What Caught My Eye Today - 2010 Winter Olympics Preview

Fred's Note: Faithful readers are well aware of my interest for less mainstream sports--at least in the US--as evidenced by frequent postings from the world of motor sports (NASCAR, F1), football (aka soccer), cycling (go Lance) and, of course, yachting (hey, billionaires can be athletes too). Add to that list, the Olympics.

Winter Olympics - For those of you in the know, it comes as no big surprise that the US is not exactly known for its prowess in winter sports. I have gone on record as suggesting that it will be a major accomplishment if the US manages to break the top 10 in medal count at the upcoming Olympic Games being hosted in Vancouver, British Columbia next month. That being said, it turns out that the good ol' US of A is actually second (Norway tops the list) in total medals awarded at the Winter Olympics (click here), though it is worth mentioning that only 12 nations have participated in all 20 Winter Olympic Games that have been conducted. I also have to give props to the Stars and Stripes for its performance at the 2006 games, where we came in second (Germany took first) in total medals with 25 (9 gold, 9 silver and 7 bronze). So where am I going with all this? Glad you asked. I did some digging and found some predictions on how well the US might do this time around.

• Biathalon: 0 medals
  Seeing as we've never won a medal in this sport...ever...not much of a surprise that this year won't be any different.
• Alpine Skiing: 4 medals (2 gold)
  Two words for you--Lindsey Vonn.
• Cross-Country Skiing: 0 medals
  Unlike the biathalon, we've actually managed to score one medal...back in 1976.
• Freestyle Skiing: 3 medals (no gold)
  Seeing as we sort of invented the sport, you would hope that we walk away with some hardware.
• Snowboarding: 6 medals (3 gold)
  Pretty much the same deal as freestyle skiing, plus we still have our boy Shaun White tearing things up at the ripe old age of 22.
• Ski Jumping: 0 medals
  The fact that experts would consider a top 20 finish as a victory shows just how far the US has to go before it can even dream about getting a medal.
• Nordic-combined : 1 medal.
  Surprisingly, the US has some dude winning some World Cup events this season who may be able to claim a medal for the US for the first time ever.
• Bobsled: 2 medals
  Seriously, is this like one of the coolest sports to watch or what?
• Skeleton: 1 medal
  Ditto.
• Luge: 0 medals
  Not to sound like a broken record, but ditto.
• Figure Skating: 1 medal
  The US runs a serious risk of taking home no medals for the first time. It's best hope for hardware is ice dancing. Ice dancing? But we suck at ice dancing.
• Speed skating: 4 medals (2 gold)
  This event sort of reminds me of swimming or track and field. Given all the distances that are contested, we should be able to pick up a few medals.
• Short track: 3 medals (1 gold)
  This totally reminds me of roller derby, but on ice. Look for Apolo Anton Ohno to hang up his dance shoes and bring home some precious medal.
Hockey: 2 medals (1 gold)
Apparently, the US women's team is the surest bet for gold the US has this year.
• Curling: 1 medal
  I don't really understand why, but I turn this on and the next thing I know I've lost 3 hours out of my day. Something about men with brooms, I guess.

By my calculations, if these predictions play out, the US will pick up 27 medals (9 gold). If so, this would be a slight improvement over the 25 medals it took home from Turin in 2006.