ALPINE SKIING BY: MADISON

1. ALPINE SKIING BY: MADISON Alpine skiing, is the grandfather of Olympic Sports because it’s almost as old as the first Olympics, since it began in 1936. Alpine skiing is now made up of 5 events, however, when it first started there was only one event, downhill. These are the events that make up Alpine skiing: Downhill began in 1948 it’s the longest course at the fastest speeds! Slalom it also began in 1948 it’s the shortest course with the quickest turns. Giant Slalom began in 1952 it’s longer than than the regular Slalom but with wider turns. Super G began in 1988 it means Super Giant Slalom which means the speed of downhill skiing with the turns of Slalom. Super Combined began in 1988, it’s shortened downhill run followed by one Slalom run. Men and women have been participating in this event from the beginning some top alpine skiers are: TraudlHecher won the bronze in 1960 at the age of 16- the youngest to medal. JanicaKostelic has won the most medals of any woman with six (four gold, two silver). Looking forward to watching alpine skiing and who wins gold!!! 

2. Ryan Suter: Not Just A Legacy By: Marlena Ryan Suter is more than an Ice Hockey player, he is an Olympic Ice Hockey legacy. In 1980 team U.S.A won gold and his father was on that team, so Hockey is in the Suter family blood because his brothers also play. His father was on the miracle on ice team. Ryan Suter was born on January 1st, 1985 in Madison, Wisconsin. He is now 28, he has been playing since he was two .He plays defense. Before Ryan was on the Minnesota wilds he was on the Nashville predators and he was 7th pick by the Nashville predators. And in 2004 he came through and led his team right to the gold. When that stunning event happened the Minnesota wilds gave him an offer to join their team, Ryan loved Nashville but the wilds offer was closer to his family and the offer was just too good to pass up. When he not on the ice Suter is spending time with his wife,kids, and other family, speaking of family Ryan’s father thought him to play at a young age ever since then he’s a legacy meaning he’s just like his brothers and father. This will be another Olympic year for Suter, he has been In the Olympics for many years. Now he is ranked one of the top players in the world !Now let’s just hope he can lead team U.S.A to the gold again!

3. Is Curling Making a Comeback? The players are definitely making a fashion statement, but there is more to curling then the pants. Not only is Team USA going all out on fashion but curling is starting a fundraiser to make curling a interesting and big sport. Including most people don’t prefer curling over a more famous winter sport like snowboarding [a.k.a. Snurf] curling is related golf, bowling, and Chess. The History of This Event Curling began in early 1600’s Scotland outside on lakes of ice. They used only a brick of ice and straw tied on a stick. Soon the sport had moved to 170 deferent states. Then others made the sport into refrigerated rooms too last long periods of time. Later on the sport evolved to what you know it today with more equipment. Curling is a sport played with four players on each team. It starts with a coin toss and the team that gets the side they called goes first. The points are scored like darts the closer you get the more points. Also if you knock the opponent’s stone and get closer to the target you get more points. When you watch curling don’t just watch the fashion watch the game Curling By: Isaac

4. Bobsledding- Is it NASCAR on ice By: Bao Bobsled Bobsledding, sledding on ice or NASCAR on ice?! Bobsleigh was a sport that was founded in St. Moritz, Switzerland 1897, because of the Swiss attaching two skeleton sleds together and then adding a steering mechanism. But it wasn’t until the late 19th century, when it started in the Olympics. The very first race in the Olympics was a four-man bobsled race in Chamonix, France 1924. Later they made the two-man Olympic event in 1932 at the winter games. In 2002 they made another the two-man event but this time it’s for the woman. This sport is started off by, the team pushing the bobsled with push handles as swiftly as they can for 164 feet using their start shoes and after that, they immediately jump into a colorful sled to race down an icy frozen track. They go down at hundreds of miles per hour, but they have to wear helmets to protect themselves. The driver enters first and the brakeman enters last. The driver has to avoid the walls to keep the sled at top speed. After they slide past the finished line, the brakeman has to lift the brake mechanism to lower the metal teeth into the ice. At the end of the events they add all of the time for that event, to see who has the shortest time. The fastest time gets the gold medal and so on. But it’s not all about winning. Sometimes the bobsled flips and the driver and team race down the track upside-down. Sometimes the bobsled can go up to 145 mph. Bobsledding is an Olympic sport and it’s one of the sliding sports. But it can be very dangerous too. Bobsledding is like NASCAR on ice. Bobsledding is a very fast sport with turning and weaving through tunnel, and sliding into very dangerous sharp turns. So, I have a question for you, how fast can you go?

