The Winter 2018 Olympics

China Competes in Skeleton, Winter Olympics 2018

Ziv Katz and Meir Klugerman

China competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics, that was held in PyeongChang, South Korea. They sent 81 athletes, 35 male and 46 female. The sports they competed in were: Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Cross-country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skating, Short-track Speed Skating, Skeleton, Ski Jumping, Snowboarding, and Speed Skating.

Skeleton is a winter sport where the athlete slides down a frozen ice track. The athlete lies on his stomach, face down. He lies down on a little sled that’s called a skeleton bobsled. The sport and sled are called skeleton because they look very bony. The first time athletes competed in the sport was in St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1928 and again in 1948. It was actually part of the Winter Olympics in 2002. The racers can go as fast as over 130 km per hour.

The only competitor in skeleton that is competing for China is Geng Wenqiang. He is 22 years old. He is 183 cm high, which is also 6 feet. He weighs 176 lbs. He is the best skeleton rider China has ever had. This past November, Geng placed 7^th out of 31 people in the World Cup Race, in New York.

The skeleton competition took place on Thursday and Friday Feb. 15 and 16. After 4 races, Geng finished 13^th out of 30 competitors. He was 4.10 seconds slower than the gold medalist. The gold medalist is from South Korea. The silver and bronze winners are from Russia and Great Britain.

Denmark

Eliana & Eliya

Denmark is competing in the Winter Olympics sports that only takes place every 4 years and this year it takes place in PyeongChang, South Korea.  The sports that Denmark is competing in are: competitors, alpine skiing, cross country skiing, curling, freestyle skiing and speed skating.  Both women and men are competing in the Winter Olympics.

Speed Skating

Speed skating is a delicate sport that is on ice.  Many women and men from Denmark are competing in this sport, 17 to be exact.  Speed skating takes a lot of practice and hard work.

Elena Moller Rigas

Elena is 22 years old. She studies in university and competes in speed skating as well as in line skating. She started to skate because everyone around her skated, as Elena says. She was selected to hold the Denmark flag at the opening ceremony of the 2018 winter Olympics, a great honor.

Elena’s Results

Elena did not win medals in this year’s winter Olympics. However, she has won many competitions over the years. She is still young and has probably lots of years to win medals.

Italy In 2018 Winter Olympics

Meir Nathan and Yehuda Eckman

Italy participated in the 2018 winter Olympics held in Pyeongchang South Korea.  Arianna Fontana represented Italy by holding the flag during the opening ceremony. Italy sent 120 athletes in 14 different sports.

Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform using skates on ice. Figure skating was brought to the Olympics in the 1908 summer Olympics. It was brought to the winter Olympics, in 1924. The four Olympic disciplines are men’s singles, ladies’ singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters generally perform two programs which, depending on the discipline, may include spins, jumps  and other tricks.

Matteo Rizzo was born on September 5, 1998 in Rome, Italy. He is an Italian figure skater. Rizzo began learning to skate in 2006. His accomplishments include the 2018 Italian national champion, three-time Italian national silver medalist, and the 2014 national junior champion.  He participated in the 2018 winter Olympics. He got a total of 232.41 points putting him in 21st place.

Italy has won 3 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze medals in the 2018 Winter Olympics. The 3 gold medals were in speed skating, snowboarding and alpine skiing. The 2 silver medals were in cross-country skiing and speed skating. Two bronze medals were in biathlon, 2 in speed skating and 1 in alpine skiing.  Italy ranked 12th place in amount of medals.

Australia

Ilan Shulman and Yehoshua Arrusi

Australia has 51 people competing in the Winter Olympics. There are 28 men and 23 women. The Australia team’s average age is 25.  Australia has 20 rookies on their team. Australia is in 14 sports in the Winter Olympics.

We picked the bobsled sport because it’s a cool and dangerous sport. There are 2-4 people that are in the bobsled. Before the athletes get into the bobsled they need to run and push it with a medal bar. The first person is steering the bobsled and his job is the hardest. The bobsled goes on an ice trail. You need to be really smart to be the driver because you need to study every turn and corner.

We picked David Mari as our athlete because we thought that his name sounds Israeli. David Mari is 22 years old and he was born on April 25, 1995. David was born in Milan, Italy. He now he lives in Perth, Australia.  David Mari started sports at age 5 with gymnastics.  Then he played basketball and sprinting.  He started competing in the sport of bobsleigh at 16 years old. When David Mari is not competing he is at the beach or with his friends on his boat.

In the Winter Olympics, Australia won 3 medals.  They won two silver medals and one bronze medal.  This is David Mari’s first Winter Olympics. David Mari participated in the two men and in the four men bobsleigh race. In the two man race they came in 22nd place.  In the four man race they came in 27^st place. In the bobsled he sits behind the pilot.

