The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver begin today, and athletes from around the globe are prepping for their fifteen minutes of fame. If you’re like me and will probably find yourself at an Olympics party this evening, check out this list of athletes who are sure to find their names in the headlines (or faces on a Wheaties box) in the near future.

Don’t know who to root for in speed skating? Not sure if you want to bet your roommate that Canada will win more golds than ever this Olympiad? You can find the answers to these questions (and trivia to impress all your friends) right here. Read More »

J.R. speed-skated his way to my heart. OMG, did I just write that?

Half Filipino.
Half Polish.
One hundred percent heartthrob.

Let’s talk J.R. Celski.

He’s single, he’s 19-years old, and he’s an amazing short track speed skating sensation competing for Team USA in the Vancouver Olympics. And he’s officially your reason to tune in!

J.R. has been skating since he was a mere three years old when his parents gave him Playschool roller skates for his birthday (I can’t even remember what I got for my third birthday – cake, maybe?). Since then, he’s been dedicating his life to skating, but it wasn’t until he found out about speed skating on ice in 2002 that he realized this was a passion not to be joked around with. So he swapped his wheeled skates for some 17 ½ inch blades, moved from the roller rink to the ice rink, and thus began his journey to the Olympics. And boy, has it been quite an adventure.

J.R.’s hard work and focus has allowed him to win several medals, including a recent silver at the World Championships. Then, in September 2009, he finally got the opportunity he had been waiting for his whole life: a chance to compete in the Olympic trials. He was doing a phenomenal job and then, just like that, he slipped and slammed into the unforgiving wall surrounding the rink. The whole room was stunned into silence as blood gushed out of his left thigh, where his right skate blade had deeply immersed itself. Read More »

I’m a big sports fanatic. Playing, watching, cheering…I’m enthralled at it all, which is why I was stoked to come across a special on Women’s Ski Jumping on the news a week or so back. Those daring femme fatales leaping through the air with speed, hitting the jump, landing with grace; it was all very fascinating to me. Frankly, I never knew something along these lines existed for anyone out there, let alone at such a competitive level.

What startled me more than these airborne ladies was the controversy surrounding the sport. A group of female jumpers have sued the Vancouver Organizing Committee for not allowing them to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Since when have women become “too fragile” to do anything? Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t we the ones who have risen above the social stigma and created an equality for ourselves in this world? (Plus, we give birth – ‘nuff said)

The lawsuit is alleging, according to The Vancouver Province newspaper, that ski jumping is a violation of the women’s rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Now, correct me if I am wrong here again, kind readers, but shouldn’t it be a woman’s right to decide if she’s going to put her body – and life – in danger by competing in any sport, including ski jumping? Women have been partaking in this sport as far back as the 1920’s and yet the teams cannot compete at a nationally renowned level. Read More »