5. Cassidy What’s Skiing? Ask MikaelaShiffrin! MikaelaShriffrin is a famous skier. In 2013, she became an eight time world cup slalom medalist. Also, in 2013 she was the World Cup Slalom overall champion. Mikaela was born in East Burke, VT, on March 13th, 1995. At age 15, she also made her World Cup debut. Right now she goes to Burke Mountain Academy. Her hobbies are: Snowboarding, tennis, and soccer. (And of course Skiing.) In 2010, Shiffrin had her FIRST competition in Panorama, British Columbia. She followed it up by taking 2nd, 3rd, and 1st in her next three Nor-am slalom races held at Sunday River, Maine. Now Shiffrin is a great skier. She’s medaled so far (Gold) and she’s ONLY 18, and she started at 15!!! She’s never had any injuries, (at least none that I know of). Shiffrin also won her first World Cup race in December 2012 at the age of 17. Her age is more than who she is; she’s the youngest classic Olympian.

6. Gracie Gold By : Celena Gracie Gold is going for the Gold – in what sport?, you ask. That wonderful dance on ice: figure skating.Gold was born on August, 17 1995. She is now 18 years old. Gracie is 5’5” tall and loves to read in her free time. Her hometown is Springfield, Illinois. She also lives in two other places called Newtown, Massachusetts and Los Angeles, California . Her coach is Frank Carroll. Gold trains at Club Wagon Wheel FSC. She began skating in 2003.The country Gold represents is the USA. Gold was fourth on the novice level at the 2010 U.S. championships. In 2012 she received gold on the long and short course at the 2012 U.S. championships. In 2012 she won silver at the 2012 U.S. Junior Championships. At the 2013 Grand Prix she competed and had a personal best. In 2014 she placed first in the short program with 72.12 points! For the Olympic qualifications, Gold was in fourth place, but got moved to one of the top three because Gold was more experienced than one of the other girls so Gold made it to the top three. She was also named to the U.S. team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia!

7. ICE HOCKEY Andrew Ice Hockey is one of the sports in the Winter Olympics. It is going to be one of the events in the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The first year Ice Hockey was an event was in the Summer Olympics in 1920. In 1924, Ice Hockey moved to the Winter Olympics. Women’s Ice Hockey joined in 1998 at Nagano, Japan. People think that Ice Hockey probably evolved from field hockey. • Ice Hockey is played by 6 players on each team. There are 5 skaters and 1 goalie. The players must hold their positions, but can travel to the red line. The skaters must hit the puck in the other team’s net to score. There are three 20-minute periods with two 15-minute intermissions. After the normal game is over and the score is tied, the game goes to overtime. Overtime is basically the same thing as the original game, but the game ends when somebody scores. The game goes to the team who just scored even if the time didn’t run out yet. If the game is still tied, then they go to the shootout. Each team has three shooters. The team Ice Hockey is one of the sports in the Winter Olympics. It is going to be one of the events in the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The first year Ice Hockey was an event was in the Summer Olympics in 1920. In 1924, Ice Hockey moved to the Winter Olympics. Women’s Ice Hockey joined in 1998 at Nagano, Japan. People think that Ice Hockey probably evolved from field hockey. • Ice Hockey is played by 6 players on each team. There are 5 skaters and 1 goalie. The players must hold their positions, but can travel to the red line. The skaters must hit the puck in the other team’s net to score. There are three 20-minute periods with two 15-minute intermissions. After the normal game is over and the score is tied, the game goes to overtime. Overtime is basically the same thing as the original game, but the game ends when somebody scores. The game goes to the team who just scored even if the time didn’t run out yet. If the game is still tied, then they go to the shootout. Each team has three shooters. The team with the best out of three shots will win. If the three shots are the same, it becomes a sudden death shootout, the next shootout goal wins. When the first player shoots and scores, the other team has a chance to score, if it’s missed, the game’s over.

