Winter Olympics in Sochi

By Shane Burrell | Sports Editor |

2014 is a special year for holding all the Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia with two new events this year.

The Russia’s President Valdimir Putin was elected to hold the Winter Olympics in July 2007. The last time that the Olympics were held in Russia was in 1980 and it was the Summer Olympics in Moscow.

This years Olympics begun on Feb. 7 – 23, with a pre-opening that started on Feb. 6 holding one of the newest games that were added to the games Slope style and Team skating.

Slope style has always been an event of the Olympics, but has only been offered for skiers and this year it is open for both skiers and snowboarders.

Olympic snowboard champion Shaun White registered for the event when he signed up for the Olympics but had recently withdrew his name, “With the practice runs I have taken, even after course modifications and watching fellow athletes get hurt, the potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other Olympics goals on,” stated White in his press release.

White stated that he wants to pay more attention on the half pipe event, and be aware of his wrist that he had just recently injured during a few practice runs, “White, 27, has been dealing with a number of nagging injuries during a winter in which he was one of a few riders trying to compete in both events. His focus now will be solely on Tuesday’s contest in the halfpipe, which is essentially a hollowed-out ice shell with 22-foot sidewalls,” stated in an article by ESPN Winter Olympics.

Besides slope style for snowboarding, the other new event this Olympic season is team figure skating.

A team of six individuals from each country are able to compete in four different categories men, women, pairs and dance the event will take a total of three days to complete.

Although these new events will give athletes another chance at earning the gold medal, there are also a few other games that some having been waiting to happen again.

Another Olympic sport to look forward to is hockey, as Last Winter Olympics the USA Hockey team and Canadian Hockey team came head to head for the Olympic gold medal, but team USA lost against Canada and were awarded silver.

This year in Sochi, team USA is well equipped for the matches ahead and looking forward to the rematch against team Canada to win for the gold.

Although the air is high with competitiveness, the opening ceremony was something that would not yet be forgotten.

The opening ceremony was a failure for visual disaster, having all of the Olympic rings show up except for one. Despite the missing of the ring the visuals of the ceremony were truly profound.

The opening ceremony brings the lighting of the Olympic flame and the beginning of the games.

The events should be broadcast on local stations and everyone tuned in will be able to cap on the events. So make sure that you pay attention to the games and support team USA!