Fervor

I love watching the olympics! Both kids were born in Olympic seasons. E was born in 1994 during the height of the Nancy Kerrigan- Tonya Harding scandal. I remember timing mild contractions while watching the various events. K was born just before the last summer olympics in Athens so there was always something to watch for those early morning feedings.

Opening Cermonies are this afternoon but C is eager to watch so I will probably wait till he gets home when we can watch as a family -And share some of E's famous popcorn!

I am not up on all the medal contenders this year but as usual the cbc has a pretty detailed olympic web site that has great explanations of each sport. I am sure we will be sending E to the computer many times to look up the answers to some of his questions.

E seems to have a particular interest in the skeleton event.

The object of skeleton racing: ride a sled to the bottom of a steep, icy track as fast as possible.

Not as dangerous as it looks- I don't buy that!

"It starts with the athlete hunched over, grasping the handles of the sled. After pushing furiously for 40 metres the slider dives headfirst onto the sled and speeds away, letting gravity go to work. Most sliders will tell you that skeleton is not as dangerous as it looks."

"According to Canadian medal hopeful Jeff Pain, typical injuries are skin burns and abrasions. It’s rare for a top slider to crash or fly off the track. Despite speeds that can exceed 120 km/h, skeleton sleds are fairly stable, and even if a slider falls off, going down headfirst makes it easier to climb back on."

"The Olympic skeleton competition consists of two runs, held on the same day. The lowest combined time wins."

Medal Predictions:

Gold - Jeff Pain, Canada
Silver - Gregor Staehli, Switzerland
Bronze - Duff Gibson, Canada

Good Luck Canada!