8. Tim Burke By: Donovan Tim Burke: Not Just a Skier, A Marksman Too! Tim Burke is an Olympic athlete from Paul Smiths, New York. He was born on February 3, 1982. He competes in a sport called biathlon. Biathlon combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Burke started skiing at a young age, but began doing biathlons at the age of 13 and has loved it ever since. He has suffered from illness a few times, including during the 2007-08 season. A result of his illness was that he did not do better than his previous season. In 2009-10 he became the second US biathlete to finish second in a Biathlon World competition. He is an Olympic hopeful to win gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. If he doesn’t win gold, America might never win gold in the biathlon.

9. Figure Skating! By Isaiah Figure skating was begun in the mid 19th century WOW! That’s long. An American named Jackson Haines thought it will be cool to combine dancing with skating together. He moved this sport to Austria were it became appealing to the Austrians. America waited 50 years to let ice dancing in their country. Ice dancing became an Olympic sport in Austria Year of 1976 pairs and singles first appeared at the summer games in 1908. Yeah, it sounds hard cause it is HARD! But practice makes perfect. Ice dancing also joined America’s game also in 1976. Women and men perform dancing different. The man throws the woman in the air and lifts her into intricate moves on the ice. The woman must land accurately when he throws her so she is not injured. There scored on what they do well and what they need to work on. And then the judges put a number up on their progress 10 is the best score 1 the lowest. In, figure skating, you’re going to see tricks jumps and spins and maybe some great Olympic performances.

10. Ski Jumping! Flying Over Snow! By John Ski Jumping is one of the most EXTREME Olympic sports ever, and will amuse us for the Sochi Olympics 2014. In fact, this is the first year that WOMEN will ski jump! It was originated in Norway, and then it appeared in the winter Olympics. The four events this year will be the individual men and women’s jump, the men’s individual large hill, and the men’s team event. Ski Jumping joined the Winter Olympics in 1924. Down the hill, the skiers ski at 60 mph. When the skiers are COMPLETELY airborne, they need to make a V shape with their skis for their jump to qualify in the final scores. The farther the skiers land, the more points they get. It is also one of the original Winter Olympic sports. The first ever ski Jumper was Olaf Rye. Ski Jumping isn’t only a winter sport. You can play it in the middle of summer on a hill that has green pads that shoot air out of them. It works just like air hockey. By the way, the current world record holder for the longest ski jump is Johan Remen from Vikersund, Norway, at an amazing distance of 809 FEET!!! I don’t know about you, but that’s what I call “COOL”! http://www.wimp.com/skijump/

11. Sarah Hendrickson (Ski Jumping) by Olivia P. Sarah Hendrickson was born on August 1, 1994 in Salt Lake City, Utah. That means she is 19 years old and started in ski jumping 2011! Her career spans a total of 13 wins and 2 individual wins. Sarah’s height is 5 ft 4 inches. Sarah has suffered only 1 injury in her career. She suffered knee ligament damage and took a very long to recover. Due to her past experience and triumphs, Sarah is suspected to win gold this year for USA after making her comeback from her injury. Ski Jumping is a sport that is a lot like skiing but a little different. Ski jumping is where you go down a big hill and then there is a release point and the ski jumpers fly into the air. After they land they have to measure where they landed then they get judged on their jump. Ski jumping is usually a winter sport. But can also be played in the summer bet with fake ground. Ski jumping was originated in Norway. Also ski jumping belongs to the Nordic type of competition. I hope you learned about Sarah Hendrickson and ski jumping and hope you watch the Olympics.