NORWAY COMPETES IN PYEONGCHANG 2018

Yakir Gerson & Itay Kamsler

Norway competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, from February 9 th – 25 th. Norway sent 109 athletes to compete in 11 different sports. They competed in alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, curling, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, Nordic combined, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding and speed skating.

Ski jumping was first tried out in Norway. Years later it also appeared in Europe and North America. Each jump is judged by how far the jump is and how nice the athlete does it. The first time ski jumping was included in the Olympics was in 1924. The style of ski jumping has changed throughout the years. They used to jump with the skis parallel, but now they jump with the skis in a “v” formation. Ski jumping can be a very dangerous sport and believe it or not, it can be done in the summer on special slopes covered with plastic and water.

Robert Johansson competed in ski jumping for Norway in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. He became famous for his funny moustache, but he should be remembered for his ski jumping. He won 2 bronze medals for individual ski jumping and he helped Norway’s ski jumping team win a gold medal. He started competing in ski jumping competitions in 2008. He also holds the world record for ski flying which he set last year in March 2017.

Norway was the most successful country at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Norway won 39 medals, setting a new record for the most medals won by a country at a single Winter Olympics. They won 16 more medals than the United States, even though the United States sent twice as many athletes to the Olympics. Norway says it is so successful at Winter Olympics because they have snow, they have a history of excellence in winter sports, and because they have free health care which keeps their athletes very healthy. They also have a rule in Norway that when children play sports up until the age of 13, no scores are allowed. They believe that children then enjoy sports more and stay in sports longer and become better athletes.

The Austrian Team at the Winter Olympics

By Zevi David and Tzvi Mandelbaum

In the Winter Olympics, the Austrian team composes of 105 athletes – 65 men and 40 women. Austria competes in 12 sports including alpine skiing which is the biggest team. The team’s uniform is red and white with light blue beanies. At the start of the Olympics, Austria was expected to be one of the best teams.

Alpine skiing is a sport of sliding down snow covered hills on skis with fixed heel blinding. In alpine skiing you need to get to the top of the hill, since the equipment does not allow walking or hiking. It is typically practiced at ski resorts using specialized blinding and different equipment which allow free or locked heels for different hiking like in some cases with assistance of snowmobiles helicopters or snow cats.

Marcel Hirscher or his nickname “Magic Marcel” is an alpine skiing champion. He has always been skiing as both of his parents are ski instructors. Marcel is 28 year old, and he first appeared in the world cup when he was 18 years old. In 2007 he won a world cup for Alpine Skiing and came fourth in the 2009 world championships. This Olympics is Marcel’s third Olympics. Marcel once said “It’s incredible how many emotions you feel crossing the finish line and seeing that you are number one”. As you can see Magic Marcel is a great sportsman.

In the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea Team Austria won a total of 14 medals, 5 gold, 3 silver and six bronze. Austria came in 11 th place in the final medal tally. Other gold medals were won for luge and alpine skiing. Marcel Hirscher won gold for Alpine Skiing, making him second place in his team. Team Austria won 7 medals for Alpine Skiing. It is good to see that Team Austria did well in the Winter Olympics.

Sweden

Michal and Rachel

Sweden is a very big country.  Sweden has in total 8  medals.  Sweden has 4 gold medals and 4 silver medals.  Sweden has 116  athletes in the Winter Olympics.  Sweden is competing in this sports alpine skiing, biathlon, cross country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, snowboarding and speed skating.

Alpine skiing is a sport that you need to slide down snowy covered hills on skis.  Alpine skiing is with skis and a stick. Alpine skiing first played in the Olympics in 1936.  Alpine skiing serve the world champion from 1948 till 1980. At the Olympics from 1956 through 1980 World Championship medals were awarded.

Frida Hansdotter was born on the 13th of December, 1985.  Frida is a second cousin of Prince Daniel.  Frida won 1 gold medal this Winter Olympics.  This year Frida is 32 years old.   Frida won six medals total during all of the Winter Olympics she played in.

Sweden did okay in the Winter Olympic Games. Sweden won medals in four different sports.  Sweden has 14 medals this year total.  Sweden at least one won gold medal in each sport. Sweden won metals on the dates: February 10^th, February 12^th, February 13^th, February 15^th, February 17^th, February  20^th, February 21^st, February 22^nd, February 23^rd, February 24^th and February 25^th.

