Share + Nov 4, 2010 4:52 pm US/Mountain PAT GRAHAM, AP Sports Writer LAKEWOOD 1 of 1 indsey Vonn of the United States receives the bronze medal during the medal ceremony for the women's super-g alpine skiing held at the Whistler Medals Plaza on day 9 of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics at Whistler.

Yesterday ESPN announced nominees for its 2010 ESPY awards. Fans vote for winners until July 10. The network will broadcast half-hour a nomination show today at 8p.m. ET. Winners will be announced during The 2010 ESPYs, televised LIVE Wed, July 14, at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN HD. The complete list of categories with female nominees: BEST FEMALE ATHLETE Maya Moore, NCAA Basketball Helped lead UConn to back-to-back national championships. Averaged 28.5 PPG and 11.5 RPG in the two games at the Final Four. Averaged team-high 18.9 PPG and 8.3 RPG during 2009-10 regular season. Diana Taurasi, WNBA Named WNBA MVP for 2009 regular season and playoffs. Led WNBA in scoring during regular season (20.4 PPG). Helped Phoenix win the WNBA championship. Lindsey Vonn, Skiing Capped a historic season with her third straight overall World Cup title. Won gold medal at Olympics in downhill, becoming the first American woman to do so. Won the final super-G race of the season for her 33rd World Cup win, eclipsing Bode Miller as the most decorated American skier. Serena Williams, Tennis Earned number one world ranking at the end of the 2009 season. Won 2010 Australian Open, becoming the first woman to successfully defend her Aussie title since Jennifer Capriati in 2002. Tied Billie Jean King for 6th on the all-time women’s Grand Slam titles list (12). BEST BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETE Brittney Griner, Baylor Women’s Basketball Averaged 18.4 PPG and 8.5 RPG as a freshman. Totaled 223 blocked shots, an NCAA-record. Registered an NCAA Tournament record 40 blocks in five 2010 tourney games, which includes tournament single-game record 14 vs. No. 13 Georgetown. Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans Improved from 1,228 rushing yards and 10 total touchdowns as a rookie to 2,006 rushing yards and 16 total touchdowns in the 2009 season. Led the league in rushing with 2,006 yards and became the sixth player in league history with 2,000 rushing yards in a season. Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals Became the first pitcher to record at least 14 strikeouts and zero walks in his MLB debut. Struck out the final seven batters he faced in his debut and fell one shy of the record for strikeouts in a MLB debut of 15 by Karl Spooner (1954 Dodgers) and J.R. Richard (1971 Astros). John Wall, University of Kentucky Basketball As a freshman, led the Wildcats in scoring (16.6), assists (6.5) and steals (1.8) while setting the school single-season assist record with 241. Recorded five double-doubles on the season as Kentucky went 35-3 and made it to the Elite Eight. BEST RECORD-BREAKING PERFORMANCE Usain Bolt, 100 and 200-meter World Records Shattered 100 and 200-meter mark at World Track and Field Championships. Ran 100 meters in 9.58 seconds, 0.11 seconds faster than the mark he set in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics. Set a world record of 19.19 seconds in the 200 meters at the world championships. Brett Favre, NFL record for consecutive starts Set an NFL record for consecutive starts at 271, passing the old mark of Vikings DL Jim Marshall at 270, which ran from 1961-1979. Began his consecutive starts streak 17 years ago. Roger Federer, Most Grand Slam singles titles Won 15th Grand Slam singles title, eclipsing Pete Sampras by winning Wimbledon 2009. Won the finals in an epic battle against Andy Roddick, capturing the fifth set 16-14. Served 50 aces in the record-breaking victory. Connecticut Women’s Basketball, Longest winning streak in Women’s NCAA Basketball History Undefeated season extended their record 78-game winning streak. Won second straight national championship in 2009-2010 season. Made women’s college basketball history with NCAA- record 71st straight win, a 59-44 victory over No. 6 Notre Dame in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. Isner vs. Mahut at Wimbledon, Longest Match in Professional Tennis History Tied 59-59 in the fifth set when match was suspended due to darkness. Played for ten hours until match was stopped, which is nearly three and a half hours longer than the previous record. BEST UPSET Frankie Edgar over B.J. Penn, MMA Dethroned the long-time lightweight champion, winning the title with a unanimous 50-45, 48-47, 49-46 decision at UFC 112. Became Penn’s first loss at lightweight since 2002. Hawaii softball upsets #1 Alabama, NCAA Softball Defeated Alabama 5-4 on a two-run, walk-off home run by Jenna Rodriguez in the bottom of the seventh in the deciding game of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional. Advanced to the Women’s College World Series for the first time in school history. Northern Iowa shocks No. 1 Kansas, NCAA Men’s Basketball Advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history, making Kansas the first No. 1 seed to lose before the Sweet 16 since Kentucky and Stanford both did it in 2004. Northern Iowa hit nine three-pointers in the stunner. Y. E. Yang stuns Tiger Woods, PGA Championship The 110th-ranked player in the world became the first player to beat Tiger Woods in a major when Woods had at least a share of the 54-hole lead. Shot a two-under-par 70 in the final round, while Woods was +5 (75). BEST MOMENT Phil Mickelson, 2009 Masters Finished 16 under par with a bogey-free final round for the fourth-lowest winners’ score in tournament history. Had back-to-back eagles in third round. Celebrated with his wife Amy, who was battling cancer. Joannie Rochette, Winter Olympics Earned a bronze medal in Olympic skating just days after her mother died. Rochette’s mother passed only a few hours after arriving in Vancouver to watch her daughter compete. New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl XLIV Tracy Porter’s interception helped New Orleans wrap up Super Bowl win over the Colts. Brees finished with a record-tying 32 completions in 39 attempts for 288 yards and two touchdowns as New Orleans captured its first NFL championship, winning 31-17 over the Colts. Landon Donovan World Cup vs. Algeria With the U. S. on the verge of elimination from group play, Landon Donovan converted a rebound from eight yards out in the 91st minute. Helped the U. S. beat Algeria, 1-0, to advance to the knockout stage. Was the first World Cup win for the U.S. in eight years, placing the Americans in first place in Group C. BEST TEAM Alabama Football Won its first national championship since 1992. Earned its eighth major poll championship after going 14-0, with 12 games decided by more than a touchdown. Won BCS championship with 37-21 win over Texas. Chicago Blackhawks Won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961. Only the New York Rangers had more time between Cups (53 seasons). Had 52 regular-season wins, second-most in the NHL during 2009-10 season. Connecticut Women’s Basketball Completed their second straight perfect season, the second basketball team to do that in Division I history, joining the 1971-73 UCLA men. UConn has won 78 straight games, 10 shy of UCLA’s Division I record. The Huskies beat Stanford by 6, their first single-digit win of the streak, to win their seventh National Championship. Los Angeles Lakers Won 16th NBA championship in franchise history. Won the final two games of the series to beat the Celtics in seven games for its second consecutive championship. 