12. Freestyle Skiing Freestyle skiing is a fun sport .If you don’t what freestyle skiing is , read on. Freestyle skiing began in the 1930. It was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Olympic Games, and became a competed sport at the 1992 games in Alberta, Canada. The ski ballet was dropped. The events are Ski cross, Slope style, Half Pipe, Aerials and Moguls. If you never see someone do the ski cross here is a little sentence about it. The course is filled with twists and turns and jumps that the athletes must successfully navigate. The slop style is about athletes that will ski down a slope that has various obstacles, ranging from rails to quarter-pipes to jumps. The Half Pipe is where have to dive into the half pipe and perform a series of high-flying twists, flips and grabs. The half pipe is new to the Olympics. The Aerials is where they straighten their body out and go into a series of flips and spins. The Moguls is where they have to perform two jumps on their way down. That is all about the Freestyle Skiing. I hope you learn something new. By:Jada

13. The Great Lamoureaux Twins By: Luke R. Jocelyn and Monique were both born on the same day July 3,1989. They both play the same position forward so they substitute for each other. They both started playing hockey in 2008 now they are in the Olympics this year. They were both nominated for the 2009 WCHA all-rookie team. When they were in college at the University of North Dakota they won the state championship three years in a row 06, 07, 08. They both were on the USA squad that won silver at the 2010 winter games in Vancouver. There dad was Jean –Pierre he was the backup goaltender for University of North Dakota in 1979-1983.The girls this year are hoping to win a medal in Sochi ,Russia.

14. Skeleton By: Christina S. Is that a skeleton in your closet? No, it’s actually a sled. Skeleton is a fast winter sliding sport in which an individual person rides a small sled down a frozen track while lying facedown. Skeleton became a permanent Olympic sport for men and women at the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1948 Skeleton was only a male sport for the Olympics. Women’s skeleton sport appeared for the first time in 2002 at Salt City Lake. It made its Olympics debut at the 1928 games in the St. Moritz winter games. It did not return to the Olympics till 1948. What happened? We don’t know, but the sport returned in the Olympics in the winter games in 1948. The sport originated in St. Moritz, Switzerland, as a spin-off from the popular British sport Cresta sledding. Did you know that skeleton athletes experience forces up to six G’s? It’s amazing!

15. Snowboarding Snowboarding began as an idea from Sherman Poppen to create a “snurfer” (short for “snow surfer”) for his daughter to ride on in the snow. Tom Sims, a skateboarder, who wanted to “skate” in the snow is frequently credited with inventing the first modern snowboard. Sims built his "Skiboard" prototype in wood shop class in seventh grade in 1963, and followed with several skateboard and snowboard industry firsts, including the first snowboard with metal edges, the first pro-model and women's-specific snowboard. He was also the first to incorporate some of the earliest high-back binding systems. Jake Burton Carpenter, known primarily as Burton, also had a passion for skiing. In fact, he was on the Cornell College skiing team where he had a terrible car accident. The accident severely hurt him and he thought his career was over. After college, he worked at the slopes on a snurfer which was the mixture between a surf board and a skiboard which Tom Sims built. Then kids started calling it a snowboard. The snowboarding events are one half pipe were players soar through the air while doing tricks, spins, flips, then cross the final line when the judges give them their scores. Next there’s free style. In freestyle you fly down steep mountains while jumping off big medium and small ramps. While jumping off the ramps the do amazing tricks. Then they jump off a 2084 foot high jump while trying to do amazing jumps. Also there’s boarder cross were 4 players soar down the mountain going through terrains, off jumps, and over bumps. Last but not least, there’s Big Air where snowboarders try and get the most air as they can trying to get the farthest they can and land there high flying jump. Looking forward the Olympics lets go U.S.A.!!! !!!!!SNOWBOARDING!!!! By: Ryan

