-caliber rifle, contestants shoot at targets along the ski course.
- Bobsled is much like tobogganing. In four or two person teams, participants sled down an icy slope at close to 90 miles an hour.
- Cross Country Skiing has been in the Olympics since the first Winter games in 1924. Men and women compete individually or in teams in both classical and freestyle cross country skiing events. Classical is where the skiier skis in a straight line and must stay on a track. Freestyle, added in the 1988 Winter games, allows skiiers to push off with each ski on each stride, making it much faster than Classical.
- Curling is sometimes described as "shuffleboard on ice". Two teams of four players take turns sliding 42-pound polished granite stones down a sheet of ice towards a bullseye that is made up of four concentric circles. A team scores points when its stones are closest to the tee after 16 shots.
- Figure Skating offers viewers ten opportunities to watch men and women singles competitions, pair programs, ice dancing, and free skating.
- Freestyle Skiing involves two disciplines at the Olympic games—aerials and moguls. In aerial events, skiiers ski down a mountain toward a jump. While in the air, they perform twists and somersaults which are judged for points. In moguls, skiers individually race down a mountain covered with large bumps and jumps. They are rated on speed, air time and creativity in the management of the bumps and jumps.
- Hockey, as in ice hockey, has eight women's teams and 12 men's teams competing at the 2010 winter Olympics.
- Luge takes its name from the French word for "sled". In this year's Vancouver games, there are three competing divisions: men's singles, women's singles and doubles. Expect riders to exceed 90 miles per hour.
- Nordic Combined is a ski event involving ski jumping and cross country. Competitors can medal in three different events: individual, sprint and team.
- Short Track refers to speed skating. This event has been dubbed the "demolition derby of the games". There are eight events where men and ladies compete on tracks from 500-5000 meters.
- Skeleton is a sledding race, like the luge. However, in skeleton races, competitors ride on their bellies, face first, rather than sitting up, as is the position in luge races.
- Ski Jumping offers a normal hill event for individuals and large hill events for individuals and teams. The normal hill is 90 meters, or 295 feet. The large hill is 120 meters or 394 feet. Each athlete gets two tries and a panel of judges rates the competitor's style for the jumps.
- Snowboarding offers six different events: men's and women's halfpipe, men's and women's parallel giant slalom, and men's and women's snowboard cross. Each snowboard run is scored by a panel of judges.
- Speed Skating offers competition in short track events (listed above) and long track events. Long track offers ten events where skaters speed around tracks ranging in distance from 500-10,000 meters.
Viewers can check the TV listings for NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics. Events will be shown on NBC stations, USA Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Universal Sports and Universal Sports HD.
NBC offers a TV listing widget for tech savvy viewers to use. Live alerts can also be sent to e-mail or mobile phone. Users choose what information they want to receive from medal alerts to photos of the day. NBC Olympics can be followed on Facebook and Twitter. iPhone users can even get an app to stay in touch with Olympic happenings 24/7.
Olympic fans have many choices when it comes to catching the games. From live TV to Facebook updates to an iPhone app, it only takes a little planning to catch all the action.
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