The 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin – What’s Happening There?
First, while the Summer Games may have over twenty different sports the 2006 Winter Olympics will only be showcasing seven – the luge, bobsledding, ice hockey, curling, ice skating, skiing and the biathlon. These seven sports make up the core of the events, with various other winter sports being on display for consideration for future inclusion in the Olympic Games.
The luge is an exciting and often scary sport to watch, giving both spectators and participants plenty of scary moments. The word “luge” comes from the French word for sled and this sport basically consists of a single man or woman lying down on a small sled to race down an icy track as fast as they can without crashing. The track has curves and twists in it and the athelete has no way to control the sled other than by slight body movement from side to side. Wearing aerodynamically designed suits these brave men and women charge down these tracks with danger literally at every turn. There are two catagories currently in the Winter Olympic Games – the single and the double where two men usually fit themselves on a single sled for an exciting and dangerous race. The fastest time wins the Gold Medal.
Historically this sport has been traced back as early as AD 800 with the Vikings being the first documented people to use the luge for entertainment. The first documented international race happened in Davos, Switzerland in 1883 with over twenty different countries competing. Luge was added to the Winter Olympic Games in 1964.
Skiing has been a major winter sport for centuries, with most northern countries discovering the use of the ski to transport and travel across their snow-covered territories long before it ever became a sport. Added to the Olympic Games in 1924, the Winter Olympic Games include many different types of skiing. Alpine (which is basically downhill), crosscountry, ski jumping, snowboarding (a recent addition, as you can guess) freestyle skiing and Nordic combined. Each of these have their own fan base and are entertaining and delightful to see, from the snowboarders demonstrating the newest addition to their skills to the Nordic combined, which calls on the athelete to not only be able to jump, but also to do a crosscountry run as well. This is one of the most popular Winter Olympic sports and is sure to be just as popular at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin!
Bobsledding is a wild and exciting sport to watch from the sidelines as teams of men race down a frozen track with little to protect them from death and injury other than a helmet and the framework of the bobsled. This sport has been in the Winter Olympic Games since 1924 and has been traced back to the 19th Century when young men discovered the thrill of racing down frozen trails on a basic skeleton of wood.
There are two catagories of bobsledding at the Olympics – the Skeleton and the Bobsleigh. The skeleton has a lot in common with the luge, but with one major exception. While the luge has the athelete on his back looking up at the sky and his feet pointed down the track the skeleton has the rider on his stomach, staring down at the icy trail with very little space between his helmeted head and the hard ice surface. The bobsleigh consists of two and four man teams racing down the track trying to get the fastest time possible without crashing or hitting the sides of the iced track, slowing them down.
One of the most entertaining and popular Winter Olympic Games events has got to be skating, which is why it’s been in the Olympic Games since 1908. There are three catagories in ice-skating – figure skating, short track speed skating, and speed skating.
Figure skating is usually the one event televised more often than not with the competitors displaying their skill and ability to interpret various types of music in dance form on the ice. More often than not this is also one of the more controversial events with the judges having more leeway on their decisions than in other major events.
Speed skating is exactly what it sounds like, the objective being to race around an oval track as fast as you can without crashing into the surface or your opponents. Both speed skating and short track speed skating use extremely sharp skates that can slice through skin like a razor, making it a dangerous sport for the untrained and unaware participant. But these highly trained speedsters can take your breath away with the ease and skill with which they race around the icy oval.
Ice hockey is easily one of the more popular events in the Winter Olympic Games. Players from all over the world will be descending on Turin, Italy for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games to play not for a team, but for their home country. Many of these players come from the National Hockey League in the United States, leading to some humorous situations where a player may find himself facing a teammate across the rink because one is Canadian, the other American. Hockey has been included in the Olympic Games since 1920 and shows no sign of losing its popular fan base.
Curling is a new addition to the Winter Olympic Games, having only been accepted at the 1998 Nagano Games for pernament inclusion but has been in existence since the early 1600’s in Scotland, where the idea of skipping stones across frozen pieces of land and water developed into a sport. Upon first glance you may think it resembles shuffleboard and you’d be right – the object is to get your curling stone, or rock, as close to the center of the colored circles at the opposite end of the long rectangular rink as possible. Of course, your opponents can knock your rock out of the rink with theirs, making it not only a game of strength and ability to throw your rock accurately but also of strategy. Make no mistake about it, curling can be a very physically demanding game and certainly matches chess in the strategy department!
The last Winter Olympic Sport was added to the Games in 1960, although the basis for this sport has been around for as long as mankind has needed to hunt for food – the biathlon. This sport consists of two parts, the first being crosscrountry skiing. The competitor has to ski a certain distance along a trail and then stop at a rifle range and fire at five targets, having carried his or her rifle the entire way on his/her back. Depending on how many targets are sucessfully hit the skiier then can continue on to the next part of the course or do penalty laps, adding to their final finishing time. These atheletes have to be in prime physical condition and mentally strong, since they have to exert themselves to ski as fast as they can over the course and then stop and mentally prepare themselves for the shooting portion. The rifle segments are done with the shooter prone, standing, and kneeling as to allow the competitor to display prowness with all aspects of rifle shooting. These rifles are specially built for the biathlon and weigh as little as possible, since they have to be carried on the athlete’s back from range to range. This sport tests both your mind and body as you deal with the speed of the skiier and the mental skill of shooting accurately and quickly. The winner is determined by who finishes the fastest, which is why missing even a single target can lose you the race as you then have to ski a penalty lap and add time to your overall total.
The 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy are certainly going to be one of the major events of the year with atheletes from around the world ready and willing to compete. These seven sports have proven themselves to be a great display of their skill and power and will be a thrill to watch for all involved. And now that you know a bit more about the history of the sports and what’s involved, you might be even more interested in the 2006 Winter Olympic Games!
