Posts Tagged ‘Winter Olympics’

Its amazing how quickly 16 days goes by. It seems like yesterday that we were discussing who was going to win what and now its all over. But what a fantastic and fabulous games they have been. We have seen incredible performances on the ice and snow – new champions have been found and for Canada and the people of Vancouver we raise our hand in salute.

There were of course those who didn’t want the games in Whistler – we respect their view and can only hope that the great success in respect of both the games and the Canadian athletes will have those dissenters nodding their heads with respect.

It is of course very unfortunate that history will report on the Whistler Olympics being where Nodar Kumaritashvili, the 21 year old from the Republic of Georgia, died when his luge flew off the track and crashed into a barrier. Some have said they have no words after such a tragedy but we remind all readers that the luge is an extreme sport – it is fast, very fast and very dangerous. Nodar was travelling at over 90 mph when he came off the track – it was a damned accident and when accidents happen at that speed the results are often fatal.

Ultimately the accident happened because a mistake was made – too fast too soon. We add our most sincere condolences to the family of Nodar Kumaitshvili and dedicate this blog to his memory. We believe he died doing what he loved to do……………

photo courtesy of www.piquenewsmagazine.com/pique/index.php?cat…

But despite this tragic accident we want to add our shout of tribute to Vancouver – you can be proud of yourselves.

It is all about winning at the Olympics, but never forget the enormous amount of dedication and training that has gone into getting an athlete there. And sometimes that gold medal just falls right into your lap….

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It started at the Winter X games in 1998 but has been introduced as a medal event for the first time at Whistler – hot on the heels of snowboard cross which made its debut at Turin four years ago. But why is this newcomer generating so much attention

Ski Cross, or Ski X as it is often written, is a race on skis between four skiers on a man made course which includes twists, turns and spectacular jumps. The race lasts about a minute and then its all over. But the frequency of crashes draws attention – it is good TV viewing with non stop action.

The video below from WorldSportTV explains what it is all about and features the French champion Ophelie David who will be competing at Whistler, Karin Huttary, a former X Games champion from Austria and Enak Gavaggio of France.

A Ski Cross Course needs to meet requirements specified by the FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski) rules. There are men’s and women’s events and both use the same course. Athletes will have to race the course many times during the event.

The course is constructed of obstacles such as traverses, flats, rolls, banks, moguls, and jumps of various heights and difficulties, all connected with turns.

• Length: 800 to 1200 m
• Vertical Drop: 150 to 250 m
• Turns: 50% of the course must be turns of varying size and speeds between the other obstacles.
• Features: 25% of the course must be traverses, moguls, banks etc.
• Jumps: 25% of the course will be jumps 1 to 4 m high.

The excitement is immediate as all four racers start at the same time with racers spending as much as 25% of the race airborne whilst travelling at speeds of up to 65 mph and all the time there is the threat of a wipe out which can be your own fault or you may be taken out by your fellow racers.

After a timed qualification round the qualifiers race in knock out heats head to head with the first and second proceeding to the next round. When there are just 8 racers left there is what is termed ‘the small final’ to determine positions 5 to 8 inclusive and there is the ‘big final’ which determines positions 1 to 4 and therefore, in the case of the Olympics, the gold, silver and bronze medals.

Competitors are not allowed to push or trip or commit any foul play and can be disqualified from the competition if this happens.

The men’s final was held on Sunday and the winner was Switzerland’s Michael Schmid ahead of Andreas Matt of Austria who captured silver and Audun Grønvold of Norway won the bronze medal.

The ladies take to the hill today so do not miss any of the action, one of the favourites will be Ophelie David. Here she is winning the world championship held in Madonna di Campiglio in Italy in 2007. Thanks to sportsnetwork for the video and good luck Ophelie!

Don’t miss the action later today.

As we watch the Winter Olympics unfold and gasp in awe at the sheer brilliance of some of the manoeuvres and in horror at some of the falls, it is worth noting the consequences that these extreme athletes risk to compete in these events – not merely to compete but to prove to themselves that they really are good at what they love doing…

To give you an idea of how horrendous these crashes can be, please  follow this linkg and watch Todd Brooker’s crash at Kitzbuhel in 1987. He lived to tell the tale. In fact on a forum recently where people were asking  ‘did he…’ or ‘didn’t he…’? He answered personally: “hey guys, just to confirm, that was my fall in Kitzbuhel in 1987 and yes, i am still very much alive”. (Jan. 24th 2009)

A catalogue of accidents and serious injuries this winter has offered sober reminders of what can happen when would-be Olympians, emboldened by technological advances in equipment, seek to push the boundaries of speed and complexity in their events to ever more hazardous levels.

