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Vancouver Olympics 2010 Skating

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Olympic Skating is Coming to Vancouver in 2010

The Olympics are here! Skating is one of the most popular sports in the winter Olympics. The United States will be sending several skaters to the Olympics, all of which have been chosen. Whether your favorite skaters are figure skaters or speed skaters, the Olympics should be great to watch.

Photo by Vesperholly at Wikimedia Commons

Jump to What You're Looking For

  1. Skating Events at the Olympics
  2. Sasha Cohen Tried to Make a Comeback for 2010
  3. Rachael Flatt - Top Female Skater
  4. Caroline Zhang
  5. Evan Lysacek
  6. Brandon Mroz
  7. Evgeni Plushenko
  8. Ben Agosto and Tanith Belbin
  9. Rockne Brubaker and Keauna McLaughlin
  10. Jennifer Rodriguez
  11. US Short Track Olympic Team Announced
  12. Apolo Anton Ohno
  13. Katherine Reutter
  14. For More Information on 2010 Olympic Skating
  15. What do you think about Olympic Skating?

Skating Events at the Olympics

Skating has been an Olympic event since 1908. The different types of skating events that will be at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics are figure skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating.

There are four different events in the figure skating competition: individual men's, individual women's, mixed pairs, and ice dancing.

There are eight events in short track speed skating, including 1000m men's and women's, 1500m men's and women's, men's 5000m relay, women's 3000m relay, and 500m men's and women's.

There are 12 speed skating events, including 500m, 1000m, 1500m, and 5000m races for both men and women, a team pursuit event for both men and women, a 10000m event for men, and a 3000m event for women.

Photo by Cliff from Arlington, VA at Wikimedia Commons.

Olympic Skating Tickets on eBay

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Michelle Kwan won't Compete in Vancouver

Puts Education above Olympics

Michelle Kwan has reported that she will not be returning to Olympic competition for the 2010 games. She will retire from skating without a gold medal, but her career was a pretty good one anyway. She won a silver in 1998 and a bronze in 2002. Her current emphasis in life is to complete her graduate studies in international affairs at Tufts University.

Kwan's retreat from the Olympic spotlight is disappointing to me. I enjoyed her performances in the previous Olympics, and am sad at the void that she leaves behind in skating competition. One of my sorority sisters used to skate with her, so I like to see her have success. However, it is understandable that she wants to get on with her life and start her career after skating.

Good luck Michelle!

Photo by Uwe Langer

Sasha Cohen Tried to Make a Comeback for 2010

Failed to Make the Top Two

Sasha Cohen decided to come out of retirement to compete in the 2010 Olympic Games, according to Sport's Illustrated. She hadn't skated competitively since the 2006 world championships.

Since Cohen and Michelle Kwan stopped competing in 2006, the United States has not received a medal in the world championships. The US only earned two spots to the Vancouver games, rather than the three that they normally do.

Although Sasha Cohen hasn't competed since 2006, she has been touring with the Stars on Ice tour, which has kept her in shape.

Because she received a medal in the 2006 Olympics, she automatically was eligible to compete for one of the two US spots in next year's Olympic games at the 2010 US Nationals. Unfortunately for her, she did not make the team. Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu will be competing for Team USA instead.

Rachael Flatt - Top Female Skater

Rachael Flatt, 17, was a little too young to participate in the Torino Olympics, but she's going to skate in the Olympics this year. She was the 2008 World Junior Champion, and is also the 2008 and 2009 US Championships silver medal winner.

Flatt will most likely become a household name this February, as she skates for Team USA upon the international stage at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

For the 2009-2010 season, Flatt is skating to "Sing Sing Sing" by Louis Prima for the short program, and Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" for her free skate.

Photo by David W. Carmichael.

Caroline Zhang

Olympic Hopeful Who Didn't Make It

Caroline Zhang photo by David W. Carmichael.Caroline Zhang tried to make the Vancouver 2010 Olympic team, but she didn't quite make it. She placed fourth in the 2009 Four Continents competition, and second at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in 2009. She is still young, so she still could have a shot at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

For the short program, Zhang will perform Pablo de Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen. She is performing Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker in her free skate, and for her exhibition, she skates to Miley Cyrus's "The Climb".

Olympic Zazzle Products

Figure Skating print
Figure Skating by mikemass

Evan Lysacek

Lysacek is one to watch in 2010. He finished fourth in the Torino Olympics, even after being so ill that he was in bed receiving an IV the day before. At the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships, he placed first, even though his left foot had a stress fracture at the time.

He was originally a hockey player, but switched to skating, where he has found more success. He will be one of the three male skaters to skate for Team USA in Vancouver.

Photo by vesperholly.

Brandon Mroz

Brandon Mroz didn't quite make it to Vancouver in 2010. He received a silver medal at the 2009 US Championships, and was ranked 17th in the world last April. He has only been skating at the senior level since the 2008-2009 season.

His competition, Lysacek, Jeremy Abbot, and Johnny Weir, skated just a little better than him at the Olympic trials.

Photo by David W. Carmichael.

Evgeni Plushenko

Evgeni Plushenko, the Russian skater who took home gold in Torino, is gearing up for Vancouver's competition. Although he took a break from 2006 to 2008, don't count him out. He is practicing six or seven hours a day to get back into the shape that he needs to be in for the Olympics.

Plusenko will still need to go through the qualification process, but if he gets up to where he wants to be, he will be tough competition for the American male singles skaters, as well as for the skaters from all the other nations.

Photo by Jeany. In the public domain.