57-25 in regular season; best record in Western Conference. New Orleans Saints Set a franchise single-season record for wins and consecutive victories; captured Super Bowl XLIV. Ended the regular season with the NFL’s No. 1 ranked offense. Scored 31 of the game’s final 38 points to bounce back from a 10-0 deficit and win Super Bowl XLIV, the first Super Bowl championship in the franchise’s 43 seasons. Became the first team to win in its Super Bowl debut since the 2002 Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII. New York Yankees Won their record 27th World Series championship by defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. Had an MLB-best 103–59 record during the regular season. Led MLB in runs scored with 915. Capital One Best College Athletic Program (not included in voting module) BEST COACH/MANAGER Geno Auriemma, Connecticut Women’s Basketball Led UConn. to back-to-back national championships and perfect 39-0 records. Won his seventh national championship. Joe Girardi, NY Yankees Led the Yankees to their 27th World Series in his second year as manager. Became the first manager to win a World Series title for the same team for which he had played on a World Series champion since Billy Martin. Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Lakers Won his 11th NBA title after leading the Lakers to the franchise’s 16th championship. Passed John Wooden for most championships by a major basketball coach. Mike Krzyzewski, Duke Men’s Basketball Took a team ranked eighth in the preseason ESPN/USA Today poll and led them to the national championship. Blue Devils finished the season with a 35-5 record. Joined John Wooden (10) and Adolph Rupp (four) as only men with at least four national championships. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints Led Saints to 13-0 start en route to the Super Bowl championship. The Super Bowl champions set a franchise single-season record for wins and consecutive victories. Nick Saban, Alabama football Led Tide to BCS championship with win over Texas. Became the second head coach to win two BCS national championships, joining Urban Meyer of Florida. Became the first head coach in major college football history to win a national championship at two different schools. BEST COMEBACK (Not featured in voting module) Kim Clijsters, Tennis Made history to become the first unseeded woman to win the Open. Beat both Serena and Venus Williams as well as seeded players Caroline Wozniacki and Na Li en route to the championship. The first unseeded player to win the US Open and is just the second unranked player to win a major since the inception of computer rankings in 1975, joining Evonne Goolagong at the 1977 Australian Open. BEST WNBA PLAYER Tamika Catchings, Indiana Named WNBA defensive player of the year. Led her team to the WNBA finals in the 2009 season. Becky Hammon, San Antonio Finished second in regular season in scoring (19.5 PPG). Finished third in the regular season in assists (5.0 APG). Lauren Jackson, Seattle Finished third in scoring during the regular season (19.2 PPG). Tied for 10th in rebounding (7.0). Candace Parker, Los Angeles Averaged 13.1 PPG during the regular season. Led the league in rebounding with 9.8 RPG. Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Led WNBA in scoring during the regular season (20.4 PPG). Named MVP for the regular season and playoffs. Helped Phoenix win the WNBA championship. BEST FEMALE GOLFER Cristie Kerr Had 13 top 10 finishes in 25 events played in 2009. Helped USA team win Solheim Cup. Lorena Ochoa Won three LPGA tournaments and finished second four times. Had 13 top 10 finishes in 22 events. Led LPGA in scoring average (70.16). Jiyai Shin Was top money winner on LPGA Tour with over $1.8 million. Earned Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year honors. Won three LPGA tournaments in 2009. BEST FEMALE TENNIS PLAYER Kim Clijsters Won 2009 U. S. Open. Became the first mother since Evonne Goolagong at 1980 Wimbledon to come back and win a Grand Slam singles title. Became the first unseeded woman to win the Open, beating both Serena and Venus Williams en route to the championship. Serena Williams Set the record for single-season prize money in women’s tennis by topping $6.5 million in 2009. Won 2009 WTA season-ending championship in Doha, Qatar. Won 2010 Australian Open. Venus Williams Finished 2009 season as the sixth-ranked woman’s player. Moved up to #2 in world rankings by the start of the 2010 French Open. BEST FEMALE COLLEGE ATHLETE Tina Charles, Connecticut Women’s Basketball Averaged 18.2 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 61.8 field goal pct in under 28 minutes per game Helped lead the Huskies to a National Championship and a 39-0 record for a second consecutive year. Became the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Megan Hodge, Penn State Volleyball Led her team to its third straight NCAA championship title, winning 102 straight matches. Led the Big Ten with an average of 4.67 kills per set (560 kills total). Megan Lagenfeld, UCLA Softball WCWS Most Outstanding Player as UCLA won its 12th national softball championship. Batted .527 with 20 home runs and 58 RBI in 61 games during season. Posted 14-1 record with 1.53 ERA as a pitcher. Maya Moore, Connecticut Women’s Basketball Helped lead UConn to back-to-back national championships. Named Most Outstanding Player at 2010 Final Four. Averaged 28.5 PPG and 11.5 RPG in the Final Four and a team-high 18.9 PPG and 8.3 RPG during the regular season. BEST FEMALE ACTION SPORT ATHLETE Torah Bright, Snowboarding Won gold at the Winter Olympics in the halfpipe. Ashley Fiolek, Motocross Won Super X gold at the 2009 X Games and her second straight WMX season title. Jen Hudak, Freestyle Skiing Won 2010 Winter X Games SuperPipe gold and the 2009-2010 AFP World Tour Championship. Stephanie Gilmore, Surfing Has won the world title in all three of her seasons on the Women’s ASP World Tour. Ashleigh McIvor, Freestyle Skiing Won ski cross gold at the Winter Olympics and earned Skier X silver at the 2010 Winter X Games. BEST FEMALE ATHLETE WITH A DISABILITY Linnea Dohring A gymnast without the lower half of her right arm and hand, she consistently scored in the 8.1-8.5 range in both the vault and floor exercises during all regular season meets. Was a three-year starter and co-captain on Grandview’s varsity Soccer team. Alana Nichols Won two gold medals (sitting downhill, sitting giant slalom) among four total medals at 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. Amy Palmiero-Winters Became the first amputee to qualify for a U.S. national track and field team. Competed in the 24-hour world championships in May 2010 in Brive, France. Won the AAU Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete. Stephani Victor Won gold in the sit-ski super combined to earn her third medal of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. BEST BOWLER Kelly Kulick Became the first woman to win a PBA Tour title when she defeated Chris Barnes to win the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas. Bill O’Neill Finished second in points (208.2). Won Lumber Liquidators U. S. Open. Walter Ray Williams Jr. Led PBA in points (229.1), earnings ($152,670), scoring average (222.9) and match play appearances (15). BEST FEMALE US OLYMPIC ATHLETE Hannah Kearney, Skiing Won a gold medal in freestyle skiing moguls. Scored 26.63 points to win by .94 — a wide margin in a sport often decided by tenths and hundredths. Julia Mancuso, Skiing Won two silver medals in alpine skiing. Her silver in the downhill marked the first time the U.S. has captured the top two spots in alpine skiing since 1984 (and 3rd time overall). Lindsey Vonn, Skiing Won a gold medal in the women’s downhill, marking the first gold medal by an American woman in the Olympic downhill. Also won a bronze medal in the women’s super-G. BEST TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETE Usain Bolt Shattered the world record, running 100 meters in 9.58 seconds at the 2009 World Track and Field Championships. Set a world record of 19.19 seconds in the 200 meters at the world championships. Allyson Felix Won the 200-meters at the 2009 World Track and Field Championships. Sanya Richards Won the 400-meters at the 2009 World Track and Field Championships with a time of 49 seconds.

