SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Time for the games to begin. Thank goodness.
To
put it mildly, this has not been the most carefree of lead-ups to the
Olympics. It has been roiled by security concerns, arguments about gay
rights and the still-questionable hosting abilities of a country that
spent $50 billion but remained busy slapping paint on buildings only
hours before the cauldron was set to be lit.
Snowboarder Shaun White pulled out of slopestyle — one of the newest, most-anticipated events.
Lindsey Vonn never showed up.
Still,
there are in the neighborhood of 3,000 skiers, skaters, sliders and
others getting ready to put on a show for the next 16 days or so. Most
of them will be at the opening ceremony Friday, where the long, time-filling barrage of fun facts about
the 88
participating countries — "Yes, Bob, there really is a mountain in
Jamaica. Blue Mountain Peak rises to 7,402 feet" — will brighten the TV
coverage.
Then, on Saturday, it’s finally "go" time. (Except for
the few dozen athletes who actually compete Thursday in a handful of
events that started early due to a jam-packed schedule.)
Here are a few things to watch as the action gets going in earnest:
___
TEAM
SKATING — Can he or can’t he? Russian skating icon Evgeni Plushenko won
a spot for a newly added event, team figure skating. It was based upon a
performance seen by nobody outside of the country’s top skating
officials. Dealing with back problems, Plushenko has hardly been seen in
actual competition over the past year. The skater who has already won
Olympic gold and two silvers is hoping to add another to his collection
in an event designed to bring a sense of camaraderie to a sport that has
always been about individual performances. The men’s team long program
is Sunday.
BREAKING YOUR OWN RECORD — In some circles, Ole Einar
Bjoerndalen of Norway is considered among the best athletes of all time.
He’s got a record 11 Olympic medals in the taxing sport of biathlon.
Still competing at 40, he’ll go for No. 12 on Saturday in the 10
kilometer sprint. While Americans may not appreciate biathlon in the
same way Olympic fans on the other side of the Atlantic do, everyone
loves watching a wily ol’ pro give it one more shot. Bjoerndalen will
certainly make it worth watching. "For me, only first place counts, you
can forget the rest," he said.
SEEING DOUBLE, AND TRIPLE — On the
halfpipe, the Americans have the aptly named brother-sister team of
Taylor and Arielle Gold. They compete next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Canada’s moguls team does them one better with three sisters
from the Dufour-Lapointe family — Justine, Chloe and Maxime. Expect at
least two of them to advance to the women’s moguls finals set for
Saturday.
THERE’S STILL SLOPESTYLE — White might not be there, but
the slopestyle course is steep, tricky and brutal. The calculus for the
event changes daily, once the injuries are added up. Once, Canada’s
Mark McMorris and White were expected to vie for gold. But McMorris
broke a rib at the Winter X Games, meaning he’ll be riding in pain, and
White is out so he can put all his energy into halfpipe. Canada’s Max
Parrot won the X Games with a pair of triple corks, the toughest trick
on the mountain. Another to watch in Saturday’s final: Canada’s
Sebastien Toutant. American Jamie Anderson is the favorite for the women
on Sunday.
TEST PATTERN — Let’s just say "hideous" is in the eye
of the beholder. One set of the Norway men’s curling team’s pants look
like a hopscotch layout gone wrong. Made by the same company that
designed golfer John Daly’s pants (Google it if you must), they are red,
then crisscrossed with thick blue and white stripes. Another pair has
red, white and blue zig zags. Yet another is black and flowery. And
there’s more to come — all top-secret surprises that viewers must tune
in to see. Norway’s first match is next Tuesday. Do not adjust your set.
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