Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/6608
celebrities of the 2010 games. Second, but playing second fiddle to no athlete because of his flaming red hair and ridiculous spins in the pipe, is Shaun White. Still the best halfpipe snowboarder in the world, he's the defending Olympic gold medalist and a no doubt favorite to win the event again this year. One factor could impact this year's halfpipe event and that's the weather. Unseasonably warm temperatures have resulted in sticky conditions on Cypress Mountain, the location for the halfpipe and other freestyle events. 32-year-old Bode Miller may be competing in his last Olympics. Not because of his age, but because the wild man face of the men's USA ski team has almost as many injuries as World Cup wins. With that said, he's coming off a win of the Combined at the Lauberhorn in Switzerland, and that's after he took a month off to nurse an ankle injury. Miller's career is full of these moments, and, as crazy as it seems, he's proven that they are the moments when he's most dangerous on the mountain. Moving indoors, short track speed skater, Apollo Anton Ohno, competing in his third Olympics while still bearing a spritely and youthful resemblance to Wolverine's son, has five Olympic gold medals under his belt and a chance to pass Bonnie Blair's seven for most all time at the Winter Olympics. On the big track, we think Shani Davis, the upstart speed skater from the 2006 relay team, has what it takes to compete in the individual speed skating events. Not only that, we think Davis, who is competing in all five distances, is good enough to run away with a few of them. The last American we want to highlight needs no introduction. Sasha Cohen, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, returns to the ice after nearly four years without a skating championship of any sort. She pulled out of two recent events due to tendinitis in her calf, a possible foreshadowing of her Olympics. People aren't willing to count her out yet though. She's been dubbed the "wild card" of the field and some think, after a 4th at Salk Lake in 2002 and a 2nd at Torino in 2006, Cohen is poised to finally get the gold that's eluded her thus far. Other athletes earning honorable mention are snowcross racer, Lindsey Jacobellis (who earned more jeers than cheers for her 2006 silver medal that came as a result of a careless crash and a loss of the gold), Hannah Teter, 2006 snowboard halfpipe gold medalist, and Jay Hakkinen, biathlete who, in 2006 had a meltdown after missing his last five rifle shots from the prone position, and lost what many Americans thought to be a medal-worthy race in an event where we've been historically weak. In the all-time Winter Olympics gold medal count the USA is tied with the USSR for third with 78. Norway is second with 98 and Germany is first with 118. Something to consider is that the games of the Winter Olympics, comprising mainly individual sports with distinctly European origins and befitting countries that spend large portions of their year with heavy snow coverage and low temperatures, are relatively new to the United States. However, they have translated quite well with American athletes and fans. Somehow, we are willing, in a two week period, to fall in love with a set of athletes who were previously unknown to us, that play sports that we barely understand—curling? Captivating yet bewildering—and will probably disappear from our minds soon after the Olympic torch flickers and dies. Slowly though that landscape is changing. Snowboarding and now Ski Cross have distinctly American trademarks, and represent how we are no longer simply adapting to international sports but contributing new sports of our own. As a fan of sports, as a fan of sharing and learning new games, this inspires me, and it is the reason I watch the Olympics. The Jamaican bobsled team, the Flying Tomato, the Miracle on Ice, and Shani Davis, the first black short track speed skater--these are my Winter Olympic moments. What are yours? Olympics Olympics Olympics Olympics Olympics 2010 WINTER Olympics 2010 WINTER