16. Bill Demong By: Nikki Bill Demong Bill Demong is a Nordic combined athlete who has been on the team for 4 years. Bill Demong has been competing at the world cup level since 1997. He learned how to do this sport in New York Ski Educational Foundation.BillDemong was born in Vermontville,New York March 29th 1980.Bill Demong got married in July 11th 2010 . All athletes in Nordic combined wear a lot of equipment. Examples are boots, bindings, jumping skis, and ski jumping suit. Men and woman can do this sport. Nordic combined is a hard sport to do. Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing jumping. Can’t wait to see how Demong does.

17. Wrestling On Ice? Have you watched Speed Skating? Three words. IT IS BRUTAL! It looks easy but the players are basically throwing their teammates to the finish line. They also have to worry about losing. I know that parents and coaches and teachers say it’s not important to win. NOT HERE! At the Olympics winning is key. First off when you speed skate, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t practice you could kill yourself. I’m not joking. You could not be able to stop, and slam into the wall. You could even kill your teammate. You have to basically throw them, and one wrong move and you could kill them or severely hurt them/you. The skaters have to race on a 400m oval counter clockwise. Speed Skating became an event in the late 1600’s in Holland. The women’s speed skating was added in the 1960’s. The events include the 10,000m, the 500m, the 1,500m, and the 5000m. The women compete in all of these events except the 10,000m. After reading this paragraph maybe you want to speed skate too! Speed Skating by: Scott

18. Biathlon What is this Mystery of a sport? By: Anthony V What would happen if you decided to mix rifle shooting and cross country skiing? That would make the sport biathlon, wouldn’t it? The sport biathlon was introduced to the Olympics in 1960. It started as just a custom of hunting for people who lived in Northern Europe. Then it became a way to train their military. They used to use bows instead of rifles when they went to hunt. They also used wooden boards for their skis. Biathlon started as an Olympic sport for only men in 1960, and then it was introduced to women in 1992. The sport could be played as a team or just a single competitor. There is a cross-country trail split into 2-4 shooting rounds. In each shooting round the biathlete has to shoot five targets. The contestant with the shortest time wins. If a biathlete misses a target they have to make up for it in 1 of 3 ways: by skiing an extra 150 meters, by having 1 minute added to your total time, or by using an extra cartridge if they used all of the three they were given for each round, then they have to make a penalty loop around for each remaining target that wasn’t hit. Well now you know what would happen if you mixed rifle shooting and cross country skiing.

19. Cross country skiing By: Evan W. Cross country skiing is not just running in the snow this sport is the oldest skiing sport ever and was created 5000 years ago and became an Olympic sport for men in 1942, women made their debut in 1950. The events in cross country are a sprint, team sprint and individual start including relays and freestyles. This sport is the most difficult endurance sport ever and you burn the most calories in this sport and these people have to run with equipment on them with skis and just run to the finish line whoever has the fastest time wins. To play this sport you will need skis, poles, bindings and a ski suit. In this sport you burn the most calories than in any other sport. It is also the most difficult endurance sport ever. This sport is not just skiing its cross country in the snow!

20. Max Aaron Olympic hopeful-FAIL!!! Why you ask, well, read on. Max Aaron was born on February 25, 1992. At age four he became a speed skater. At eleven he started to play hockey and loved it. But at around age fourteen he became a figure skater and excelled at it. At 2011 he won the World Juniors Championship. In 2012 and 2013, he won the World Championship. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona and now he trains in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was an Olympic hopeful to win gold in upcoming Olympics. Even finishing third will not be enough to go to the Olympics. Though he will not represent the USA in the 2014 Olympics because of record setting Jeremy Abbott…2018 Olympics might be a different story. Max Aaron By: Luke W.