Poland

Lily Needle, Ariel Needle and Ayala Mandelbaum

In this year’s Winter Olympics, Poland sent 62 athletes which is Poland’s biggest team. Poland competed in twelve sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, figure skating, freestyle skiing, luge, short track speed skating, ski jumping, snowboarding and speed skating. Skiing is the most popular winter sport in Poland.

We  chose ski jumping as our sport. Ski jumping is a winter sport that was made up in Norway. Athletes ski down a large ramp and jump as far as they can. Every jump is divided into four parts: in- run (where the athlete skis down the ramp),  take-off (where the athlete jumps), flight and landing. During the competition there are five judges that can award the athletes up to twenty points each for jumping style, balance, body position and landing.

We chose the athlete Kamil Stoch from Poland because he won a gold medal in men’s ski jump. He was born on May 25, 1987 in Zakopane, Poland. Kamil was three years old when he started skiing and a year later he started ski jumping. Kamil is one of the most successful ski jumpers in Poland, having won the World Cup overall title and three individual gold medals in the Winter Olympics. This year, Kamil was the only one in the Polish team to win a gold medal and he won two gold medals in the 2014 winter games.

In the Winter Olympics, Poland only won two medals; one gold and one bronze. Kamil won the gold in ski jumping individual and in group ski jumping the Polish team won bronze. Poland has competed in every Winter Oympics since 1924.  Polish fans were very disappointed in this year’s outcome because they were coming off there best finish ever at the 2014 Sochi winter olympics in which they won 4 gold medals. Poland finished in 20th place on the medals table this year.

Winter Olympics

Ayala Wener and Tiki Blacher

Canada is sending 225 athletes to the 2018 Olympics, 122 men and 103 women. They are playing the sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding and speed skating. This is Canada’s 23rd year competing at the winter Olympics. Their flag bearers are Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. This is the first year where two athletes have been named as the flag bearers.

Figure skating is dancing on ice and a sport you can achieve individually, in pairs or in groups. Figure skaters complete levels from beginner until Olympic level. Figure skating is a winter sport in the Winter Olympics. There are three ways to compete figure skating: men’s single, women’s single and pairs. There are many ways to spin in this sport.

Tessa Jane McCormick Virtue was born May 17, 1989. She is a Canadian ice dancer with partner Scott Moir. They were paired in year 1997, by Scott Moir’s aunt. She was coaching them at that time. Since then they have been going to a lot of competitions and championships.

Canada did very good this Winter Olympics. They were third place in the medal table. They had a total of 29 medals including: 11 gold, 8 silver and 10 bronze. They got at least one medal in each sport. They also have a very good past in Winter Olympics.

USA Winter Olympics 2018

Benaya and Gavriel

The United States of America sent 242 athletes to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. There were 134 men and 108 women. This is the largest team ever to be sent by the United States. The U.S team is participating in 15 different sports. They are competing in alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, speed skating.

The sport snowboarding was first invented in the 1960’s in the USA. It became very popular in the USA until 2007, and has been less in demand since then. It was first played in the Olympics in 1998, in Japan.

Shaun White is 31 years old, was born on September 3 1998. He is a professional snowboarder, skateboarder and musician.  He also won triple gold medals as a snowboarder in previous event.  In 2018, he was losing to the Japanese opponent by one point and on his last run he beat the Japanese opponent with a score of 97.75.  This win got him the 3rd gold medal of his career.

France Times

Yoni and Amitai

France has been doing really well in the winter games. They have 5 gold, 4 silver, and 6 bronze medals. They sent 22 athletes to to Pyeongchang, South Korea. They competed in 14 different sports. They ranked 9th in the Winter Games. Their total amount of medals is 15th.

Freestyle skiing is a sport in the Winter Olympic Games. Sport competes of a lot amount of skier’s. The skier’s are getting scored on what acrobatics skills they have. The gold winner of freestyle skiing gold medalist is Perrine Laffont. Perrine Laffont got a score of 79.72 to top off the other athlets.

Perrine Laffont won gold in women’s freestyle skiing had a score of 79.72. She did the best of her group. She was born October 28th, 1998. She got silver in the dual moguls World Champion in 2017. In 2014, in Sochi, at 15 years old, she competed in 14 moguls but didn’t win any medals .

France came in 8th place with 15 medals. They had a good amount of medals at the Winter Olympic Games. They sent in 22 athletes to Pyeongchang, South Korea. They competed in 11 sports which is Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsleigh,Cross country skiing, Figure skating, Freestyle skiing, Nordic combined, Short track speed skating, Ski jumping, Snowboarding, and Speedskating. In biathlon, they won 3 golds and 2 bronzes. In snowboarding, they won  gold and silver. In freestyle skiing, they won gold and silver. In alpine skiing, they won a silver and 2 bronzes. In figure skating, they won silver. In cross country skiing, they won 2 bronzes.

