A record number of 82 countries are represented at the 21st Winter Olympics, which run from the 12-28 February, with debuts from Cayman Islands, Colombia, Ghana, Pakistan and Peru. There will be more than 2,500 athletes competing.

Its just a pity that Jamaican bobsled team didnt qualify this year.

Although Cool Runnings is on tomorrow night on BBC3

Olympic luger Nodar Kumaritashvili dies after crash


The death of a luge competitor who left the track at high speed has cast a shadow over the Winter Olympics in Canada ahead of the opening ceremony.

Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili's sled flipped and he smashed into a steel pole at the Whistler Sliding Centre, killing the 21-year-old.

It happened hours before the ceremony to open the Vancouver Games.

Georgia confirmed they will compete in the Games as a tribute to him and will march as scheduled at the ceremony.

Kumaritashvili's sled struck the inside of the track's last turn during his sixth and final training run, sending his body into the air and over a concrete wall.

His sled remained on the track, and the visor from his helmet appeared to continue down the ice.

Medical staff at the track and doctors at a local hospital tried to resuscitate Kumaritashvili, part of a seven-strong Georgian team, but the country's Olympic delegation later confirmed he had died as a result of his injuries.

"We are all in deep shock, we don't know what to do. We don't know whether to take part in the opening ceremony or even the Olympic Games themselves," said delegation head Irakly Japaridze.

"This tragedy casts a shadow over these Games," said a visibly upset International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge, while International Luge Federation chief Josef Fendt said the incident was "the gravest thing that can happen in sport".

The IOC confirmed an investigation had been launched and technical officials were trying to establish the cause of the crash.

BBC Sport's Colin Bryce, a former British bobsleigh competitor, said Kumaritashvili was "clearly nervous going down the final run - you could see his head sticking up."

Bryce added: "He was very scared going down the fast corners.

"It's up to the organisers whether there is such a small percentage chance of that happening again that we continue with the race, or whether we stop."

BBC Sport understands organisers currently expect the Olympic luge competition, scheduled to begin on Saturday, to continue after team leaders met and agreed not to abandon it.

But top IOC officials were heading to Whistler and may reverse that decision.

The track at Whistler, which is shared by the sports of luge, skeleton and bobsleigh, already has a reputation as one of the fastest - and most dangerous - in the world.

In the build-up to the Games several teams had raised concerns about the safety of athletes, who regularly exceed 90mph as they compete, though Kumaritashvili crashed at a corner which had not been previously identified as a danger area.

Before the incident, British skeleton slider Amy Williams told BBC Sport: "I just hope Whistler is safe and that there aren't too many crashes and serious injuries."

Australia's Hannah Campbell-Pegg added: "I think they are pushing it a little too much.

"To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives."

Their comments followed earlier accidents, including one involving gold medal favourite Armin Zoeggeler of Italy and several during women's luge training runs on Wednesday.

Among those who crashed, Romania's Violeta Stramaturaru was knocked unconscious for a few minutes and taken to hospital.

The track is where British competitor Adam Rosen crashed during training in October last year. He suffered a dislocated hip as well as nerve and tendon damage.

After intensive rehabilitation, Rosen made the team for his second Winter Games and was taking part in the same training session when Kumaritashvili crashed.

"We are a family in luge, so a sudden and tragic loss such as this impacts everyone deeply," said Rosen in a statement released by the British Olympic Association.

"We know that the international federation, the IOC and (Vancouver organisers) have no higher priority than ensuring our safety, on and off the field of play.

"I know they are looking into this and, should it be deemed necessary for them to introduce additional measures, they will do so."

British skeleton's performance director, Andi Schmid, said before the Games that a lack of track time for athletes in the run-up to the Games had increased the risk of accidents.

"I would say especially for speed sports you need to have more access to tracks and whoever organises the Olympics needs to offer that," said Schmid in January.

"Not only so that everyone has a fair chance but also because of the danger. We need to be careful so that these sports stay great action sports and don't become dangerous killer sports.

"I'm not saying that will happen but some athletes from other nations are less experienced."

Kumaritashvili competed in five World Cup races this season, finishing 44th in the world standings.

He had already crashed in the second of his six training runs, emerging shaken but unhurt. His average speed in others runs - 88mph - was considerably less than speeds achieved by top competitors so far.

Prior to the Vancouver Games, no Winter Olympic athlete had been killed during an event.