Lindsey Vonn wasn't the fastest down the mountain today, but she stayed on her skis and won her second medal of the Olympic Games.

Vonn skied to a gutsy bronze in Saturday's super-G, falling behind Austria's Andrea Fischbacher and Slovenia's Tina Maze.

Vonn, who has already clinched the 2010 World Cup super-G discipline title with two races remaining, raced from the 17th spot and cruised to more than a half-second advantage over the field.  She lost critical tenths on the bottom section, however, and Fischbacher held onto a more aggressive line two spots later for a .74-second lead.

"When I came down to the finish and saw No. 1 next to my name, I thought 'Hopefully, this is another gold medal,'" she said. "Obviously, that wasn't the case, but I did my best, and I'm definitely very, very proud of another Olympic medal."

Vonn, who won gold in the World Championship downhill and super-G a year ago, came into Vancouver with hopes for a medal and now has downhill gold and super-G bronze.
This was her third of five events on Whistler Mountain after she hooked a ski tip and crashed out of the slalom in yesterday's super-combined.

"I'm a double Olympic medalist, and that's a pretty cool thing to be able to say, she said. "I obviously would have loved to have a gold medal today, but Olympic medals are never very easy to come by."

Julia Mancuso, for a while, seemed poised to collect her third medal of these Games after storming out of the gate first for a lead that held through 12 skiers until Germany's Maria Reisch beat her out by .04 seconds.

"When I watched Maria's run and she beat me by four-hundredths, I was bummed. But she beat me by a second in the section I made my mistake."

Nonetheless, Mancuso owns the most medals ever by a U.S. woman after adding silvers in downhill and super combined to her giant slalom gold in Torino.

"I have nothing to lose," she said. "I'm really, really proud of my Olympic career so far—a gold and two silvers. I'm not going into the GS ranked the best, but I've been training well and skiing really well. And I'm excited to go in there and give my best."

Mancuso and Vonn will try to add to the U.S. Alpine Ski Team's medal count when they return to Franz's Run for the giant slalom on Wednesday, with the first run at 10 a.m. PT.

"I don't have any regrets on any of my races here," Vonn said. "I definitely gave it everything I had every day. Especially on super-G, it's difficult. If you look back, you can always find places where you could have made up time, but having only one inspection and no training runs, it's difficult to always know how aggressive you can ski and how the line is going to run and what the speed is going to be.

"Given the circumstances—a lot of girls had trouble today—and given everything, I think today was a really solid result."

For greatest athletes on earth, flirting comes naturally: 100,000 condoms

In case link doesn't work.

By Mike Celizic
TODAYshow.com contributor
updated 1:11 p.m. ET, Thurs., Feb. 18, 2010

It may be the most exclusive neighborhood in the world. Money can’t buy a room there: The only currency accepted is supreme athletic talent.

It’s the Olympic Village, and its residents are the strongest, fastest, most competitive and most confident men and women in the world. Scattered among this population of athletic heroes are the greatest champions from across the globe, people who have won multiple Olympic medals and world titles and dominate their sports.

“You can’t believe there’s all these iconic champions from every sport you never thought you’d meet, and now you’re having lunch with them,” said Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics men’s singles figure skating champion and a participant in the 1980 Lake Placid Games.
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100,000 condoms
The citizens of the village are young, remarkably healthy, and the definition of physically attractive. In such an environment, flirting is as natural as breathing.

“It’s eye candy all the time. Everybody’s checking everybody else out from moment they get there,” recalled Cammi Granato, captain of the powerful U.S. Ice Hockey Team that won gold in Nagano in 1998 and silver in 2002 in Salt Lake City.

Inevitably, some athletes get beyond flirting. That’s why the Vancouver organizers have laid in a stock of 100,000 condoms, which works out to 14 for each of the 7,000 athletes, coaches, trainers and officials housed in the Games’ two villages. (Apparently, skiing, skating and sliding aren’t the only activities at which Olympians excel.)


Slideshow
Image: XIIIth Winter Olympic Games, Lake Placid, NY
Winter Olympic villages
From Lillehammer to Salt Lake City, see which gorgeous snowy towns hosted the games in the last century.

more photos
The distribution of free condoms at the Olympics goes back at least to 1992 and Barcelona. In 2000, Sydney organizers thought that 70,000 would be enough. They were wrong and had to send out for 20,000 more. Beijing also ordered 100,000 condoms with an Olympic motto: Faster, higher, stronger.

Laugh if you will, but also give the International Olympic Committee credit for acting like a responsible parent: In addition to handing out condoms, they run HIV and AIDS information campaigns in the Olympic Village. And the U.S. Curling Association has gone a step further: In partnership with Kodiak Technology Group, they have introduced the Hurry Hard condom, named for a phrase curlers chant to get their teammates to sweep the ice faster. Proceeds from the prophylactics — which sport a happy cartoon curling stone on their label above the slogan “Be smart, stay safe” — are split between USA Curling and Monterey County AIDS prevention.

But few athletes reach for the condom supply while their events are going on. They’ve spent four years since the previous Olympics working, training and preparing for one shot at glory, and they’re not going to throw countless hours of hard work and sacrifice away for anything — even Norwegian cross-country champions and Chinese speedskaters.


Video
Take a tour inside the Olympic Village
Feb. 11: TODAY’s Meredith Vieira visits the place athletes from around the world will be calling home for the next few weeks.

