22nd Winter Olympic Games

The end of January marks the beginning of the 22nd Winter Olympics Games.  Set to begin February 7th, and ending on the 23rd,  the Winter Olympics is being held in the country of Russia, in the city of Sochi.

This year, the winter olympics has 88 nations participating in 97 events, spread out among 7 sports. Amazing, right? The list of nations that are participating in the Winter Olympics, in full, as stated on Wikipedia, is presented below.

 

 

* Albania (2) Andorra (6) Argentina (7) Armenia (4) Australia (61) Austria (130) Azerbaijan (4) Belarus (24) Belgium (7) Bermuda (1) Bosnia and Herzegovina (5) Brazil (13) British Virgin Islands (1) Bulgaria (18) Canada (220) Cayman Islands (1) Chile (6) China (66) Croatia (11) Cyprus (2) Czech Republic (85) Denmark (12) * Dominica (2) Estonia (24) Finland (103) France (105) Georgia (4) Germany (153) Great Britain (56) Greece (7) Hong Kong (1) Hungary (16) Iceland (5) Individual Olympic Athletes (3) Iran (5) Ireland (5) Israel (5) Italy (113) Jamaica (2) Japan (113) Kazakhstan (52) Kyrgyzstan (1) South Korea (71) Latvia (58) * Lebanon (2) Liechtenstein (4) Lithuania (9) Luxembourg (1) Macedonia (3) Malta (1) Mexico (1) Moldova (4) Monaco (5) Mongolia (2) Montenegro (2) Morocco (2) Nepal (1) Netherlands (41) New Zealand (15) Norway (134) Pakistan (1) Paraguay (1) Peru (3) Philippines (1) Poland (59) Portugal (2) * Romania (24) Russia (225) San Marino (2) Serbia (8) Slovakia (62) Slovenia (66) Spain (20) Sweden (106) Switzerland (168) Chinese Taipei (3) Tajikistan (1) Thailand (2) Timor-Leste (1) Togo (2) Tonga (1) Turkey (6) Ukraine (43) United States (230) Uzbekistan (3) Venezuela (1) Virgin Islands (1) Zimbabwe (1)

 

The sports that are being hosted in the 2014 Winter Olympics, also presented by Wikipedia, are as follows:Alpine skiing (10) (details)Biathlon (11) (details)Bobsleigh (3) (details)Cross-country skiing (12) (details)Curling (2) (details)Figure skating (5) (details)Freestyle skiing (10) (details)Ice hockey (2) (details)Luge (4) (details)Nordic combined (3) (details)Short track speed skating (8) (details)Skeleton (2) (details)Ski jumping (4) (details)Snowboarding (10) (details)Speed skating (12) (details)

 

The Torch relay, a special event in the Olympics, has also heightened interest in the viewers of the Winter Olympics. As stated before, the olympic torch relay shall start in moscow, traveling past 83 Russian towns until it reaches Sochi on the day of the opening ceremony, February 7th.  Incredible!

When Russia announced that its was hosting this year’s Winter Olympics, It was reported that there were many controversies and concerns about its location. bomb attacks in volgograd have heightened the security of the Winter Olympics, while Circassians, a certain  ethnic group, have demanded that the Olympic games be removed from Russia or cancelled until Russia apologized for the 19th century forced relocation of the Circassians to the Ottoman Empire, which came close to a genocide.

However, the Winter Olympics are back on schedule, and now the nations have begun to play. Who will be the next Winter Olympics champions? It all depends on the 2014 Winter Olympics and their contestants, to whom I wish a fair effort and good luck in the sporting events.