Here’s a montage of competitive ski accidents from sportsnetwork. There are some terrible videos out there such as Scott Macartney’s and Daniel Albrecht’s crashes at Kitzbuhel, but I’ll spare you those.

Injuries followed by surgery that are regularly seen with winter sports are:  alpine skiers with multiple back surgeries, mogul athletes where it has been known for some skiers to have had two surgeries ON EACH KNEE. Luge athletes with multiple back surgeries, to name just a few.

The Vancouver Olympics have been similarly affected. Canada’s world downhill champion John Kucera snapped the tibia and fibula of his left leg when turning somersaults into the safety fence at 65mph at Lake Louise, in Alberta and will not be participating in these Olympics. Others missing are American half-pipe snowboarder Kevin Pearce who is on the long road to recovery from a brain injury suffered when failing to land an ambitious jump during training and, tragically, the same applies to Florent Astier, a French ski cross exponent who crashed into a fellow racer last month and ended up requiring emergency surgery after suffering a severe spinal cord injury and paralysis.

Steve Nyman, a Utah native and downhill skier in these Olympics, has been struggling for 2 years with knee and ankle injuries – but is this enough to stop him? Hell, no. Erik Fisher has been skiing at Vancouver with his ski pole duct-taped to his right hand after he broke it earlier in the season and was left with limited mobility.

When an athlete chooses to go professional he or she does so with the full understanding of the price he might have to pay.

Many of the sports undertaken in the Winter Olympics are inherently dangerous. The “downhill” discipline, for example, involves the highest speeds and therefore the greatest risks of all the alpine events. Racers on a typical international-level course will exceed speeds of 130 km/hr (81 mph) and some courses, such as the famous Lauberhorn course in Wengen, Switzerland, and the Hahnenkamm course in Kitzbühel, Austria, speeds of up to 150 km/hr (93 mph) in certain sections are expected.

Despite safety precautions, such as safety netting and padding where race officials anticipate crashes, the ski racing community is well aware of the risks of serious injury or even death while practicing or competing in downhill skiing. Two downhill-related deaths on the World Cup in recent years were those of Austrian Ulrike Maier in 1994 and Frenchwoman Régine Cavagnoud in 2001. Also in 2001, Swiss downhiller Silvano Beltrametti was paralyzed in a high-speed crash.

The amount of time spent perfecting their skills only adds to the likelihood that they will encounter some type of injury. The drive to achieve in competitive sport is nothing new, and does not happen exclusively at the Games, but also every day in training, because one slip-up could mean that some other equally-driven athlete gets your spot on the national team.

It’s not only physical injuries that need to be taken into consideration in major international events. Psychological ones can impact too. Canadian athletes generally go about their business without too much media attention, but in the 6-months lead-up to the Olympics they were inundated with the question “Do you think you can win?”

From an athlete and coach perspective, competing successfully at an Olympic Games is not an easy task. The pressure on athletes to perform is varied and enormous, coming from friends and family, sponsors, the national sports organization, the country, and the athlete’s own expectations. This is one of the reasons that many athletes, coaches, and teams have turned to sport psychology consultants,medical doctors and other sport science experts in exercise physiology, biomechanical analysis, physiotherapy, and strength and conditioning to help ensure a good performance on the day it counts.

These athletes are highly motivated individuals fueled by their sense of ambition and achievement. Most, if not all, just want to be the best in the world at what they do, and hang the consequences. The “perks”, such as endorsements and personal appearance fees that come from having Olympic success are a bonus but would not be enough to motivate someone to do something extremely dangerous if they did not love the sport.

We all know there is a very big sporting event which starts at the end of the week – yes the Winter Olympics –  to be held at Whistler, Vancouver. Of the 15 sports to hold events none is perhaps as crazy as this one – shovel racing. What? Shovel racing – yes its a case of going flat out down a hill whilst sat on the blade of the shovel.

Is it not time that the powers that be introduce a gold medal for shovel racing? Oh come on – it is not serious enough – lighten up guys – you have to see the funny side of the sport – check out this video from NickGASfan

Well that is how things were but we are able to provide an update courtesy of Miguel Bustillo of The New York Times who has reported on the resumption of shovel racing at Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico this past weekend.