Today show
The fact is, people with poor impulse control don’t make it to the Olympic Village. “Olympians are surprisingly mature, no matter what age. It’s required of you,” said legendary skier Picabo Street, who won gold in the super-G in Nagano and silver in the downhill in Lillehammer. “If you act like an idiot, you really stand out.”

Street’s strongest memory of her three Olympic villages — she also skied in the Salt Lake Olympics — is the incredible level of energy radiating from so many hypercompetitive people at the pinnacle of physical and mental conditioning.

“It’s hundreds of auras, which does lead to a huge movement of energy,” Street told TODAY. “It’s not normal, resting energy; it’s jacked-up, hyped-up, on-the-brink-of-my-dream-coming-true, got-to-get-it, got-to-do-it energy, and it’s there all the time.”

Kind of makes you hyperventilate just thinking about it.

Room and no boredom
With the athletes so cranked up, Olympic organizers make sure to provide plenty of activities to soak up their excess energy, from video games to concerts to computers with Internet access.

The Olympic Village in Vancouver includes a lounge, post office, café, stores, art galllery and a health clinic open 24 hours a day.
Vancouver has actually provided two villages — one for the skiing venues in the mountains outside of town, the other on the water in downtown Vancouver. Both will be sold as condos after the Games.

Individual teams are housed together in however many adjoining units they need. Athletes bunk two to a room, and bedrooms do not contain televisions.

Each venue has a separate lounge. In Vancouver the lounge is housed in a separate, 45,000-square-foot building, along with a post office, café, stores and an art gallery. Also available in the village are television lounges, game rooms with everything from Guitar Hero to pool and table tennis tables, training centers, and a 24-hour health clinic where athletes can get massages and other physical therapy.


Then there’s the food. It’s available 24 hours, and chefs attempt to satisfy as many international varieties of palate as possible. In Vancouver, that means different varieties of rice for Koreans, Japanese and Chinese cuisines. There are also McDonald’s at each village, and the food there, as in the cafeterias, is free.

Night life
There are no lights-out times or curfews in the Olympic Village, but coaches and team officials keep an eye on their charges, some more strictly than others. The Austrians, traditional kings of the Alpine events, are kept on a particularly tight leash, according to Street, while the Italians seem to take more joy out of each day.

Alcohol is not allowed in the village, nor are prying reporters or most other visitors.

Ever since 1972, when Palestinian Black September terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the Munich Olympics, security in Olympic villages has been as tight as organizers can make it. Once inside, the residents are in a virtual cocoon, insulated from the world outside.

And once they finish their competitions after years of grueling work and constant self-denial, the Olympic Village residents are finally free to blow off some steam.

For many, that means going to town, hitting the bars and clubs, creeping back home in the wee hours and hooking up. The trick for partying athletes is doing it without bothering peers who still have to compete.

NBC figure skating analyst Sandra Bezic was a wide-eyed innocent of 15 when she skated in the pairs competition for Canada in 1972. She remains struck by the fact that even when they party, Olympic athletes are in control.

“Athletes who have trained so hard and respect their bodies so much, their letting loose is not even like normal teenager rebelling,” Bezic said.

Still, some go overboard. In 1998, for example, NHL hockey players participated in the Olympics for the first time. The American team did poorly in the tournament at first, whereupon some players, after a bit too much sake, tossed their furniture out the windows of their high-rise dorms. The team was sent home in disgrace when it was eliminated from competition.

That was the same year the U.S. Women’s team won its first Olympic gold medal. Granato said that U.S. hockey officials tried to confine the women to quarters, too, because of the sins of the men’s team. “We ignored that for the most part,” she said with a laugh. Gold medals demand celebrations.

Dress code
Out in the real world, few people would have the nerve to hang a gold medal around their neck and go out to a bar. But in the Olympic Village, gold medals are a perfectly acceptable fashion statement for any occasion. Athletes regularly wear them to the cafeteria, to the game lounge — and to bed.

“We slept with ours,” Granato said.

And even in a society of champions, the medals are like magnets. Win a gold and everybody wants to be your friend. Rumor has it that male winners, in particular, have their pick of females.


TODAY asked ’84 gold medalist Hamilton if that was true.

“Really?” he said in mock surprise. “Why didn’t anybody tell me?”

That’s the thing about life in the Village. You hear stories, but there are never names attached to them. It would break the code: As with Las Vegas, what happens in the Village, stays in the village.

So no one will go on the record when talking about certain female figure skaters — no home country was specified — who, as one former athlete put it, “really liked hockey players — and I use the plural. I think Sweden was a very grateful country for that.”

Emily Azevedo

Emily Azevedo

Event: Bobsled.

Age: 26.

Local connection: She's from Chico and graduated from UC Davis in 2005.

Story line: A hurdler at UC Davis, Azevedo turned to bobsledding after watching the 2006 Olympics. She won a national title last year with driver Bree Schaaf. The pair finished 10th at the 2009 World Championships. Azevedo and Schaaf placed sixth in a World Cup race last season held on the Olympic track in Whistler.

Medal prospects: Unlikely. But not out of the question.

When competing: Feb. 23-24.

Shannon Bahrke

Event: Freestyle skiing.

Age: 29.

Local connection: Grew up in Tahoe City.

Story line: The 2002 Olympic silver medalist in moguls placed 10th in the 2006 Games before suffering a knee injury in 2007. She showed she's still a contender with a sixth-place moguls finish in the 2009 World Championships, a victory at the U.S. national championships and three consecutive top-five World Cup finishes in the past month. Her brother, Scott, is a promising aerialist.

Medal prospects: Solid. Her experience should help.

When competing: Feb. 13.

Stacey Cook

Event: Alpine skiing.

Age: 25.

Local connection: Born in Truckee.

Story line: The 2006 U.S. super giant slalom champion finished 19th in the downhill and 23rd in the giant slalom in the 2006 Olympics. Finishing 13th and ninth in two difficult downhill races in Austria last month secured her spot on the Olympic team.

Medal prospects: Remote. But she's gathering speed.

When competing: Feb. 17.

Elena Hight

Event: Halfpipe (snowboard).

Age: 20.

Local connection: From South Lake Tahoe.

Story line: Hight first stepped onto a snowboard when she was 6 and developed into one of the world's top talents, as evidenced by a sixth-place finish in the 2006 Olympic halfpipe. Finishing second at Mammoth Mountain last month suggested she might be at peak form.

Medal prospects: Slim. She has a good combination of youthful promise and experience but a lot of talent ahead of her.

When competing: Feb. 18.

Nate Holland

Event: Snowboardcross.

Age: 31.

