Sports

At an age when some kids are mastering their first 10-speed, American ski jumper Lindsey Van was traveling internationally and winning junior ski jump competitions. Interviewed after a winning jump, a then 11-year-old Van said her goal was to make the women’s Olympic team in 2002. Now it is 2010, and though more than nine nations have women jumpers registered with the International Ski Federation (FIS), and women jumpers’ enrollment in the organization is nearly equal to that of men, there still isn’t a women’s ski jumping event at the Olympics. “When you watch men and women, you wouldn’t be […]

We’re gearing up for the 2010 Winter Olympics Feb. 12-28 in Vancouver! First up in a series of features is a look at a few of the big names from past Games, and what they’ve been up to lately: Oksana Baiul While the 1994 Lillehammer figure-skating competition — and let’s not kid ourselves, the entire Olympics fortnight — was overwhelmed with the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding scandal, neither of them took home the gold. That distinction went to the 16-year-old Ukrainian, whose moves on the ice bumped Kerrigan down to silver. Baiul faced her own scandal in 1997 after being arrested […]

Don’t know your biathlon from your Nordic combined? In preparation for the Vancouver Winter Olympics Feb. 12-28, we take a quick glance at each of the Games’ sports disciplines: Alpine Skiing Skiers compete in five disciplines: downhill, the fastest, steepest, longest course; slalom, the shortest course with the quickest turns; giant slalom, with wider and smoother turns than slalom; super-G, combining the speed of downhill with the precision of giant slalom; and combined, one downhill run and two slalom runs. Biathlon Biathlon combines the aerobic demands of cross-country skiing with the marksmanship of rifle shooting in five events: individual, sprint, […]