After 25 years people had become a little bored with sliding down the mountain on the shovel and had become rather more creative in their design. As long as the blade of the shovel was on the snow what was built above the blade did not matter.

Faster and faster speeds were recorded and the sport became more dangerous and extreme as people created contraptions like those seen in the video above and therefore in 2005 the authorities had to stop the racing for fear of liability concerns and insurance claims.

This past weekend, Angel Fire resumed shovel racing’s “World Championship” for the first time in five years, but with a big catch: Only old-fashioned metal grain shovels were permitted. Customization was confined to paint and wax.

“People get worked up about losing the modified shovels, but at least we don’t need an aircraft-carrier net anymore to stop people from crashing into the resort,” said Gail Boles, a 47-year-old pharmacist from Taos and former world-champ shovel racer in both the modified and traditional competition.

For now, die-hards hope that the return of “production” shovel racing, the name given to competition featuring mass-produced hardware-store shovels, will spur interest in the more extreme varieties.

For competitive reasons, aficionados are loath to reveal the finer points of shovel-racing technique, but the basics are simple:

Place your hindquarters in the shovel’s rounded end, with the handle between your legs. Straighten your body and lean back as close to the ground as possible. Push off. Pray.

Steering can be attempted by subtly lowering a hand into the snow to correct course, but a speeding shovel has the maneuverability of a shooting cannonball.

Cardinal rule: Never grab the handle, as it only veers you more wildly off track.

More than 100 riders raced time trials beneath turquoise skies this weekend. Shovels flew and no one got hurt. Jeff Hamblin, who clocked a time of 13.4 seconds and reached a top speed of 63 miles per hour, won the men’s championship.Kelly Haukebo, 46, an Angel Fire real-estate agent won the women’s world championship.

Amazingly we have not been able to find a video of the event held last weekend – ESPN used to include shovel racing in their Winter X games but they decided to drop it for demographic reasons – is it that shovel racing is just too extreme – well you could say you were flying by the seat of your pants!

Yesterday we talked about the skeleton event at the forthcoming Winter Olympics to be held in Whistler, Vancouver, Canada and today we turn our attention to an extreme sport that is closely related to skeleton – the luge.

In luge – the French word for “sled” – racers begin by sitting on open fibreglass sleds. Pulling on fixed handles in the ice, they burst out of the start. After this explosive start, they use spiked gloves on the ice surface for extra acceleration before lying down on their backs, feet stretched out in front of them, heads back to be as aerodynamic as possible. Luge racers steer using their legs and shoulders, and brake by sitting up, putting their feet down and pulling up on the sled runners.

Therefore the fundamental difference between skeleton and luge is that the skeleton pilots go down the track head first lying on their stomachs whereas the luge pilots are feet first lying on their back. Which is crazier we are not sure – but a similarity would appear to be that you can see very little be it luge or skeleton.

Luge races have grown considerably faster with refrigerated luge tracks and aerodynamic equipment, so that speeds now regularly reach 140 kilometres an hour or more and G-forces reach over 5G.

The singles events consist of four heats over two days. The individual with the lowest combined time over the four runs wins. Men and women compete on the same track, but the women and doubles begin further down the course. The four-run format is unique to the Olympic Winter Games and designed to reward consistency, endurance and ability to withstand pressure – particularly on the second day.

The doubles event consists of two runs over one day, with the fastest total time determining the winner. All events in luge are timed to the thousandth of a second.

Two athletes — Peter Minsch of Switzerland and George Robertson of Australia — who in February 1883 instigated what was called “The Great International Sled Race”. Their time: 9 minutes and 15 seconds, to slide down a four kilometre track joining the Swiss villages of Klosters and Davos was nothing very special but that didn’t matter – it was the idea that mattered.  But it was not until 1964 that luge for men, women and doubles made its Olympic debut at the Games in Innsbruck.

The action kicks off right at the beginning of the games with the men’s singles competition being held over the 13th and 14th Feb. Then it is the turn of the girls who race over the 15th and 16th of Feb – and finally the doubles who compete on Feb 17th.

The favourites for medals in the luge are the Germans who have dominated the event for the last 10 years and in all probability they have a very good chance of winning again. But strong competition usually comes from Austria, Italy, Russia and the USA but with home advantage see what the 2010 Olympics Luge Coach Wolfgang Staudinger says about the Luge Canada team’s chances at the Vancouver 2010 Games. Thanks RayVanEng for the video.