Local connection: Lives in Squaw Valley.

Story line: The Idaho native has won five consecutive Winter X Games gold medals. He finished 14th at the 2006 Olympics, third at the 2007 World Championships and 13th at the 2009 World Championships. He has also posted four top-10 finishes on this season's World Cup circuit.

Medal prospects: Modest. His best performance puts him in medal contention.

When competing: Feb. 15.

Errol Kerr

Event: Ski cross.

Age: 23.

Local connection: Lives in Truckee.

Story line: Kerr, who lives with his mother, Catherine, will compete for Jamaica to honor his late father, who is from there. Kerr is still raising money to make the trip to Vancouver. The faster he skis in this new Olympic sport, the more comparisons he'll get to the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team depicted in the movie "Cool Runnings."

Medal prospects: Fair. Momentum might be on his side.

When competing: Feb. 21.

Julia Mancuso

Event: Alpine skiing.

Age: 25.

Local connection: Grew up in Olympic Valley.

Story line: She became a golden girl with her giant slalom victory in the 2006 Turin Games. Since then, she's fought through injuries, started a clothing line and struggled to get back to peak form. Under pressure, though, she thrives.

Medal prospects: Fair. She's rounding into form, so don't count her out.

When competing: Feb. 14, 17, 20, 24, 26.

Darron Rahlves

Event: Ski cross.

Age: 36.

Local connection: Rahlves moved to the Lake Tahoe area when he was 12, lives in Truckee.

Story line: The downhill specialist retired from Alpine skiing in 2006 after a career that included 12 World Cup victories, seven national titles and three World Championship medals. But he never won an Olympic one. His speed helps in ski cross. Rahlves dislocated a hip at the Winter X Games but is expected to compete in the Olympics.

Medal prospects: Solid. He looms as a potential breakthrough in his new sport.

When competing: Feb. 21.

Marco Sullivan

Event: Alpine skiing.

Age: 29.

Local connection: Truckee native lives in Squaw Valley.

Story line: The former North Tahoe High School football captain finished ninth in the 2002 Olympics in the downhill. He placed 25th in the 2009 World Championships in the downhill. He posted two top-five downhill and two top-five super-G performances on the World Cup circuit in 2009. He also won the U.S. downhill title last year.

Medal prospects: Remote. But his experience will come in handy.

When competing: Feb. 13, 16, 19.

Shannon Bahrke

Stacey Cook

Elena Hight

Nate Holland

Errol Kerr

Julia Mancuso

Darron Rahlves

Marco Sullivan

The 2010 Winter Olympics from Vancouver are just two weeks away.

Shaun White and Team USA will look to continue their dominance on the half pipe; Lindsey Jacobellis will look to make amends for a showboating error that cost her a gold medal in Torino; and Lindsey Vonn will look to stand atop the alpine skiing world at the third time of asking.

America will likely move into second on the all-time list of medal winners in 2010, moving ahead of the Soviet Union and looking to close the gap on runaway leaders Norway. Team USA brought home 25 medals from Torino four years ago, their best ever haul on international soil, and a strong run north of the border could help them add to the 78 gold metals captured over the years.

In part one of my two-part look at America’s chances in Vancouver, here are the movers are shakers, the contenders and the pretenders, for the seven snow sports of the 2010 Games.

 

Alpine Skiing

The Basics

There are five different events in the alpine skiing program, each of which will be contested by the men and women.

The downhill and super-G events are known as the speed events, and medals are awarded purely on a “quickest down the mountain” basis. In the more technical giant slalom and slalom events, athletes make two runs and racers’ times are combined. In the super-combined event, changed slightly for this year’s Games, skiers make one downhill run and one slalom run, with medals awarded to the racers with the fastest combined times.

American Hopes

20 of the 49 athletes racing down the newly-designed Whistler Creekside courses next month will be representing Team USA.

Austria has historically been the dominant force in alpine skiing, having won twice as many medals than every other nation (101) other than Switzerland. But all eyes will be on Lindsey Vonn, who had a headline crash in Torino four years ago, as she looks to quench her thirst for an Olympic medal at the third time of asking.

Vonn is currently ranked No. 1 in the 2009-10 FIS Alpine World Cup standings. She won the women’s downhill event at Lake Louise in Canada and the super combined race at Val d’Iserein France in December, and she followed it up with downhill and super-G victories in Haus im Ennstal in Austria and at Italy’s Cortina d Ampezzo at the start of 2010.

25-year-old Vonn, an Olympian in 2002 and 2006, is still searching for her first Olympic medal, despite winning the World Championship twice. She has dominated in all five World Cup downhill races this season, and she’ll be looking to cap February off in style in Vancouver.

Leanne Smith from North Conway, N.H. is probably America’s next best hope of an alpine skiing medal, while Bode Miller on the men’s side will be looking to put a disappointing 2006 Games in Torino behind him and build on the two silver medals he captured eight years ago in Salt Lake City.

Competition

German Maria Riesch, ranked second overall in the World Cup standings, is a close personal friend of Vonn as well as the American’s biggest challenger in the downhill and slalom speed events. Defending World Champion Kathrin Zettel of Austria is accomplished in both slalom and giant slalom, and Sweden’s Anja Parson, a five-time medallist, can never be discounted.

Janica Kostelic, who defended her combined title and won a super-G silver medal in Torino will not be competing in Vancouver.

Chances of a Gold in Vancouver: 80 percent

 

Biathlon

The Basics

The biathlon combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting. There are five events scheduled for the 2010 Winter Olympics: individual, sprint, pursuit, mass start, and relay, where the format is the same for the men’s and women’s competition with only the distances varying.

American Hopes

Team USA has never won a medal in the biathlon—one of only two droughts for the red, white, and blue in the Winter Olympics—but a trio of New Yorkers are hoping to change all that in Vancouver.

Returning Olympian Tim Burke, Lowell Bailey, and Haley Johnson represent America’s best chances in the two-pronged event. Burke finished second in the 20km individual race in Ostersund in Sweden at the end of 2009, and he became the first American to lead the World Cup standings when he wore the yellow bid earlier this month.

Without the pressure of the eyes of a nation, Burke and co. might have a legitimate shot at picking up a medal in one of the four men’s events (10km sprint, 12.5km pursuit, 20km individual, and 15km mass start) north of the border.

Competition

Norway’s duo of Ole Einar Bjorndalen and Emil Hegle Svendsen make a gold medal unlikely for Burke, but if he shoots well, there’s every chance of him being in the mix.