But the 1964 Games in Innsbruck were overshadowed by the deaths of two competitors before it began.

British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski was killed during practice two weeks before on the Igls Olympic track, and Australian skier Ross Milne died during training for the same Games.

A minute's silence for the pair was observed at the opening ceremony.

WHISTLER SLIDING CENTRE

Opened: Winter 2008
Vertical drop: 152m
Max gradient: 20%
Track top speed: 95.65mph (153.93kph)
Cost: 104m Can dollars (£63m)
Average speed at Whistler is 15mph greater than at other tracks
Average vertical drop at Whistler is 28m greater than at other tracks

Winter Olympics set to start under cloud in Vancouver

By Ollie Williams, BBC Sport in Vancouver



The 2010 Winter Olympics will begin under a serious cloud after the death of a Georgian luger in training on Friday ahead of the opening ceremony.

The 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed at high speed at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

There are now serious doubts over the staging of all the sliding events.

"The whole Olympic Family is struck by this tragedy, which clearly casts a shadow over these Games", said IOC president Jacques Rogge.

John Furlong, the head of Vanoc, the Games Organising Committee, added: "We join the IOC in extending our condolences to the family, friends and teammates of this athlete, who came to Vancouver to follow his Olympic dream."

An investigation is under way into the circumstances of the accident.

In the build-up to the Games, the worries were of a financial nature, while a lack of snow hampered preparations, but the tragic accident has changed the whole tone of the event.

Vancouver's opening ceremony is also likely to be altered to mark Kumaritashvili's death.

On a purely sporting front, hosts Canada are hoping to earn their first ever home Olympic gold medal on Saturday, while Team GB's 52 athletes have been set a target of three medals of any colour.

"We're keen to mark the beginning of a new era for winter sports in Britain," said British chef de mission Andy Hunt.

"It is extraordinary to have the number of athletes in the team that we do.

"We haven't set a specific medal target - our real target is for every athlete to achieve their personal best."

While the British Olympic Association (BOA) is playing down medal targets, funding body UK Sport expects a three-medal return on its investment.

That pales in comparison to the pressure facing the host nation's team of 206 athletes, competing across the Games' 15 sports over 17 days.

The Canadian team has defined a successful Games as winning more medals than any other nation - rather than necessarily aiming for more golds than other countries - with the men's ice hockey final considered a must-win showpiece event by home supporters.

Leading Canada's charge is 37-year-old speed skater Clara Hughes, who will carry her country's flag at the opening ceremony. A former cyclist, she has both Summer and Winter Olympic medals to her name.

Of the 82 nations expected to take part, the United States and Germany should also be close contenders both in terms of gold medals, where Norway also feature, and overall medal count.

The US team of 216 athletes is the largest at the Vancouver Games and is fronted by talismanic skiing sensation Lindsey Vonn.

Vonn has had a troubled build-up to her five Olympic events after suffering a shin injury during training - but few teams have arrived at the Games without incident.

The British team, in particular, saw its skiing and snowboarding governing body go into administration just one week before the Olympics, leaving the BOA to arrange emergency funding for the 14 affected athletes.

And financial problems extend to the Vancouver Organizing Committee (Vanoc) itself, which has faced reports of a 30m Canadian dollar (£18.1m) revenue shortfall.

However, Vanoc no longer expects large-scale protests against the Games outside the opening ceremony - the contents of which remain a closely guarded secret - at the 60,000-capacity BC Place arena.

More problematic for organisers is the weather in the region, on Canada's west coast, which has been unseasonably warm in recent weeks.

Rain has played havoc with the Cypress Mountain freestyle skiing and snowboarding venue to the north of Vancouver, which has had to rely on snow imported from higher ground.

"The organisers have been doing everything they possibly can," said British snowboarder Zoe Gillings, who will compete at Cypress Mountain, where more rain is forecast.

"They've put so much work in that I think it'll be alright."

Whistler, the home to alpine skiing events situated two hours north of Vancouver, has no such trouble - there are record levels of snow on the ground.

But training runs there have already fallen prey to the fog for which the resort is renowned.

If the weather does not intervene, Whistler will play host to one of the first major spectacles of the Games when the men's downhill skiing takes place on Saturday.

The event is traditionally the blue riband event of the Games and 35-year-old Swiss veteran Didier Cuche, who leads the season-long World Cup standings, begins as favourite - despite skiing with a broken thumb since the end of last month.

