XX Winter Olympic Games-Torino

Of late I've been accumulating a fair bit of couch time and enjoying some of what I've seen when it comes to the Olympics in Turin. As an Australian, the greatest highlight was Steven Bradbury's gold medal at Salt Lake City in 2002. It embodied the qualities of the underdog.Against Apolo "Oh No!" was involved in a fall, and took the rest of the pack with him. I didn't rate Alisa Camplin's Gold in arial skiing; it didn't move me in the same way. A gold medal is still a gold medal.
But being from a country where snowsports don't feature large in the national psyche, the winter olympics is not where our "sporting heroes" come from. Gregorieva, Freeman, De Castella, Gaze, Thorpe, Perkins, Hackett, O'Neill...I could really go on. The hype surrounding these games just isn't the same, and I feel it's the same in the UK.

I actually went to see a bobsleigh event in Albertville, France when younger. As a young kid, seeing these men climb into a missile a launch themselves down a curving river of ice was impressive. The rattle from the distance quickly became a roar, and then this blur of polished colour sped past and around the corner. Gone again.

I'm just a little sad I didn't have the chance to see some really historic (winter) Olympic moments. The first would be the USSR and USA hockey matches during the Cold War. In particular, the Miracle on Ice in 1980 (Lake Placid). When the Cold War became Ice Cool. Since that particular rivalry has ended, (and I'm not a big fan of Figure Skating) there is little else to barrack for.I will give credit to Torville and Dean's outstanding "Bolero" performance that won them the Gold in 1980. Try and find yourself a clip, it's poetry in motion.
So I've decided to try to get into a sport, that will last the rest of the competition.

Curling. A Scottish sport (the governing body is based in Perth, Kinross) where the aim is to stop
a 20 kg rock in the middle of a target, by directing it with brooms. Strategy and physics rolled into one. Watch it at first, and you'll think it's boring. I'm at that stage now and hoping it will change.

P.S. The women's slalom is interesting, as the slightly icy conditions combined with the skiers ranked 20+ pushing the limits means a couple of nasty falls. Damn I'm taking pleasure in the pain of others.