The women unfortunately are less likely to break their 18-year biathlon famine—although Johnson had a top-30 finish in a World Cup event last month—and a team medal in either the men’s or women’s relay is out of the question because of the strength of nations like Russia, Austria, Sweden, Germany, and Norway.

Chances of a Gold in Vancouver: 15 percent

 

Cross-Country Skiing

The Basics

Cross-country skiing involves athletes skiing over different terrains in two different styles. There is the “classical” style where athletes glide across a prepared track that has parallel grooves cut into the snow, and there is “freestyle”which is move like ice skating where skiers transfer their weight over a smoothed course.

There are 12 events in Vancouver, six for the men and six for the women. The events, which specify whether you must ski in the freestyle or classical style, are the same for both men and women, but the distances vary.

American Hopes

America will send 10 athletes to Vancouver—eight who were allocated a roster spot and two more by quota re-allocation.

Kris Freeman is America’s best hope in the men’s competition, while Kikkan Randall will lead the charge for the women.

Freeman, from Andover, N.H., is the top distance racer in the country and he’ll be hoping for a medal when he takes his poles for the third time on the Olympic stage. He is a five-time World Champion, and he will have his best chances of a medal in the 15km freestyle or the 50km classical race.

For the women, Kikkan Randall is the USA’s best hope. She’s in the top 40 in the World Cup sprint standings, and she has been on the podium twice in 51 World Cup starts, most notably her second-place finish in Liberec last year.

She also finished an impressive ninth in the sprint event in Torino in 2006 after coming 44th in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Competition

Petter Northug is one of Freeman’s biggest rivals at the games. The Norweigien 24-year-old, who won three gold medals in last year’s World Championships, is arguably the favourite in four individual events in Vancouver. He’s the current Tour leader and world No. 1, and everything points to more success at Whistler.

In the 15km race, don’t discount Italian Pietro Piller Cottrer. He is a strong distance skier and was part of the Italian team which took gold in the relay in Torino four years ago.

Andrus Veerpalu from Estonia is one of the ones to watch in the 50kn event. The veteran, who turns 39 next week, will be competing in his sixth Olympic Games, and he’ll be favored to come away with a medal of some color after winning gold at the 15km distance twice before.

Randall will have to overcome the likes of Charlotte Kalla, Petra Madjic, and Justyna Kowalczyk if she wants to reach the podium in Vancouver.

22-year-old Kalla is widely touted as Sweden’s best hopes of a cross country champion in more than four decades, while Slovakian Majdic is a two-time defending spring champion at the World Cup. She came runner-up in the overall standings last winter.

Majdic lost out to Kowalczyk in the World Cup, the woman who also won Poland’s first ever Olympic medal in cross-country skiing in Torino in 2006. She won a pair of gold medals at the Worlds, so she will head to Whistler Olympic Park as a firm favourite.

Chances of a Gold in Vancouver: 20 percent

 

Freestyle Skiing

The Basics

There are three different events in the 2010 Olympic program: Moguls, aerials, and ski cross. Men and women compete in all three.

The mogul event will see skiers racing down a hill over a course of large bumps, making sharp turns while keeping their knees bend. There are also two ramps which send the skier into the air where they are expected to perform flips and twists. Skiers are judged on speed and style.

The aerial competition is one of the most exciting events on the Winter Olympics schedule. Skiers fly down a slope and over a concave ramp, propelling them up to 50ft into the air to give them enough time to perform multiple flips and twists before landing the other side. Get ready to hear a lot about the lay-full-full, lay-tuck-full, and double-full-full-full. Tune in to this—you’ll be glad you did.

The ski cross is a new event for 2010 and pits four racers against each other in a first-to-the-line battle over jumps and turns.

American Hopes

Team USA will go into the Olympics feeling confident. Four of the team’s women swept the top four spots at Lake Placid in upstate New York last week, and Jeret Peterson—a two-time Olympian and seven time World Champion—says he is looking to push the envelope with his trademark three-flip, five-twist jump.

Hannah Kearney will spearhead a strong mogul team in her second Olympic Games. She failed to live up to expectations in 2006 despite entering the games as the World Champion, but a strong showing on Whiteface Mountain has her name being thrown out once again as a possible medallist.

She has the speed and air assault to dominate the mogul, and it’s likely that the US will have a great start to the competition when Kearney takes to the mountain on Day One of the competition. Shannon Bahrke, Michelle Roark, and Heather McPhie could also challenge for spots in the top 10.

Also watch out for Emily Cook in the aerial event. She came in fourth in the 2009 World Championships and will be competing in her second Olympic Games. She is a strong medal contender, even if she is unlikely to strike gold.

Jeret Peterson, who has never placed better than seventh in his previous two trips to the Games, may represent the best chance for the men in the aerial competition. Talk will center around him landing “The Hurricane” his signature quintuple spinning triple flip. If the conditions are right and he pulls it off, his daredevil approach to his sport may just be worth it.

Competition

If the Americans hope to win a medal in the men’s aerial, a feat they failed for the first time in Torino four years ago, they may have to withstand the barrage of Canadian trio Steve Omischl, Kyle Nissen, and Ryan Blais.

Omischl has stood on the World Championship podium four times, including the last three years on the very top step. Nissen finished fifth at the 2006 Olympics and fourth in the 2009 World Cup aerials, and Blais rebounded from injury in 2007 to finish seventh in 2008.

Chances of a Gold in Vancouver: 60 percent

 

Nordic Combined

The Basics

This event combines cross-country skiing and ski jumping—two events in one day. It is a male-only event and features three events: two individual events distinguished by the size of the hill, and a team competition.

American Hopes

Bill Demong and Todd Lodwick will be flying the flag for Team USA. They have competed in nine Olympic Games between them and both have won the World Championships.

Demong won the bronze medal in last year’s World Cup, and he is excellent on the large hill; Lodwick took the gold in the 2009 normal hill competition.

Many fans of the sport will know Demong for one of two reasons: as the 22-year-old star forced to miss a year of action after fracturing his skull in 2002, or as the member of the American team that lost his bib in the 2009 World championships, and thus getting disqualified. He’s looking to set the record straight in February and be remembered for all the right reasons.

Johnny Spillane adds depth to the American roster for the team competition, and pundits are saying this is probably the best chance the country has ever had for its first Nordic combined medal.

Individually or as a team, the US really does have more than a punchers’ chance.

Competition

France’s Jason Lamy Chappuis is the skier in form heading to Canada. He won his fifth World Cup event of the season last weekend and currently holds a 38-lead over Felix Gottland at the top of the international standings.

34-year-old Gottwald came out of retirement last May, adding an extra threat to the Americans’ chances. He has won two gold medals, a silver medal, and three bronze medals in four Olympics, and he gives the Austrian team a dangerous combination of skill and experience.

