Trip 2010 - Sports

Alpine Skiing

Alpine skiing has been a sport in the European Alps for at least 150 years, when skiers adapted cross country techniques to suit their steeper slopes. Alpine skiers found they needed slightly wider skis to go downhill safely, and developed different ways to use their poles and new turning techniques to match the more vertical terrain of the high mountains. The sport became increasingly popular through the early 20th century with the development of T-bars, tows and ski lifts, when alpine skiers no longer had to climb up a slope before they could ski down. Alpine combined for both men and women debuted as an Olympic sport in 1936 at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In 1948, separate downhill and slalom races were added, but alpine combined was then not contested at the Olympic Winter Games until 1988 in Calgary. The giant slalom was added in 1952, and the super G in 1988. • Downhill Men • Downhill Ladies • Super-G Men • Super-G Ladies • Giant Slalom Men • Giant Slalom Ladies • Slalom Men • Slalom Ladies • Super Combined Men • Super Combined Ladies

Biathlon

Biathlon - which combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting ¨C didn¡¯t start as a sport, but as a way for northern European hunters, as early as 2000 BC, to put food on the table. Beginning in the mid-16th century, Scandinavian countries used troops on skis to defend against their enemies. The world "biathlon" comes from the Greek word for "two tests." Today, the biathlon consists of ten separate events that alternate cross-country skiing with target shooting. The object is to complete the course in the least amount of time, hitting as many targets as possible to avoid time penalties. The first world championships in biathlon were held in 1958 at Saalfelden, Austria. The biathlon became an Olympic sport (for men only) in 1960 and debuted at Squaw Valley in 1962. Women's biathlon joined the Olympic Games 30 years later, in 1992 at Albertville. • 10 km Sprint Men • 10 km Pursuit Ladies • 12.5 km Mass Start Ladies • 12.5 km Pursuit Men • 15 km Individual Ladies • 15 km Mass Start Men • 20 km Individual Men • 4x6 km Relay Ladies • 4x7.5 km Relay Men • 7.5 km Sprint Ladies • Super Combined Ladies

Bobsleigh

The three Olympic sliding sports are bobsleigh, skeleton and luge. All three grew out of the practice of using a sled or toboggan ¨C a light, narrow wooden platform on runners ¨C to slide on snow or ice. Using a sled to travel and have fun in winter dates back as many as 700 years. The idea of racing sleds down a steep and twisting track dates back about 150 years, to the mid-19th century, when British tourists started tobogganing on the snowbound roads of the Alps. The four-man bobsleigh was on the program of the first Olympic Winter Games in 1924, in Chamonix, France. The two-man bobsleigh event joined the Olympics in 1932. Women competed in bobsleigh for the first time in 2002, at Salt Lake City . • Four-man Men • Two-man Men • Two-man Women

Cross-Country Skiing

Paintings thought to be at least 6000 years old, discovered in Russia in the 1930s, show a hunter alongside some reindeer. The hunter is very definitely wearing skis, making it clear that the idea of using two wooden slats to travel quickly on snow has been central to survival in cold climates for centuries. By the year 1500, the entire Swedish army was fully equipped with skis. The Norwegian army held cross-country ski competitions as early as 1767. The first civilian event took place in Tromso, located in the far north of Norway, in 1843. Cross-country skiers competed at the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, in 1924, in 18-kilometre and 50-kilometre races for men. Women cross-country skiers made their debut at the 1952 Olympic Winter Games in Oslo. The cross-country skiing technique known as skating or free technique became a separate Olympic competitive discipline at the Calgary 1988 Winter Games. • 10 km Individual Ladies • 15 km x 2 Pursuit Men • 15 km Individual Men • 30 km Mass Start Ladies • 50 km Mass Start Men • 4x10 km Relay Men • 4x5 km Relay Ladies • 7.5 km x 2 Pursuit Ladies • Individual Sprint Men • Individual Sprint Ladies • Team Sprint Men • Team Sprint Ladies

