Olympics Notebook: Vancouver 2010

Winter Olympics, day 15 — live

The final race of the Olympic Alpine skiing programme is underway, with Austria’s Benjamin Raich among the favourites. There are seven medals in play on the penultimate day of competition in Vancouver, Whistler and Cypress and we’ll be here for all of them, so please join us for expert commentary from our reporters on the spot.

Winter Games, day 14 — live

The men’s ice hockey semi-finals pitting the United States against Finland and Canada against Slovakia are the highlights of the day … but with the mayhem of short track speed skating and the women’s curling final there’s plenty of other action to shout about… Join us here today and every day of the Games.

Suits you, sir! Our reporter tries a speedskating second skin

Larry Fine, our speedskating correspondent at these Winter Olympics, wanted to get a feel for what the athletes put themselves through. He got more than he bargained for… Over to Larry:

“First off, it should be noted that it was a size medium and I’m sure the good folks at Nike would have suggested a size or two larger for my particular build.

Undaunted by that minor problem, I tried to pour myself into a sample of the stretchy, rubbery, hooded, aerodynamically designed one-piece second skin worn by skaters at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

Pour might not be quite the right word. Force, threaten or cajole might better describe the process in the men’s room at the Main Press Center.

Beads of sweat first began appearing with the awkward effort of pulling the toes and high-instepped foot through the tight opening at the bottom.

Then came a laborious series of tugs and pulls to get the material sufficiently up the leg. Only a strenuous series of jumps and tugs allowed a shot at getting my arms into the black sleeves.

Winter Games live blog: day eight

Our live blog on day eight of the Olympic Games is following Lindsey Vonn and her quest for a second gold medal in the women’s Super-G. There’s also a bunch of speedskating medals so please feel free join us. Dip in and out, we’ll be here all day.

Winter Games: picture of the day

Paul Barker writes on Tuesday:

I spent much of the day editing the women’s 500 metre speed skating race, looking at many very good pictures. Jerry Lampen’s frame of Annette Gerritsen of the Netherlands crashing as Nao Kodaira of Japan speeds past was the image of the day from that event.

Winter Games: Picture of the Day

Each day, Paul Barker chooses his favourite frame from the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Today was day one of comeptition … over to Paul:

“Reuters photographer Lyle Stafford caught Sven Kramer’s emotion perfectly after Kramer climbed into the stand to celebrate his 5,000 meter speed skating victory with his father and mother (top) and other supporters from the Netherlands.”

For Picture of the Opening Ceremony click here.