Meanwhile, Finland’s Anssi Koivuranta, the defending World Cup champion, is as good as anybody on his day, and Notway’s Magnus Moan will likely be in contention in both the normal and large hill events.

Chances of a Gold in Vancouver: 75 percent

 

Ski Jumping

The Basics

There are three events in Vancouver in the ski jumping class: two individual events and a team event. As with the Nordic combined event, it is contested by the men only.

The individual events are separated into two categories: the normal hill and the large hill. Athletes are awarded points based on the length of their jump and their style, both in-flight and on the landing. The team event is also held on the large hill, where the scores of four members are combined to produce a grand total.

American Hopes

The US is sending three athletes to Vancouver to compete in the ski jumping events: Nick Alexander, teenager Peter Frenette, and Anders Johnson.

The bad news is that none of them will seriously contend for a medal.

Johnson, who became the youngest American representative on the Olympic ski jumping team when he competed as a 16-year-old in 2006, will look to improve on his 40th position in Torino, but it is doubtful whether he will even be in serious contention for a top-30 finish.

Johnson finished just inside the top 50 at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec in 2009, and he has never finished better than 29th in a World Cup meeting. An ACL injury slowed down his Olympic preparations last year, but he insists he is fit and ready to go. Even a healthy Johnson is no match for more than two dozen other jumpers.

Competition

With Team USA unlikely to feature at the business end of any of the competitions, there are scores of ski jumpers you could expect to finish ahead of the American trio.

Gregor Schlierenzauer, a winner of a record 13 World Cup events in 2009, is definitely one to watch in Vancouver, as are fellow Austrians Thomas Morgenstern (large hill) and Wolfgang Loitzl (normal hill). Expect the Austrian team to win gold or silver in the team event and have at least one jumper on the podium in each of the individual competitions.

Swiss Harry Potter look-alike Simon Ammann, who burst onto the scene with individual victories in the normal and large hill eight years ago, can also be counted on for an impressive Olympics, and Finnish nine-time world champion Janne Ahonen could add some serious European spice to an already-bursting top five.

Chances of a Gold in Vancouver: Two percent

 

Snowboarding

The Basics

There are six events on the Vancouver snowboarding program, three for the men and three for the women. They are the halfpipe, parallel giant slalom, and snowboard cross.

American Hopes

America took home seven of the 18 snowboarding medals at the 2006 Olympics, including three golds.

Shaun White and Danny Kass went one-two in the halfpipe for the men, while Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler replicated the feat in the women’s event. Seth Wescott took gold in the snowboard cross, while Team USA also took silver in the women’s cross (Lindsey Jacobellis) and bronze in the parallel giant slalom (Rosey Fletcher).

Jacobellis is once again one of the main gold medal contenders in Vancouver. Few will forget the crash that cost her gold four years ago when, with a big lead and the finish line in sight, Jacobellis mis-timed the landing on a showboat trick and hit the ground, allowing Switzerland’s Tanya Frieden to win gold.

Shaun White will also head into the Games as one of the favorites for a gold medal. One of Team USA’s more high-profile athletes, White will look to defend his Olympic championship with a lot of confidence.

He dominated the field at the US Snowboarding Grand Prix last week, finishing one point off a perfect score after nailing his “Double McTwist,” a jump including one-and-a-half horizontal flips packed inside two vertical flips.

On the women’s side, Kelly Clark is also in good form, winning her third half pipe event in the last four outings. The 2002 Olympic champion should have scooped a medal in Torino, but she tried a 900-degree spin to try and snatch gold when a 720-spin would have likely landed her at least bronze. She crashed and finished fourth. With that behind her, she is one of the favorites for another gold next month.

Two teammate who may have something to say about that are 23-year-old Hannah Teter and the covergirl of US snowboarding Gretchen Bleiler.

Teter, the defending champion and humanitarian from Vermont will more than likely be on the podium in Vancouver, while Bleiler is coming into form at just the right time after winning her first win of the season on Mammoth Mountain in California earlier this month.

Competition

Team USA’s competition could come from within: from friends and teammates. That said, there are still a number of athletes, particularly in the women’s competition, that could ruffle some feathers.

In the half pipe competition, China’s Liu Jiayu represents the biggest threat to an American sweep. She is the 2009 World Champion and could ruin more than one American dream in Canada mid-February.

22-year-old Australian Torah Bright could also upset the established order on the half pipe. She beat Kelly Clark to the gold medal three times in 2009, and she could very well bring the Aussies their first Olympic snowboarding medal.

Chances of a Gold in Vancouver: 95 percent

 

In part two I will preview the ice sports: bobsled, curling, figure skating, hockey, luge, short track, skeleton, and speed skating.

Top North American talent, medallists to headline nightly Whistler Victory Ceremonies at 2010 Winter Games

Dec 15, 2009

Vancouver, BC ? The great outdoors will provide a spectacular winter backdrop for nightly Whistler Victory Ceremonies paying tribute to medal-winning Olympians with a lineup of top North American acts, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) announced today.

The 15 headliners, which include Feist, Usher, Our Lady Peace, and The Fray, will perform for one night each from February 13 to 27 during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games at Whistler Medals Plaza, a world-class outdoor amphitheatre built expressly for the nightly events and the Closing Ceremony of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. See below for the full list of headliners and dates they appear.

“Celebrations in Whistler will be rockin’ for 15 incredible nights during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games with this impressive lineup of top solo artists and bands ? all playing outdoors under the stars in honour of the world’s best athletes and their triumphs,” said Christy Nicolay, VANOC’s vice president of sport production and Victory Ceremonies. “Thanks to our partners, the Resort Municipality of Whistler and the Government of Canada, we’ll have a fantastic venue for these events ?Whistler Medals Plaza.”

Whistler Medals Plaza is an intimate space designed to serve the needs of the Sea to Sky community not only at Games time but also in the long term. Given its space limitations and the restrictions on travel into Whistler, access to Whistler Victory Ceremony tickets is limited to residents living from Squamish to Mount Currie.

The ticketed nightly ceremonies in Whistler ? which kick off on February 13 with the All American Rejects and the presentation of medals for men’s ski jumping and downhill skiing, as well as the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint event in biathlon ? are designed to pay tribute to the world’s best competing in 2010 and celebrate Canada’s hosting of one of the world’s largest sporting events.

Whistler Medals Plaza includes a large “turntable” stage to accommodate both the medals presentations and the entertainment programming. Adjacent to each side of the stage will be video walls featuring Vancouver 2010 Look of the Games’ graphics, as well as two giant screens showing highlights of the athletes’ performances and enhancing the activity on stage.