Curling

The game of curling is more than 500 years old. The earliest written records of curling ¨C of groups of people sliding stones on frozen ponds and lochs in competition ¨C are found at Scotland¡¯s Paisley Abbey and date back to 1541. Curling for men was played at the first Olympic Winter Games at Chamonix, in 1924, but did not appear again as an official Olympic sport until the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, with both men's and women's tournaments. • Men • Women

Figure Skating

An American named Jackson Haines is considered to be the founding father of modern figure skating in the 1860s, but he had to establish the sport not in his home country, but in Vienna, Austria, where audiences loved his carefully choreographed, ballet-influenced style. Before Haines, figure skating concentrated largely on required figures ¨C skating a figure eight, several times exactly the same way ¨C and movements. Haines brought in musicians to play on the ice while he skated and added interesting costumes and exciting spins and pirouettes. Figure skating was an Olympic sport before there was an Olympic Winter Games, having appeared at the London 1908 Olympic Summer Games with events for pairs and singles (indoor ice rinks could be kept cold even in hot weather). Ice dancing joined the Olympic Winter Games in 1976. The compulsory figures competition was dropped from the figure skating program prior to the Albertville 1992 Games. • Individual Ladies • Individual Men • Ice Dancing Mixed • Pairs Mixed

Freestyle Skiing

There has always been the element of freedom in skiing ¨C the freedom to choose what line to take down the slope, the freedom to decide whether to go off a jump or not. Freestyle skiing is no different. The 1960s were a time of evolution as young people looked for different forms of expression. This pursuit of expression also found its way into winter sports. Freestyle skiing began in a decade that saw advancements in modern ski equipment and freedom of expression lead to new and exciting skiing techniques. Originally a mix of alpine skiing and acrobatics, the first freestyle skiing competition was held in Attitash, New Hampshire in 1966. A relative newcomer to the Olympic Winter Games, freestyle moguls became an Olympic event at the Albertville 1992 Winter Games. Freestyle aerials were added for the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer. The newest Olympic Winter Games event, freestyle ski cross, will make its debut in Vancouver in 2010. • Aerials Men, Ladies • Moguls Men, Ladies • Ski Cross Men, Ladies

Ice Hockey

The word ¡°hockey¡± comes from the old French word ¡°hocquet,¡± which means ¡°stick.¡± The British most likely brought the idea of using a stick to propel a snowball along the ice of a pond or lake to North America in the 1600 or 1700s. British soldiers stationed in Nova Scotia, Canada, played the earliest known ice hockey games. Later, in 1879, a group of college students at McGill University in Montr¨¦al organised competitions and developed the first known set of hockey rules. Men¡¯s ice hockey was first played at the 1920 Summer Olympic Games in Antwerp, but has been played as a winter sport ever since the 1924 Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix. Women¡¯s ice hockey debuted at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. • Men's Tournament • Women's Tournament

Luge

Two athletes ¨C Peter Minch of Switzerland and John Robertson of Australia ¨C tied for first in what was called ¡°The Great International Sled Race¡± of February 12, 1883. Their time: 9 minutes and 15 seconds to slide down a 4-kilometre track joining the Swiss villages of Klosters and Davos. Luge races have grown considerably faster since then, with groomed luge runs and aerodynamic equipment, so that speeds now regularly reach 140 kilometres an hour or more. Luge for both men and women made its Olympic debut at the 1964 Games in Innsbruck. • Doubles • Singles Men • Singles Women

Nordic Combined

Throughout Norway in the 1800s, skiers gathered each winter for a series of ski carnivals ¨C essentially small competitions with a little popular entertainment thrown in. A small group of these winter athletes specialized in both cross-country skiing, which demands endurance and strength, and ski jumping, which requires physical strength and technical control. These athletes were considered the very best of all the carnival athletes. Men have competed in Nordic combined individual events since the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, in 1924. The team event was introduced at the Calgary 1988 Winter Games, while the sprint event joined the Olympic Winter Games at Salt Lake City in 2002. • NH/15 km Individual • LH/7.5 km Sprint • LH 4 x 5 km Team

