The flame of the Winter Olympic Games has been extinguished. The final costs for the games in Sochi Russia might not be known, but it was a reported $51 billion or more than the previous 21 Winter Olympics combined. GearJunkie compiled some interesting facts, and among those the games cost roughly $18 million per athlete!
Check out the other interesting facts!
[Via GearJunkie: Sochi Cost $18 Million Per Athlete and 34 Other Fascinating Olympic Facts]
Despite an underwhelming performance at last the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the U.S. Speedskating team isn’t putting the blame on “suitgate.” The company has signed a deal to provide the U.S. team with uniforms through 2022.
This was the first U.S. medal shutout since 1984. Beyond the talk that perhaps it was the uniforms were the culprit for the poor showing, training strategy and funding woes were noted. Back to the drawing board and back to the training.
httpv://youtu.be/lZvJ49gJ9Tw
From Sport Techie: Three Technologies that Have Helped Define the 2014 Sochi Olympics Continue reading Weekend Reading List (02.22.2014): Olympic Tech, Flu Recovery, Curling Tech
From The Verge: Freezing Sochi: how Russia turned a subtropical beach into a Winter Olympics wonderland
Sochi is not the most obvious place to host the Winter Olympics.
The Russian resort, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, is humid and subtropical. Temperatures average out at about 52 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, and 75 degrees in the summer. Palm trees line the streets, and it’s the only part of Russia warm enough to grow tea leaves. In other words, it’s a lovely spot if you’re planning a beach holiday — Stalin had his favorite summer house there — but it wouldn’t be most people’s first choice for a ski trip. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (02.08.2014): Sochi Goes for the Cold, Gold Prices, Bike Crowded Miami
While security is tight at Sochi some American athletes will be suited up in armor – or at least Under Armour’s new speedskating uniform. For the 2014 games Under Armour partnered with Team USA and Lockheed Martin to create a skinsuit that should be a speed machine on the ice. The Mach 39 could be a game changer that helps Americans bring home the gold this year.
When the U.S. Olympic team headed to London it wore uniforms made in China, but not this time. Team USA will head to Sochi, Russia in just two weeks wearing uniforms designed by fashion icon Ralph Lauren that were made in the USA. The uniforms don’t come cheap, but can we really put a price on going for the gold?
We wish our U.S. Olympic team the best luck as they head to the games. May they have safe games as well.
[Via Bleacher Reporter: Team USA Unveils Opening Ceremony Uniforms Designed by Ralph Lauren]
After a 12 year absence from the Olympics the now famous Jamaican Bobsleigh Team has qualified for the Sochi Winter Olympics. The team is looking to head to Russia next month and recently launched an Indiegogo project to help get it there! The team is looking to raise $80,000 to help cover travel expenses. The Indiegogo crowd funding efforts ends later today.
This wouldn’t have happened during the Cold War. American athletes are about to head to Sochi, Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympics and they’ll be heading in style in uniforms made by Columbia Sportswear. What is unique about this is that earlier this month Columbia unveiled the Ski Team uniforms for the U.S. as well as Canadian and Russian teams!
Columbia showed these off to the press in Utah, and the uniform collection included those for moguls, aerials, half-pipe, skicross and slopestyle events. Many of these uniforms will feature the compnay’s Omni-Heat Thermal Reflective technology as a base layer to help keep the athletes warm. Many across America who have been digging out in recent weeks likely wish they had such technology.
Other features reportedly include a new waterproof zipper that is bonded to the laser-cut fabric, removable pockets and even special patterns that have been dubbed “snow camouflage.” We’ll be watching for these uniforms in next month’s games.
[Via GearJunkie: U.S., Russian, Canadian Ski Team Uniforms Manufactured By Columbia Sportswear Unveiled]
The U.S. Snowboarding Team will be sporting a line of apparel from Vermont-based Burton at next year’s 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The look is rather raggedy to us, but as the company noted, “snowboarding is such an individual sport,” and the uniform certain has an individual look!
The uniform won’t be available for purchase the company noted, but Burton will offer hoodies, t-shirts and accessories that feature prints and artwork inspired by the styles. Frankly, we’ll pass! We wish our Olympic athletes all the best in their efforts to go for the gold, but we wish they’d be wearing something that didn’t make them look like hobos on the slopes!
Riding on a track of ice takes skill but it also takes nerves of steel. While the USA Bobsled team won’t be suited up like Ironman they’ll have another kind of armor. Under Armour has signed on to provide the bodysuits that will help reduce drag for the racers. This includes specialty clothing for the bobsled teams and the skeleton – which is probably the only sport that seems even more crazy that the bobsled!
Under Armour Official Website
[Via GearJunkie: Olympic Uniforms From Under Armour]
It’s hard to believe there’s been no women’s ski jump in the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) just approved the sport for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The approval follows the two-time recommendation by the International Ski Federation. Before the 2014 Winter Olympics, three World Championships will have taken place. Continue reading Women’s Ski Jumping Approved for 2014 Sochi Olympic Games
Today marks the beginning of the action sport of curling in the 2010 Olympic Games. 
OK, we’re joking about the action, but the truth is that the sport has also gotten some high tech aids this year. The Edmonton Sun ran a feature this week that notes how the Canadians are using various advances such sensors, along with high-speed cameras to help.
Clearly even a sport using nothing more than a “rock,” brooms and ice can go high tech in the new millennium.
If you’re lucky enough to be at the Olympic Games in Vancouver do you really want to check out TV? Actually, maybe you do, at least if its Panasonic’s Full HD 3D Theatre, which will show off the company’s new HDTVs. So if you’re in Vancouver, but can’t see the opening ceremonies or other events, head over to one of the two Panasonic theatres at 
David Lam Park, which will be showcasing the Opening Ceremony, as well as highlights of the 2010 Winter Games including the video of Sarah Brightman performing Panasonic’s song, “Shall be Done.”
The Panasonic sets will be released later this year, and available in 50-inch, 54-inch, 58-inch and a massive 65-inch screen sizes. These reproduced images alternately at 60 frames per second for each eye for a total of 120 frames per second. To experience this users do need the viewer to wear high-precision 3D eyewear with shutters driven in synchronization with the video, but viewers are treated to separate 1920×1080 full-HD images. So even if you can’t make it to Vancouver, you’ll be able to feel like you’re in London for the next Summer Olympics in 2012.