Gates open nightly at 4:30 pm (Pacific Time) with a DJ and interactive games for the crowd, followed by a live simulcast of the nightly provincial and territorial preshow held at BC Place in Vancouver. At 7:00 pm, the medal ceremonies will be held for the winning athletes of the day at Whistler-area venues, followed 30 minutes later by that night’s headlining act. The evening celebrations will end at approximately 8:30 pm.

All medal presentations in Whistler will be televised around the world as part of Olympic broadcasting plans for the 2010 Winter Games. The nightly concerts on February 13, 22 and 27 will also be broadcast live.

Ticketing information for Whistler Victory Ceremonies
Whistler Victory Ceremony tickets will be distributed to the public in the Sea to Sky region through a contest operated in partnership with Tourism Whistler at www.whistler.com.

The contest will operate for 11 days, starting on January 4, 2010 and is open to residents from Squamish to Mount Currie. Entries at www.whistler.com will be limited to one per e-mail address.

The contest will close on January 15, 2010 and winners will be notified via e-mail by January 22, 2010. Tickets must be picked up by the winner (with ID and proof of address in the Sea to Sky region) at the Main Ticket Centre in Whistler, located next to Whistler Medals Plaza, by January 31, 2010.

A number of Whistler Victory Ceremony tickets were also previously made available residents from Squamish to Mount Currie who registered accounts prior to the “Locals” ticket sale (October 24 to 25, 2009), or who received a voucher at a Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) community event marking 100 days until the start of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games on November 4, 2009.

Whistler Victory Ceremony headliners’ line-up and dates they perform

Saturday, February 13: All American Rejects (www.allamericanrejects.com)
Live medal presentations in men’s downhill skiing, ski jumping (individual normal hill) and women’s biathlon (7.5-kilometre sprint).

Sunday, February 14: Estelle (www.estellemusic.com)
Live medal presentations in ladies’ alpine skiing (super combined), as well as men’s Nordic combined (individual normal hill) and biathlon (10-km sprint).

Monday, February 15: Pierre Lapointe (www.pierrelapointe.com)
Live medal presentations in men’s luge and cross-country skiing (ladies’ 10-km free and men’s 15-km free).

Tuesday, February 16: Feist (www.listentofeist.com)
Live medal presentations in men’s alpine skiing (super combined), women’s luge and biathlon (women’s 10-km pursuit and men’s 12.5-km pursuit).

Wednesday, February 17: Our Lady Peace (www.ourladypeace.net)
Live medal presentations in alpine skiing (ladies’ downhill) and cross-country skiing (men’s and ladies’ individual sprint classic).

Thursday, February 18: Deadmau5 (www.deadmau5.com)
Live medal presentations in men’s luge doubles and biathlon (women’s 15-km individual and men’s 20-km individual).

Friday, February 19: Hedley (www.hedleyonline.com)
Live medal presentations in men’s alpine skiing (super-G) and ladies’ cross-country skiing (pursuit, 7.5 km classic and 7.5 km free).

Saturday, February 20: Stars (www.sadrobots.ca)
Live medal presentations in men’s and women’s skeleton, ladies’ alpine skiing (super-G) and men’s ski jumping (individual large hill).

Sunday, February 21: OneRepublic (www.onerepublic.net)
Live medal presentations in men’s cross-country skiing (pursuit, 15 km classic and 15 km free) alpine skiing (giant slalom) and two-man bobsleigh, as well as biathlon (men’s 15-km mass and women’s 12.5-km mass).

Monday, February 22: To be confirmed
Live medal presentations in cross-country skiing (men’s and ladies’ team sprint free) and men’s ski jumping (team large hill).

Tuesday, February 23: The Fray (www.thefray.net)
Live medal presentations in Nordic combined (men’s team relay) and women’s biathlon (4x6-km relay).

Wednesday, February 24: Jet (www.jettheband.com)
Live medal presentations in ladies’ alpine skiing (giant slalom) and men’s cross-country skiing (4x10-km relay classic/free).

Thursday, February 25: The Roots (www.theroots.com)
Live medal presentations in women’s bobsleigh, Nordic combined (men’s individual large hill) and ladies’ cross-country skiing (4x5-km relay classic/free).

Friday, February 26: K’Naan (www.knaanmusic.ning.com)
Live medal presentations in ladies’ alpine skiing (slalom) and men’s biathlon (4x7.5-km relay).

Saturday, February 27: Usher (www.usherworld.com)
Live medal presentations in men’s alpine skiing (slalom) and four-man bobsleigh, as well as ladies’ cross-country skiing (30-km mass start classic).

The headlining talent for the Vancouver Victory Ceremonies, held indoors at BC Place in the heart of the city’s downtown, was released on December 8 by VANOC and is available at www.vancouver2010.com.

About VANOC
VANOC is responsible for the planning, organizing, financing and staging of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. The 2010 Olympic Winter Games will be staged in Vancouver and Whistler from February 12 to 28, 2010. Vancouver and Whistler will host the Paralympic Winter Games from March 12 to 21, 2010. Visit www.vancouver2010.com.

Press Contact
If you are a member of the media, please contact mediarelations@vancouver2010.com

For all other inquiries, please contact info@vancouver2010.com

The 2010 Winter Games are right around the corner, and if the media has their way, US Skier Lindsey Vonn will be a household name by the time the Opening Ceremonies are under way. Lindsey is entering her third Olympic Games at age 25, her last two appearances didn’t yield her anything except experience – and plenty of it. With a legitimate shot at gold in all five women’s Alpine events: downhill, super-G, slalom, GS and super combined (one downhill run and one slalom run), Lindsey is being touted by the media as skiing’s answer to Michael Phelps. Pressure, much? In reading a recent AP article, Lindsey discusses the weight she bears as an ambassador of her sport – and the pressure that comes with success in the World Cup circuit in a pre-Olympic year. She is quick to remind people that she has not yet won an Olympic medal so any medal, any color would be an accomplishment in her eyes, not to mention the role that Mother Nature can play in the world of ski racing: “Having not won a medal, I would be really happy with just one bronze. I’m going to go out there and try to win gold, but, you know, there’s a lot of things that can happen in ski racing,” Vonn said when the women’s World Cup circuit made its lone U.S. stop in Aspen late last month. “I mean, I can get a big gust of wind, and my downhill race is over.” Let’s hope that Lindsey continues handle the balance between training and promotion of the sport she loves so much in the weeks leading up to the games. Good Luck Lindsey! Show your support for you favorite athletes with Vancouver 2010 Olympics Gear!