10 things you should know about the Olympics
Friends of Animals has posted an open letter to Johnny Weir criticizing him for having fox fur on one of his costumes and asking him to stop wearing fur. Credit: AP Photo
Time to get ready for the Winter Olympics with this 10-point primer about the athletes you'll see in Vancouver.
1) Johnny Weir will go with synthetics
The eccentric U.S. figure skater, who had been performing in a costume with white fox fur on his shoulder, said hate mail from animal rights activists had prompted a change to "faux fur" in Vancouver.
2) Skating's high point totals
Olympic records in men's and women's figure skating are 258.33 (Yevgeny Plushenko), and 191.34 (by Shizuka Arakawa), set in 2006 when the new scoring system replaced the old 6.0 ceiling.
3) How to tell a skier from a snowboarder
The skintight speed suits popularized in skiing, because of their aerodynamic benefits, are shunned by snowboard cross and skicross athletes, and can result in disqualification action by their peers.
4) Israel's gift to an Aussie
Because an Israeli Olympic Committee qualifying rule was stiffer than that of the IOC, it barred figure skater Tamar Katz from Vancouver and gave her berth to the next in line, Australia's 16-year-old Cheltzie Lee.
5) Who needs cold weather?
Three skaters on the U.S. Winter Olympic team list Florida hometowns - the figure pairs team of Caydee Denney (Wesley Chapel) and Jeremy Barrett (Venice) and speedskating's Jen Rodriguez (Miami).
6) You can always go home again
Five members of the U.S. team were born in Canada - figure skating's Tanith Belbin, short track's Travis Jayner, hockey's Paul Stastny, curlers Debbie McCormick and Allison Pottinger.
7) Can't compare medal totals
Just since the last Winter Games in Canada (Calgary, 1988), the total number of Olympic events has ballooned from 46 to 86. The six U.S. medals that year - two gold, one silver, three bronze - will be surpassed.
8) When gymnasts grow up
Ashley Caldwell of Hamilton, Va., abandoned her original sporting interest after she saw aerials skiing on TV. Relocated to Lake Placid, she has made the U.S. Olympic team. At age 16.
9) Jamaican Olympians
In 1994, their four-man bobsled was 14th of 30 starters. The only other athlete from a snowless region to place in the top half of a Winter Olympic field was Seba Johnson, U.S. Virgin Islands, 35th of 64 in women's giant slalom.
10) Beyond the Alps
Eight of the first 12 Winter Olympics were staged somewhere in the Alps, but since 1976, the Games have gone back to that mountain range only twice (Albertville, 1992; Turin, 2006).
