#winter-olympics

#winter-olympics

Earlier this week, the IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, called for sport to be a neutral ground, separate from politics and the actions of governments. It was a worthy sentiment. But she might as well have been singing kumbaya in a warzone. While Coventry was speaking, US Olympic officials changed the name of an athlete hospitality space in Milan from Ice House to Winter House, following protests over the fatal shootings by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

From the fashion capital of Milan to the dramatic peaks of Cortina d'Ampezzo, the Milano Cortina Games the first to be co-hosted by two cities will stretch across northern Italy blending world-class winter sport with a strong sense of history and ambition. Sixteen sports and more than 110 gold medals await, from the raw speed of alpine skiing and bobsleigh to the tactical endurance of biathlon and cross-country.

Upon turning up in the New York outpost of Lake Placid for their final Winter Olympics warm-up competition, Jamaica's four-man bobsleigh team were informed they were not allowed to take part. A hat-trick of gold medals over the preceding few weeks had seen them rise too high in the world rankings to take their customary place on the second-tier North American Cup circuit.

After losing to Edmonton in overtime on Thursday, San Jose took two early leads in Calgary, but a late shorthanded goal by Joel Farabee gave the Flames a 3-2 lead and the win at the Scotiabank Saddledome. San Jose's road trip continues with games at Chicago and Colorado before the NHL takes an extended break for the Winter Olympics in Italy, which will feature NHL players for the first time since 2014.

3-time Olympic alpine skier Tommy Ford sat down with Condé Nast Traveler to discuss the different types of snow conditions you find around the world, from the Beaver Creek in Colorado to Ushuaia, Argentina, and Lake Takapō in New Zealand. The discussion was mostly surrounding the snow conditions while racing or training, not the off-piste or regular trails that most skiers are riding, but he does touch on some other forms of snow.

It was just really surprising, I guess, because I felt like, How could that be?' she said in an interview with The Associated Press at the U.S. Speedskating trials ahead of the Milan Cortina Games. When you think about how many Winter Olympics we've had, I just thought it was really strange. I hope people can see my story and the stories of other Black women in winter sports and then, hopefully, we'll have more coming up soon.

Buffalo chicken dip is a must while cheering on the athletes of Team USA.

It's just about showtime for the thousands of athletes who qualified for the Winter Olympics next month in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The XXV Winter Olympiad runs from Feb. 6-22 and will include Northern California stars such as Oakland figure skater Alysa Liu and the youngest member of Team USA's ski/snowboard roster, 15-year-old Abby Winterberger of Truckee, who competes in freestyle halfpipe skiing. In all, eight Northern California athletes will represent the United States, including three from the Bay Area.

But if we're going to be real, San Jose Sharks defenceman Vincent Desharnais had the better return to action. Not only did he score a goal in his return, but he also had himself a highlight reel open-ice hit on Matthew Tkachuk. And he won a fight against Tkachuk. Safe to say it wasn't the impact that Matthew Tkachuk had hoped to make upon his return, especially with his Florida Panthers having just thirty-four games left to claim and solidify a playoff spot.

"Their secret fling evolves into an eight-year journey of self-discovery and rivalry. Over time, they must learn how to chase their desires on and off the ice. "Torn between the sport they live for and the love they can't ignore, Shane and Ilya must decide if there is room in their fiercely competitive world for something as fragile and as powerful as real love."

In some ways, Shaun White's next trip to the Winter Olympics might be the toughest. Retired for four years and now trying to shape his sport from outside of the halfpipe he once commanded, White says he fully expects his upcoming trip to Italy the country where he won the first of his three gold medals to be an emotional ride, maybe with some unexpected turns.

And we want to know: What are you most curious about? We welcome your technical queries (we're still wrapping our heads around the physics of most of these sports ourselves!) but even more so, your questions about what it's like to be at the Games: from the spectator experience to the behind-the-scenes realities of getting around, feeding ourselves and meeting deadlines on the go.

The origins of snowboarding go back to Christmas Day 1965 when an engineer named Sherman Poppen strapped two skis together to give his daughters something to do. He called it a snurfer and started selling them the next year. Jake Burton came along, refined the toy and helped turn snowboarding into a mass market sport. Along the way superstars like Shaun White and Chloe Kim redefined what could be done in the air and the sport is always reinventing itself in terms of tricks.

Nobody knows for certain when luge the French word for sled started, since nobody surely took note of the first time someone slid feet-first down a slope. Some say the 15th century, with evidence that there were races in Norway around that time. USA Luge believes that the sport could date all the way back to around 800 B.C., citing research that Vikings used sleds that had two runners, kind of like those kids have gotten for decades.

Not everyone can skate, not everyone has been on skis, very few would dare to try ski jumping, but anyone who has ever played in the snow probably knows the feeling of what skeleton athletes get on race day. It's the thrill of being on a sled, picking up speed, trying to figure out how to steer without having anything to steer with, then getting up and doing it all over again.

"Sometimes the calendar gets in the way of the celebration, which is why my NBC family and I decided this winter was time for us all to focus on the Olympics. "But don't worry, we'll party together bigger and better later in 2026. Ya dig,"