Last night, the Vancouver Winter Olympics ended with a flourish–including comedy from William Shatner, performances by Avril Lavigne and Nickelback, and yes, giant inflatable beavers. With the Olympic flame extinguished, and dreams of Sochi 2014 barely blooming, let’s take a look at Vancouver’s biggest winners.

Canada
The Canadians accomplished their two most important goals in Vancouver: to bring home gold, and specifically to win the men’s hockey competition on home soil. Alexandre Bilodeau broke the Canadian gold-medal draught with his win in moguls skiing early in the Games. But perhaps the single most important event in Canadian history was their win in the gold-medal hockey game over arch-rival the United States. In a nail-biting sudden death overtime, the Canadians broke through with the win and fulfilled the dreams of everyone young and old  in the hockey-obsessed nation. (Editor’s Note: And their hockey team is pretty damn hot.) And as if that weren’t enough, Canada walks away with the most gold medals–14–ever won by a single nation in the Winter Olympics. Read More »

Figure skating: the marquee event of the Winter Olympics. Characterized by grace, agility, skill, charisma and intense facial expressions, figure skaters capture the hearts of fans around the world once every four years. Top skaters can earn more than $5 million in endorsements and grace more magazine covers in a year than Gemma Ward.

There’s no question that the spectacle of figure skating is enchanting, but given recent criticism of its methods– is it a sport?

A sport should require athleticism, of which figure skating has plenty.  Training for figure skating requires hours of strength training and conditioning. The skills executed in programs, from jumps to spins to spirals, are not easily acquired. Take away the glittery costumes and lilting music, and figure skating programs appear grittier and tougher.

But athleticism means nothing if there isn’t an objective and regimented manner to determine winners. At the moment, all competitions operated under the International Skating Union (including the Olympic Games) adhere to a scoring system that assigns points for the difficulty of skill and the quality of their execution.  But consider that in this year’s men’s singles division at the Olympics, Evan Lysacek captured the gold medal despite his failure to attempt any quadruple jumps (the most difficult skill to execute). Other skaters, including silver medalist Evgeny Plushenko, successfully landed quadruple jumps. Some argue that Lysacek’s win is fair, because artistry should be just as crucial to scoring as difficulty, while others believe the Olympic champion should be someone who performs to world-class standards, quad jumps and all. Read More »

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 »

Even Quatchi wants to play!

Why do we love the Olympics? Is it the patriotism? Is it the two week long parade of international hotties? The never ending supply of Lifetime movie-worthy inspirational stories? The adrenaline rush of nonstop athletic competition?

If you’re like us at CollegeCandy, the answer is a big Y-E-S to to all of the above. But in case you’re an Olympic skeptic, we’ve got the perfect drinking game to get you in the spirit and have some fun with the ’round-the-clock coverage soon to take over a television set near you.  (Not like you needed an excuse to party every night for two weeks, right?)

What you’ll need:
A television set
A few copies of these rules
A bevy of your closest/rowdiest friends
Your drink of choice!

The Rules:
There are three categories for the game, which are self-explanatory and are as follows: Take a Drink, Take Two Drinks, and Finish Your Drink. 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 »

So we are finally in the dog days of summer (which I realized when I went for a run at noon). Some of us are working, going to school, or schlepping around interning. Others are laying by the pool sipping sangria (*jealous*). But, I think we can all agree that a break of any kind is welcome. Especially when that break is a trip to somewhere cool, offbeat and–the best part– cheap. So pack your favorite flip flops, airy sundress and camera and head somewhere, anywhere but here. Might I suggest any of these destinations:

Isla de Vieques, Puerto Rico.

This 21 by 5 mile island is referred to asIsla Nena by residents, loosely translating into “virgin island”. Located only 6 miles off Puerto Rico’s coast, it is a hotbed of natural beauty and tropical activities. You fly onto the island after flying into San Juan, Puerto Rico, so be prepared with a your iPod, a magazine, eye mask or Valium–whatever it takes to get you to board an 8 seater plane to Vieques Airport.

Once you’re on the island, you can stay anywhere ranging from $90 a night B&B’s to luxury hotels, so whether you’re on a typical college budget, or you happen to have a trust fund, there are accomodations for you.

Activities on the island include: hiking, snorkeling and diving, biking, fishing, sightseeing and dining in Bravos de Boston, Vieques’ most fashionable town. However, the highlight of this destination is definitely its Bioluminescent Bay. The bay is filled with phosphorescent microorganisms, that glow in the dark when disturbed. Nighttime charter boats take you on a guided swimming and kayaking trip to the brightest bio bay in the world. If you’re looking for a tropical getaway that won’t break the bank and is off the beaten path, Vieques is it. Read More »

* People in Vancouver are sexy, virtual dorks. (Leader-Post)

* Kentucky pulls off the greatest upset since Appalachain State. (Courier-Journal)

* Dunder Mifflin needs your help! (DunderMifflinInfinity.com)

* “Mr Husband heard about the knicker crisis from his parishioners, decided to practise what he preached and so organised the volunteer knicker-runs.” Woo! Free underwear! (News.com)

* A New York man attacks a neighbor’s inflatable Halloween display: she heard hollering and swearing and looked outside to see Odee struggling with the giant pumpkin. “He was enraged. I could see that,” she said. (Yahoo!)