Winter Olympics gearing up for athletes; Students preparing to cheer on favorite Olympians

     The Winter Olympics are gearing up this month starting on February 4 and continuing to the 20. These Olympics were a lot closer to the summer Olympics due to Covid-19 instead of the normal two-year gap between the games. There was only a six-month break after the closing of the 2020 Tokyo summer Olympics.

     The Olympics are taking place in Beijing, China this year. Many athletes are returning to the games from previous games as well as many newcomers.

     Snowboarder Shaun White has announced that this is his last Olympics after attending four winter Olympics. White said on Instagram “It’s been an incredible run. I’m 35 years old and I have spent 29 of them on a board.

     Sophomore Sara Ford said, “Snowboarding is one of my favorites. I think the tricks the athletes are able to perform are amazing, they are super talented and it’s entertaining to watch.” 

      Some skiers that will be participating in the Olympics are Nina O’Brien, Kevin Bickner, Casey Larson, and Patrick Gasienica. All of these skiers are on team U.S.A.

     “My favorite sport to watch is definitely skiing,” Junior Ava Grabowski said, “It’s just so crazy all the stuff they are doing at such a high speed. They are going down the mountain so fast and they have to hit all of those flags. Just the agility of the athletes is incredible, I’m too terrified to ever ski but it’s just amazing to watch.” 

     The winter Olympics have all kinds of sports from curling to snowboarding to figure skating. Some of the students’ favorite sports to watch are hockey, snowboarding, and skiing.  

     The athletes arrived in Beijing on February 2 to prepare and practice for the upcoming games. Most athletes have already started practicing on the courses.

     This will be the second time that China will have hosted the Olympics. Beijing will be the first city to host both the summer and winter Olympics.

     “My favorite sport to watch during the Winter Olympics is figure skating because I think it’s really entertaining to watch the routines that are performed, everyone’s style is unique and shows their skills in a beautiful way,” Ford said. “I also think it’s really impressive to be able to do some of those moves, they are dedicated so much time to a performance.” 

     Junior Chase Harvey said, “My favorite sport is probably ice hockey because I like that it’s a contact sport and their play style is really interesting to watch.” Younger agreed that ice hockey is his favorite. Younger played ice hockey which is why it is his favorite to watch during the Olympics.

     This year’s winter Olympics has over 15 sports and numerous events under these 15 sports and 91 different nations are participating.