#winter-olympics

#winter-olympics

It was just really surprising, I guess, because I felt like, How could that be?' she said in an interview with The Associated Press at the U.S. Speedskating trials ahead of the Milan Cortina Games. When you think about how many Winter Olympics we've had, I just thought it was really strange. I hope people can see my story and the stories of other Black women in winter sports and then, hopefully, we'll have more coming up soon.

Buffalo chicken dip is a must while cheering on the athletes of Team USA.

It's just about showtime for the thousands of athletes who qualified for the Winter Olympics next month in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The XXV Winter Olympiad runs from Feb. 6-22 and will include Northern California stars such as Oakland figure skater Alysa Liu and the youngest member of Team USA's ski/snowboard roster, 15-year-old Abby Winterberger of Truckee, who competes in freestyle halfpipe skiing. In all, eight Northern California athletes will represent the United States, including three from the Bay Area.

Gus Kenworthy has the skills needed to make it in the world of Heated Rivalry and might have also just put his best skate-wearing foot forwards to join the cast. The Olympic skier, 34, has come out of retirement to represent Team GB at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy. In 2015, Kenworthy came out as gay after being linked to Miley Cyrus, a relationship he's said is mirrored in the Canadian LGBTQ+ sports drama.

But if we're going to be real, San Jose Sharks defenceman Vincent Desharnais had the better return to action. Not only did he score a goal in his return, but he also had himself a highlight reel open-ice hit on Matthew Tkachuk. And he won a fight against Tkachuk. Safe to say it wasn't the impact that Matthew Tkachuk had hoped to make upon his return, especially with his Florida Panthers having just thirty-four games left to claim and solidify a playoff spot.

"Their secret fling evolves into an eight-year journey of self-discovery and rivalry. Over time, they must learn how to chase their desires on and off the ice. "Torn between the sport they live for and the love they can't ignore, Shane and Ilya must decide if there is room in their fiercely competitive world for something as fragile and as powerful as real love."

In some ways, Shaun White's next trip to the Winter Olympics might be the toughest. Retired for four years and now trying to shape his sport from outside of the halfpipe he once commanded, White says he fully expects his upcoming trip to Italy the country where he won the first of his three gold medals to be an emotional ride, maybe with some unexpected turns.

And we want to know: What are you most curious about? We welcome your technical queries (we're still wrapping our heads around the physics of most of these sports ourselves!) but even more so, your questions about what it's like to be at the Games: from the spectator experience to the behind-the-scenes realities of getting around, feeding ourselves and meeting deadlines on the go.

The origins of snowboarding go back to Christmas Day 1965 when an engineer named Sherman Poppen strapped two skis together to give his daughters something to do. He called it a snurfer and started selling them the next year. Jake Burton came along, refined the toy and helped turn snowboarding into a mass market sport. Along the way superstars like Shaun White and Chloe Kim redefined what could be done in the air and the sport is always reinventing itself in terms of tricks.

Nobody knows for certain when luge the French word for sled started, since nobody surely took note of the first time someone slid feet-first down a slope. Some say the 15th century, with evidence that there were races in Norway around that time. USA Luge believes that the sport could date all the way back to around 800 B.C., citing research that Vikings used sleds that had two runners, kind of like those kids have gotten for decades.

Not everyone can skate, not everyone has been on skis, very few would dare to try ski jumping, but anyone who has ever played in the snow probably knows the feeling of what skeleton athletes get on race day. It's the thrill of being on a sled, picking up speed, trying to figure out how to steer without having anything to steer with, then getting up and doing it all over again.

"Sometimes the calendar gets in the way of the celebration, which is why my NBC family and I decided this winter was time for us all to focus on the Olympics. "But don't worry, we'll party together bigger and better later in 2026. Ya dig,"