Not Much Time Left Until The 2010 Vancouver Olympics

By John A Moore

The clock is clicking down to the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Canada has been buzzing about these games for the past few years and now Vancouver is the final rush to make sure everything is ready as they prepare to welcome the world. Vancouver was awarded these games over 5 years ago and has been making preparations ever since. This will be the second time Canada has played host to this spectacular event.

The Winter Olympics are an international multi-sport event held every four years. They feature sports held on ice or snow. Events including alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been at every Winter Olympic Games since their inception. Other events such as luge, short track speed skating, bobsled, and freestyle skiing have been added over the years.

The Vancouver Olympic Games will be held in the City of Vancouver as well as a number of different places around Vancouver. Vancouver is located on the Pacific Ocean in the lower mainland portion of the province of British Columbia. The other British Columbia towns and villages that will assist in hosting the Winter Games are Richmond, Whistler, and West Vancouver.

The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France in 1924. Prior to the first proper Winter Olympics, figure skating and ice hockey had included as events in the Summer Olympics. The Games have been held every four years since then with an interruption from 1940-48 due to the Second World War. In 1992, the Winter Games split from the Summer Games schedule in an attempt to attract more advertising money. The next Winter Games on this schedule were the Lillehammer Games in 1992.

The Winter Olympics are considerably smaller than the Summer Olympics. There are much fewer events in the Winter Games and there is a full week less of competition. There are also fewer countries participating. Fewer countries participating make sense as all of the completions take place on either ice or snow and there are many countries that naturally have neither of these surfaces. With that said there are a number of typically tropical countries that do participate. The most famous of these tropical competitors is the Jamaican bobsled team.

In a matter of months, the world will turn its attention to the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Olympic Games are one of the most watch athletic events in the world. The world will hold its collective breath as we watch bobsledders and skiers defy bone crushing speeds and while figure skaters bring beauty to the ice. The world will be watching the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. - 30417

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