Ben Agosto and Tanith Belbin

Ben Agosto and Tanith Belbin are ice dancers that could do well in 2010. You may remember them from the 2006 Olympics, when they earned the silver medal. Tanith Belbin was originally unable to compete in the 2006 Olympics, as she was waiting for her citizenship to become approved, but Congress passed a special act, which was signed by president Bush on New Year's Eve in 2005, that gave her naturalized citizenship. As a citizen, she was able to compete with Agosto, where they received a medal.

The pair is currently ranked #2 in the world. The US gets to send three ice dancing pairs to the Olympics, and they were one of the three teams to qualify.

Rockne Brubaker and Keauna McLaughlin

This pair has been skating together since 2006. In the 2006-2007 season, they took the gold medal at the US Junior Championships. The next year, they took the gold at the senior level of the US Championships. This accomplishment made them the first team in 51 years to get the Junior and Senior championships in consecutive years.

They didn't quite make it to Vancouver. It will be up to Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, or Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates to try to earn a medal for the USA this time around.

Photo by Kevin Rushforth.

Amazon Skating

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Shani Davis

Shani Davis should perform well in Vancouver. He currently holds the world record in the 1000m and 1500m races. He received a gold and silver medal in Torino for the 1000m and 1500m races, and could easily come home with medals in 2010.

Frozone from The Incredibles was modeled after Shani Davis. Hopefully we'll see some "incredible" skating from him in Vancouver!

Chad Hedrick

Chad Hedrick started out as an inline skater, but switched to the ice after he saw a fellow inline skater, Derek Parra, win the 1500m race in Salt Lake City.

In Torino, Chad Hedrick won the gold medal in the 5000m race, the silver medal in the 10,000m race, and the bronze in the 1500m race. After Torino, he took a little bit of time off, but now he's back on the ice with renewed determination. We'll see how he measures up to Shani Davis in Vancouver.

More Zazzle Olympics

2010: Speed Skating print
2010: Speed Skating by nakedzealot

Jennifer Rodriguez

You might remember Jennifer Rodriguez from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, where she took home the bronze medals for the 1000m and 1500m races. She is back in training, hoping to make the 2010 team and perhaps get another medal. She also competed in the 1998 and 2006 Olympics.

Her best bet for a medal comes in the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m races.

US Short Track Olympic Team Announced

Every participating Olympic country can send 10 athletes (five men, five women) to the Olympics in 2010 if they have a relay team, and 6 athletes if they do not. The US has recently announced their short-track winners:

Men

  1. Apolo Ohno
  2. J.R. Celsky
  3. Jordan Malone
  4. Travis Jayner
  5. Simon Cho

Women

  1. Katherine Reutter
  2. Alyson Dudek
  3. Kimberly Derrik
  4. Allison Baver
  5. Lana Gehring

Apolo Anton Ohno

Apolo Anton Ohno is the top short-track skater in the United States, and is one of the top short-track skaters in the world. He has earned six Olympic Medals already, in three Olympics (Torino, Salt Lake City, and Vancouver). Vancouver is his third Olympics.

Ohno didn't start speed skating until 1995, but he is an all-around athlete in several other areas. He won Dancing with the Stars in 2007, and at age 12 won the Washington State Championship for breaststroke. He is also an inline skater.

Photo by Noelle Neu. From the Torino Olympics.

Katherine Reutter

Katherine Reutter will be competing in short track speed skating for the Women's American team in Vancouver. This will be her first Olympics.

She has been compared to Bonnie Blair, who also comes from her hometown of Champaign, Illinois. Like Bonnie Blair, she excels in all distances.

Although relatively unknown outside of skating right now, Katherine Reutter may just become a household word by the end of February.

For More Information on 2010 Olympic Skating

Visit these great sites to find out more information about 2010 Olympic Skating in Vancouver:
NBC Olympics Site
Get information about all Olympic skating events on the NBC site. Counting down the last 100 days starting November 4th.
Short Track Speed Skating Official Olympic Site
Get more information about Short Track Speed Skating, including the official schedule, from the Olympic organizers.
Olympic.org Sports
You can take a look at all the different sports here, broken down by categories.

Other Olympic Lenses

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Blog posts about Olympic Skating in 2010

DC uses chiropractic to help ice dancer compete at 2012 World Figure Skating ...
Training under two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and four-time World Figure Skating Champion Evgeny Platov and choreographer Zhanna Palagina at the Igloo Ice Rink in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, Penny suffered from such intense pain in her lower back and hips ...
Hughes continues comeback on Exergy Tour
... athletes in history ? she won two bronze medals in the 1996 summer Olympics in cycling, and four medals in the 2002, 2006 and 2010 winter Olympics in speed skating. She carried the Canadian flag at the opening ceremonies in 2010 in Vancouver.
DeVry Shares Olympic Experience Across US
DeVry has teamed up with almost 50 Olympic student-athletes, including short track speed skater Jordan Malone, who won a bronze medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. "Academics is another way -- just like sports -- where if you just set your ...
Chan prepared for Sochi
But as the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, draws closer, the reigning world figure skating champion is looking forward to better results than his fifth-place finish in Vancouver in 2010. ?The first Olympics in Vancouver, I got the shock of being ...
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What do you think about Olympic Skating?

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  • KathyMcGraw Sep 30, 2009 @ 7:23 pm | delete
    I love watching the skating part of the Olympics. That and Gymnastics are my favorites to this was great to read. I would love to go to Spokane, and I am also sad Michelle Kwon won't be skating in the Olympics. Her grace and beauty on the ice always enthralled me.
  • Pukeko Sep 17, 2009 @ 7:33 am | delete
    Well done. We are a huge winter sports fans, and look forward to the upcoming Olympics.
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