Short Track Speed Skating

Short track speed skating is only about 100 years old and a product of North America while speed skating dates back to 13th century Holland. Short track speed skating originated in Canada and the United States in 1905 with the first known competition to have taken place in 1909. By the 1920s and 30s, the sport was gaining popularity in Great Britain, Japan, France, Belgium, and Australia. While short track speed skating became part of the International Skating Union (ISU) in 1967, it wasn¡¯t until 1976 that official ISU competitions began. In 1988, short track speed skating was a demonstration event at the Calgary Winter Games. Four years later, it was included as a full medal event at the Albertville 1992 Games. • 1,000 m Men • 1,000 m Ladies • 1,500 m Men • 1,500 m Ladies • 3,000 m Relay Ladies • 5,000 m Relay Men • 500 m Men • 500 m Ladies

Skeleton

Like the other sliding sports of bobsleigh and luge, the start is crucial in skeleton ¨C where a tenth of a second lead at the start can become three-tenths of a second by the bottom of the run ¨C so these athletes train much like sprinters to develop the powerful legs they need to explode onto the track. But speed is not the only factor: they must also find the best line and steer smoothly through each turn to keep their speed high. Men¡¯s skeleton was raced at the 1928 and 1948 Olympic Winter Games, both in St. Moritz. Skeleton for both men and women was added as a permanent Olympic event at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. • Men • Women

Ski Jumping

The first known ski jumper was a Norwegian lieutenant named Olaf Rye, who launched himself 9.5 metres in the air in 1809 before an audience of other soldiers. By 1862, ski jumpers like Sondre Norheim were tackling much larger jumps travelling longer distances and competing in official ski jumping contests. The continued desire to jump longer led to the radical new development in 1985 of V-style, where a ski jumper holds his skis in a V-shaped position (instead of parallel) while in the air. Credited with this new style was Swedish ski jumper Jan Bokl?v. Most ski jumpers of the day laughed at this innovation and Bokl?v was penalized for his unorthodox style. Eventually sport science caught up with Bokl?v and realized that V-style produced 28 per cent more lift. Men¡¯s ski jumping has been part of the Olympic Winter Games since the first Games in Chamonix, in 1924. The large hill competition was added for the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck. • LH Individual Men • LH Team Men • NH Individual Men

Snowboard

Combining elements of surfing, skateboarding and skiing, snowboard is the most recent sport to join the Olympic Winter Games ¨C and one of the fastest growing sports in the world. The first official snowboard competition was held in Colorado, USA, in 1981. It became an official Olympic sport in a remarkably short time without going through the usual process of being a demonstration sport at the Games. Two snowboard events were introduced as Olympic Winter sports at the 1998 Nagano Games, halfpipe and individual giant slalom (one racer at a time). The parallel giant slalom replaced the individual giant slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games, while the snowboard cross became an Olympic sport for the first time in 2006, at the Torino Olympic Winter Games. • Parallel Giant Slalom Men, Ladies • Halfpipe Men, Ladies • Snowboard Cross Men, Ladies

Speed Skating

Speed skating emerged on the canals of Holland as early as the 13th century ¨C a time when iron skates on wooden soles served as a mode of transportation. Competitive racing is known to have been held in Holland as early as 1676. In the early 19th century, the Dutch shared the concept of speed skating with their European neighbours. Speed skating has been part of the Olympic Games program since the first Winter Games were held in Chamonix in 1924. Originally, only men took part in competition. At the Lake Placid 1932 Games, however, women¡¯s speed skating was a demonstration event and was included as a full medal event at the Squaw Valley 1960 Games. Speed skating is the fastest human powered, non-mechanical aided sport in the world. Skaters can reach speeds of more than 60 kilometres per hour. • 10,000 m Men • 1,000 m Men, Ladies • 1,500 m Men, Ladies • 3,000 m Ladies • 5,000 m Men, Ladies • 500 m Men, Ladies • Team pursuit Men, Ladies