I’ve heard some sports fans claim there’s nothing good to watch during the Winter Olympics. They say the flash and pizzazz of the summer games is absent in the winter games.
I beg to differ. I’ve been a Winter Olympics fan since Picabo Street was popular. Even so, summer fans have a point. With games like cross-country skiing, curling and figure skating, where can a sports fan find some good old-fashioned Olympic excitement? I believe excitement can be found in the sports below.
5. Hockey
Let’s face it. Hockey has a reputation as a sport where a fight can erupt at any moment. Though Olympic rules penalize fighting with a match penalty (“game misconduct plus automatic suspension from next game”) or a 10-minute misconduct penalty, body contact is still allowed during game play. You can bet that players will get as close to each other as they can without incurring the wrath of the referee. Add a smaller rink and a crowd of frenzied fans and you have a sport full of anticipation and excitement.
4. Luge
Luge may seem to be little more than an athlete racing a sled down an icy water slide, but it is actually known as the fastest sport on ice. Lugers race a 300 ft. drop in excess of 95 mph, according to usaluge.org. Athletes go so fast that it’s the only sport measured to a thousandth of a second. This is a sport that if you blink, you might miss it.
3. Skeleton
The skeleton competition is very similar to the luge competition with one big difference: the racer speeds down the track head first facing the ground. Though slower than the luge race, competitors still race downhill at nearly 80 mph. The only people I know who would do that are either daredevils or crazy. Watching people do it for sport should be a good time.
2. Freestyle skiing
The freestyle ski is intense enough to be included in the X-Games. It’s divided into three events: moguls, in which a skier travels through intentionally bumpy snow and performs two trick jumps, ski cross, where four skiers racing down a track at the same time and aerials, or high-flying trick jumps. Whether you enjoy a race competition or want to see an athlete catch some major air-time flipping and spinning, there’s something here for you.
1. Snowboarding
This event has it all. Trick jumps. Halfpipes. Superstars. Like the freestyle ski, the sport is divided into three events: snowboard cross, or multiple snowboarders racing down the track at once, the parallel giant slalom, or two competitors racing around flags and my favorite, the halfpipe, snowboarding’s version of the skateboarding favorite. Adding to this year’s excitement is Shaun White’s new halfpipe trick, the double McTwist 1260. He says he’s the only one in the world who can do it, and the Winter Olympics is the perfect place to defend that claim.
It may not be as popular or well-known as the Summer Olympics, but there’s something for everyone to enjoy at this year’s Winter Olympics. The Olympics start on Feb. 12 on NBC.