The Hidden Gems of the Winter Olympics

665 Words

The Winter Olympics began on Friday, February 9, and the world’s eyes have turned Pyeongchang, South Korea. Most people will tune in to popular events such as figure skating, downhill skiing, and ice hockey. However, the Olympics features many sports that are just as exciting, but usually overlooked. Here are some of these forgotten sports:

Biathlon

A test of endurance, speed, and accuracy, biathlon is a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Competitors complete a cross-country course with their rifles on their backs, and after the completion of one lap of the course, take shots at a target 50 meters away. For each target they miss, they must complete a penalty lap, which wastes valuable time. There are five targets in total. The transition from the strenuous exertions of cross-country skiing to the slow heart rate required to shoot accurately is incredibly difficult. This is the only Olympic sport in which the U.S. has never medaled, but that could change as reigning world champion, American Lowell Bailey, is a favorite to win a medal.

Nordic Combined

Another sport that combines two disciplines, nordic combined originated as a Norwegian military exercise in the 1930s. A combination of cross-country skiing and ski jumping, it requires both flexibility and stamina. It is also notable for being the only Olympic sport with no equivalent for women because of long-standing misogynistic pseudoscience regarding the ‘frailty’ of women (women’s nordic combined will be introduced at Beijing 2022). Competitors jump first, where they are scored on the basis of the length and the style of their jump. The competitors who score highest get a head start on the cross-country part of the race. The winner of this event is often not particularly outstanding at one of the components of the event, but rather, is better than average at both. Norway has consistently obliterated all competitors in this competition, winning twice as many medals as any other country, since nordic combined combines two of the sports they are most dominant in. The high point for the United States in this event was at the 2010 Vancouver Games, where they won four medals, one of which was gold.

Curling

Perhaps the oddest-looking sport in the Winter Olympics, curling is a sport that is not as demanding physically as it is mentally, giving it the moniker of “chess on ice.” Teams attempt to slide heavy rocks down ice and lead them as close as they can to a target area at the other end of the rink. One person will slide the stone while the others use brooms to sweep the ice to guide the stone to its desired position. Interestingly, all the granite stones are made from only two quarries in Scotland and Wales.

Skeleton

Many have heard of bobsledding, perhaps because of the film “Cool Runnings” (1993) and its Jamaican bobsledders that competed against incredible odds. However, bobsledding has a much more dangerous cousin, whose very name inspires fear—skeleton. In this solo event, sliders go headfirst on a small sled that has no steering or braking equipment, leaving all control up to the body movements of the rider. With their faces just inches from the ground, sliders encounter g-forces of over 80 miles per hour. Crashes are less common than in the other sliding events of luge and bobsled however, because of the light weight of skeleton sleds and the more precise steering mechanisms.

Ski Cross

Often overlooked among the high-flying freestyle skiing events of moguls and the halfpipe, ski cross has become one the most exhilarating events at the Olympics. It is the only alpine skiing event to feature more than one competitor at a time: four competitors race down a course that has natural elements mixed with jumps and banked turns. The ever-present possibility of a multi-skier crash leaves viewers hanging on the edge of their seats. Succeeding in this event requires a high amount of control, the ability to land big jumps, and a little bit of luck.