February 2010

Oksana Baiul While the 1994 Lillehammer figure-skating competition — and let’s not kid ourselves, the entire Olympics fortnight — was overwhelmed with the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding scandal, neither of them took home the gold. That distinction went to the 16-year-old Ukrainian, whose moves on the ice bumped Kerrigan down to silver. Baiul faced her own scandal in 1997 after being arrested for DUI, but still skates professionally. In 2007 she headlined Cold As Ice, a musical that blended skating, song and dialogue, and is hoping to resurrect the show for a Broadway run. The Jamaican Bobsled Team What started out […]

The weather may be cold, but Canadians have always maintained the reputation of being warm, friendly people. Certainly not the kind to boast or brag about athletic prowess. As far as the Olympics go, there hasn’t been much reason to celebrate. The country has never come in first for medals, and the previous Canadian-hosted games – Montreal in 1976, Calgary in 1988 – failed to produce a single gold medal for the Great White North. But that all may change with this month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The government has upped its game, shelling out more money than ever for […]

Face it — if you’ve watched the Winter Olympics at all, you know that feeling of alarm. As you watch Gregor Schlierenzauer take a flying leap in the Alpine ski jump, Lindsey Vonn rocket down a mountainside in the super-G, or any of those skeleton racers shoot face first down an icy track, you can’t help but think it: “How insane would you have to be to do that??” We thought we’d entertain this very unscientific question and feel out an answer for a range of Winter Olympics events: How Insane Do You Have To Be? Curling Not at all […]

Hard to believe it’s been 30 years since the U.S. beat the hockey powerhouse Soviet team in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., on their way to an improbable gold medal. The “Miracle on Ice” stands for many as the greatest sports moment in U.S. history and still remains a source of national pride. As the 2010 Winter Olympics take place Feb. 12-28 in Vancouver, the memories of that moment 30 years ago will be at the forefront of these Games for many Americans. Here are a few facts surrounding the story of the “Miracle on Ice”: How […]

Alpine Skiing Skiers compete in five disciplines: downhill, the fastest, steepest, longest course; slalom, the shortest course with the quickest turns; giant slalom, with wider and smoother turns than slalom; super-G, combining the speed of downhill with the precision of giant slalom; and combined, one downhill run and two slalom runs. Biathlon Biathlon combines the aerobic demands of cross-country skiing with the marksmanship of rifle shooting in five events: individual, sprint, pursuit, mass start and relay. Bobsled Bobsledders navigate an enclosed sled down a curved track of ice, reaching speeds near 80 mph. Competitions include two-man, four-man and two-woman bobsled. […]

The Winter Olympics don’t always get the same level of respect as their summertime cousins. Some argue that the Winter Olympics aren’t Olympics at all, as they’re not at all connected with the Games of ancient Greece. But it’s harder to argue that they’re any less exciting or drama-filled, and they’re certainly far more dangerous. Events like the super-G have people hurtling themselves down iced-over mountainsides, and from the way those luge competitors try to keep themselves perfectly aerodynamic, it sure doesn’t look like they can even see where they’re going. But the Winter Olympics does have its share of […]

He may not be up for an award this year, but Kevin Bacon is still making his presence felt this Academy Awards season. For its annual 31 Days of Oscar, TCM is playing its own version of the popular Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game with “360 Degrees of Oscar,” beginning Feb. 1. The 360 Academy Award-winning or -nominated films will be linked one actor at a time. For instance, the first film, 1981’s Only When I Laugh, includes Bacon and James Coco. The next film, Man of La Mancha, stars Coco and Harry Andrews, who has a role in […]

Ready for the big kickoff? Yes, there’s Super Bowl XLIV, which airs Feb. 7 on CBS (HD), but there’s also a kickoff of another sort after the game. For the first time since 2005, a network will be debuting a new series following the Super Bowl, with its traditionally massive audience. CBS is introducing Undercover Boss, a new reality series that follows high-level chief executives as they slip anonymously into the rank and file of their companies. While working alongside their employees, they see the effects that their decisions have on others, learn where problems lie in their organizations and […]

NBC Universal networks combine to present more than 835 hours of TV and Internet coverage from the Vancouver Games. This is also the first Winter Olympics to be broadcast entirely in high definition. The combined TV and Internet coverage is nearly double the amount from the 2006 Torino Games (419 hours) and is more than the Torino and 2002 Salt Lake City Games combined (794.5 hours). Over the 17 days in Vancouver, NBCU’s coverage averages nearly 50 hours per day, and includes coverage of every one of the 15 winter sports. NBC Coverage begins with the Opening Ceremony on Feb. […]