Winter Olympics opened on Feb 14 2010. I have never watched Winter Olympic games except for ice skating but that was years ago. Surprisingly I found myself glued to the TV watching the NBC coverage of the Winter Olympics after taking a glimpse of Apolo Ohno’s qualifying speed skating round.

It’s already day 8 and I’m still rooting and cheering on for the underdogs, the winners and the big dreamers. Olympics is still the ultimate goal for many athletes.

So far the highlights are:

It started with a death.

A Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili died after losing control of his sled during a practice run. This only proves how extreme many of the sports in this game is. Olympic requires utmost mental and physical fitness to compete. But for Nodar’s case, the track was just deemed unsafe.

Age doesn’t matter.

It’s only in the Winter Olympics that I saw older age-group of athletes competing for a sport so extreme in nature. In Summer Olympics, the younger generation prevail but in this game, the veterans show how it’s done.

Kristina Grove (34) won bronze in speed skating 3000m. Ole Elinar Bjorndalen (34) won silver in 20km Individual Sprint. Figure Skating pair Shen Xue (31) and Zhao Hongbao (36) won gold. Bode Miller at age 33 is garnering medals for his sport.

There’s always the next Olympics.

A lot of the athletes here are veterans of the Olympic sports. They have joined 2 to Olympics in their lifetime and still making the cut. Can you imagine 12 years?! If an athlete is a newbie, commentators will tell them that they need to gain more experience before having the same level of competency as with the other veteran athletes.

At the age of 27, this Olympics would be Apolo Ohno’s 3rd entry. He has earned gold, silver and bronze medals for short-track skating in the Salt Lake, Torino, and Vancouver Olympics. He needs one more medal to gain 7 and be the most decorated American at the Winter Games.

Bodie Miller came back to compete for his 4th Olympic bout in Alpine Skiing. At age 33 he has earned a bronze for Downhill Alpine Skiing at Vancouver. This year is Lindsey Vonn’s (25) 3rd Olympic bid for a medal and she finally achieved it at the Women’s Downhill. 

No inury will stop me.

A lot of athletes have been injured before the Olympic started. 5 months before the Olympics, J.R. Celski got into a near-fatal injury when he skidded on the short track and sliced a big cut in his thigh in the process requiring 60 stitches. He came back to qualify for the US team and won bronze in the Olympics 1500m short-track event. Japanese skater Daisuke Takahashi underwent knee surgery on 2009 and came back to Olympics and won bronze for figure skating.

Lindsey Vonn bruised her shin days before her game during practice. Thanks to a 2 day-respite from a bad weather she was able to rest her shin and win a gold in her Downhill race. Fellow athlete Anja Pearson of Sweden had an accident on her downhill race which sent her crashing after failing to land the final jump of the race. But she returned the day after sore and bruised to compete in the Super Combined Event and won bronze.

Retirement – What’s that?

Russian skater Yevgeny Plushenko retired after winning gold in the 2006 Torino Olympics Men’s Figure Skating. After a 3 1/2 year hiatus, he returns to Vancouver for his third Olympic. In one interview he stated "Many people asked me in the spring, ‘Why do you need this? Practices again, the training load, stress. You have everything – money, fame, titles … you’ve won everything. Why are you returning?’ Simply, I was bored. There wasn’t enough passion, fight, inner drive or goals. Or, like my coach said, I just want to prolong my youth. I’m all of 26 years old, why not compete some more?" He did just that and won himself a silver medal.

Chinese Figure Skating pair Shen and Zhao Hongbao stepped out of competitive skating after the 2007 Worlds. However that Olympic gold still eluded them and they decided to come back for their 4th and last Olympic to try getting the gold. And they did!

It’s always about the Olympic Dream.

All the athletes compete in the Olympics to get that ultimate recognition as the best athlete. They will suffer through long and hard training, injuries, and numerous upsets and disappointments – all for the glory of getting an Olympic medal and cementing themselves in sports history.

For 18 years, figure skating pair and married couple Shen and Zhao have been competing in numerous competitions and this year was their last bid to get that elusive Olympic gold. Pushing their middle-aged bodies for more hard training and stress, enduring cafeteria meals and living in separate dormitory rooms, the dream finally came true for them when they won gold in Figure Skating pairs and giving China its first Olympic gold in that category.

Alpine Skiier Lindsey Vonn has entered her 3rd Olympics. She has won awards in different games but never an Olympic medal. Getting a bad start because of a bruised shin, Vonn skiied her heart out and finished first and won her first Olympic gold finally.

Skating coach Frank Carroll has coached figure skating champions in his lifetime but never had a student who won him an Olympic gold. At 71, his dream was realized when his pupil Evan Lysacek skated a near perfect routine and took home the gold in Men’s Figure Skating.

Shaun White proves himself the best in the Snowboarding Half-pipe when he won Olympic gold in Torino and Vancouver. He scored 4 points away from perfect 50 and sets a long lead from his competitor.

Olympics is half-way over and there’s still more amazing games to anticipate. But for now I salute the Olympic winners.

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