Features

Winter Olympics set to baffle

Author: John Harris
Date: 17/02/2010
Olympic Games betting

Strap on your skis and continue to be entertained by the Winter Olympics, the 21st staging of which is already underway in Vancouver.

This year sees both men's and women's ice-hockey staged for the first time in Olympic history, but the winter games are best loved for the arcane selection of events which make up its varied schedule.

To the viewing public in Scandinavia or Canada, the following disciplines could perhaps be considered pretty standard fare. However, to the rest of the world they are anything but.

Curling

Described as 'a team game with similarities to bowls and shuffleboard', curling is relatively well-known in the UK as it is one of the few events we have enjoyed success at.

More than five million people tuned in to watch the British women's team win gold at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

The premise is similar to bowls whereby polished slabs of granite are sent down a frozen 'pond' towards a target while other team members can assist the direction it travels by frantically polishing the ice with brooms.

Strategy and tension abound before one team emerges as the winner following a series of ends.

Can Great Britain enjoy more curling success in Vancouver? - Latest Winter Olympics Betting

Skeleton

Quite what possesses competitors to try this sport for the first time is a complete mystery. Skeleton involves hurling yourself head first down a bobsleigh run with just a flimsy sled separating your chest from the ice below.

Speeds of up to 35mph can be reached in a discipline which is certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Speed skating

Skin-tight lycra and alien-shaped helmets are the uniform of choice for the hell-raisers who compete in speed-skating.

Both 'long-form' and 'short-form' events are part of the Olympic schedule but they both revolve around the principle of competitors jostling their way around an oval track at high-speed.

Rough and tumble is part and parcel of the event where those who take part seem oblivious to the fact that they have giant blades of razor-sharp metal strapped to the bottoms of their feet.

Figure skating

From the ridiculous to the sublime, figure skating is to the Winter Olympics what synchronised swimming is to the summer games.

Everybody agrees that the graceful moves to music are beautiful - remember Torvill and Dean's Bolero at the 1984 Sarajevo games - but at the same time nobody quite understands the point of it.

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