Murray, NEB-This year the 2022 Winter Olympics are being held in Beijing, China from
Feb. 4 until the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 20. There are fifteen winter games this year. The games are televised by NBC but are available for worldwide view on a number of platforms. The Winter Olympic sports include alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, nordic combined, ski jumping, bobsled, luge, skeleton, curling, hockey, snowboarding, figure skating, short track and speed skating.

Many people have heard of or have seen some of these events on television. However, many
don’t know exactly what the events are that the athletes compete in. Below, is a basic list of
what each competing event is.

Skiing: Alpine skiing is what people think of as typical downhill skiing. The category has
multiple events that take place over two-courses. Biathlon is a combination of skiing and
marksmanship or shooting. Cross-country skiing is where the athletes ski on their own power
over snow covered terrain. Freestyle skiing is where skiers do flips and spins while skiing. It is
similar to the snowboarding event where the athlete uses one board and can take place on a
designed trick track, usually referred to as a halfpipe. Usually, nordic combined is a
combination of cross-country skiing and ski jumping. In ski jumping, athletes ski down a large
hill and then jump from the end of a ramp to go the farthest distance that they can.

Sledding: Bobsledding includes two or four athletes that race a bobsled down an icy track. A bobsled is like a soapbox car, except with runners (skiis) instead of wheels. Monobob is a new
women’s only event that is a single rider for a stock bobsled. The event is more affordable and
relies on the sledder’s skill rather than a bobsled team’s ability to design a better sled. Luge is
where a single rider of two people sled down an icy track on an open sled. Skeleton is basically the same thing as luge, but they slide head first.

Miscellaneous: Curling is where teams slide stones on ice to a target called the “house”. It is
the event where you see other team members furiously sweeping the ice to keep the stone
moving in the desired direction. Hockey is where teams use hockey sticks to hit a puck into a goal on ice.

Skating: Figure skating is where individuals or pairs skate on the ice, similar to dancing. Short track is where athletes skate against each other in a race. Speed skating is where two skaters try to skate on a track as fast as they can to beat the clock.

Norway won with 16 gold, 8 silver and 13 bronze medals. Germany is in second place with 12 gold, 10 silver and 5 bronze medals. China made third place with 9 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals. The United States got fourth place with 8 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals. Sweden and the Netherlands made fifth and sixth place out of 28 listed countries.

The closing ceremony last Sunday marked the end of the 2022 Winter Olympics. The next Olympic Games will be the Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024 and the Winter Olympics in Italy in 2026. If you want to see more about the 2022 Olympics, check out the Olympics website.