Cuche's 23-year-old countryman Carlo Janka and Austrian Michael Walchhofer are also ones to watch. Local star Manuel Osborne-Paradis could go close, while Ed Drake will become the first Briton to compete at the Games.

British medal interest at Vancouver 2010 lies largely in Whistler, where world number one women's bobsleigh duo Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke are set to compete, as isskeleton star Shelley Rudman, who won GB's only medal - a silver - at Turin in 2006.

Back in Vancouver, the two British curling teams are also expected to challenge for medals, while there are outside chances in figure skating and speed skating.

"Pretty much everybody on the team skated British records and personal bests the week before we came here," said 29-year-old British short track speed skater Sarah Lindsay, who is set to compete at her third Winter Games.

"You can't ask for much more than that. For us, if one person can win, the whole team does."

Seems like the hosts' have gone too far in their pursuit of creating newer, "better" challenges. Even the name sounds like a bloody Alton Towers rollercoaster attraction - Whistler.

^^^^ Lucky you did Banff is offically recognised as the STD capital of Canada.

On a different note the only thing that matters here is the Ice Hockey. Canada's national sport and at the last olympics the finished 7th!!! Believe you me the are still bitching about this fact. Everyone predicts a Canada v Russia final. However if you think our press go over the top in World cup year you aint seen nothing yet.
They still cant decide who should start in goal, the have 3 world class keepers and we are having daily phone-ins, newspaper articles and TV shows about this problem. Part of me wants them to lose to see what its like when they blow it on home turf.
If you fancy a flutter Russia to win and the Czech Republic E/W are good shouts.

^^^^ Lucky you did Banff is offically recognised as the STD capital of Canada.

On a different note the only thing that matters here is the Ice Hockey. Canada's national sport and at the last olympics the finished 7th!!! Believe you me the are still bitching about this fact. Everyone predicts a Canada v Russia final. However if you think our press go over the top in World cup year you aint seen nothing yet.
They still cant decide who should start in goal, the have 3 world class keepers and we are having daily phone-ins, newspaper articles and TV shows about this problem. Part of me wants them to lose to see what its like when they blow it on home turf.If you fancy a flutter Russia to win and the Czech Republic E/W are good shouts.

Anybody else having trouble not laughing whenever a Canadian commentator pronounces words like "about" as "aboot" etc.

I reckon it would make a great drinking game as after watching 10 mins of womens slalom i mustve heard about 30 stereotypically funny canadian pronunciations.

Have you listened to a scouse or a yorkshireman recently!!

Amy Williams won Britain's first solo Winter Olympics gold medal for 30 years with victory in the women's skeleton.

The Bath slider, 27, broke her own track record on the way to Team GB's first medal of the Vancouver Games in a time of three minutes 35.64 seconds.

German Kerstin Szymkowiak was 0.56 seconds behind in silver with her team-mate Anja Huber taking bronze, while GB's Shelley Rudman finished sixth.

Skater Robin Cousins won GB's last solo gold in the men's ice dancing in 1980.

Williams, who survived a protest against the legality of her helmet, held a substantial 0.30-second overnight lead after setting a track record of 53.83 seconds in her opening run on Thursday.

And she extended that lead to 0.52 seconds with a new track record of 53.68 seconds on the third of her four runs.

Canada's pre-race favourite Mellisa Hollingsworth was in second going into the final run, but she faltered and fell away to fifth while Williams produced a solid run to hold off the German challenge and take the title.

"It's crazy," Williams told BBC Sport.

"I didn't think I'd be standing here, it's all such a blur, I don't remember that last run at all.

"I was a bit nervous before it but I thought I've got nothing to lose so I thought I'd just go out and enjoy it and it was great."

Skeleton's international governing body rejected an objection filed on Thursday by the United States team, supported by five other nations - which claimed ridges on Williams' helmet gave her an illegal aerodynamic advantage.

International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation (FIBT) jury president Wolfgang Strauss said the helmet's manufacturer confirmed the ridges, or spoilers, "are an integral part of the helmet."

Therefore, by FIBT rule, the helmet - which also made it through a standard pre-race check - was deemed legal for racing.

Williams' gold is Britain's first since Rhona Martin led the curling team to victory in 2002 and eighth in total.

The medal continues a fine run of British skeleton sliding since the sport was reintroduced to the Winter Olympics at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Alex Coomber won bronze eight years ago, while Rudman secured silver in Turin in 2006.