South Korean Bobsled

Matan Nadav and Yosef Dahan

South Korea is the host of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. They built many roads and buildings for the Olympic Games. They had athletes competing in almost every sport.

We choose bobsled. It is like a giant water slide, but with ice. Athletes shoot down the pipe in a bobsled. It is like a rocket that goes very fast down the tube.

We chose Won-Yun- Jong, he was the head of the bobsled team. He was born in 1985 in Seoul Korea. This is his second Olympic game. In the last Olympics, he came in 18th.

The team was ranked 50th by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. Then they surprised everyone by winning a silver metal.

OLYMPICS 2018

Benzion and Yonatan

Welcome to the 2018 Olympics taking place in PyeongChang, South Korea! Today, I’d like to focus on a special athlete from Japan who specializes in speed skating.  Japan is located in East Asia, and is known for their intense focus on higher education. It is a beautiful country with close to 7,000 islands. This year, Japan is sending to the Olympics a total of 124 athletes which consists of 72 women and 52 men. Japan is participating in 13 different sports including: alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, Nordic combined, short track, speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.

Speed skating is a unique sport where the biggest and strongest athletes aren’t always the best. When one has a large body, friction will slow one down. Athletes with big legs and smaller upper bodies are usually the fastest. It takes a lot of power to sprint a long distance with no breaks while wearing skates with long blades your feet. In speed skating there are different length races. There are also relay races with multiple athletes in teams competing against each other which makes it exciting.

Miho Takagi is a speed skater from Japan who excites me. She was born in May of 1994. One of her favorite hobbies is completing jigsaw puzzles, and currently works as a teacher assistant at Nippon Sport Science University in Japan. Miho started skating at the age of five after watching her siblings skate and quickly developed into a star. Miho won many competitions, but has never won any Olympic medals until now.

Miho won her first Olympic medals in these games. She won her first silver medal in Women’s 1500 meter race with a time of 1 minute 54 seconds, and 55 hundredths of a second. While missing her chance to win gold by around 2 tenths of a second. She also finished in fifth place in women’s 3000 meter race, missing gold by two seconds. Also won a bronze medal in 1000 meter race with a time of 1 minute and 13 seconds, and 98 hundredths of a second, while missing gold by 4 tenths of a second. Finally she won the gold medal in ladies team pursuit, with a time of 2 minutes 53 seconds, and 89 hundredths of a second.

Izzy Atkin Won Great Britain’s First Ever Medal on Skis

Shani and Eliana Y

England is in the Winter Olympics.  The country participated in 11 different competitions. The number of participants that England sent for competition [in 2018] was 58, of which there were 24 women and 34 men.  England is in freestyle skiing competition, including 5 girls and 6 boys, 11 total participants. This contest is a competition with a large number of participants. On February 17^th 2018 Isabel Atkin won the bronze medal. The total number of medals won in England is five, one of them is the medal of Isabel.

Freestyle Skiing

The sport of freestyle skiing originated in the 1930’s. In this sport, there are five skiing styles: aerial skiing, mogul skiing, ski cross, half-pipe skiing and slopestyle. In aerial skiing, skiers ski off of 2-4-meter high ramps and perform some flips and twists before landing on a 34- to 39-degree incline (like a hill). Mogul skiing is skiing on a series of bumps made of snow. Ski cross, also called snowboard cross skiing, is a snowboard competition where 4-6 snowboarders race down a course. Half-pipe skiing is the sport of riding snow skis on a half-pipe, while performing tricks. Slopestyle skiing is when athletes ski or snowboard down a course that includes many challenges, like rails, jumps on different kinds of areas (bumpy, smooth etc.).

‘Stoked’ Izzy Atkin

Our athlete is Isabel. Isabel is not her real name. Her real name is Izzy Atkin. Isabel was born on June 21^st, 1998. In this Olympics, Isabel won for the first time a bronze medal and brought great honor to England. She competed in slopestyle skiing.

England Total Performance

England won 5 medals, 1 gold medal and 4 bronze medals. The athletes who won are: Lizzy Yarnold (won a gold medal), Isabel Atkin, Dom Parsons, Laura Deas and Billy Morgan, each won a bronze medal. Lizzy, Dom and Laura competed in skeleton. Isabel competed in slopestyle. Billy competed in snowboarding.

Winter Olympics Project

Adir Schuster and Ariel Aharon

Switzerland has 168 athletes who are competing in the 2018 Olympic games. Switzerland will have a great run in the Olympics. Switzerland will play 14 sports. The sports are the following : alpine skiing ,biathlon,bobsleigh ,cross-country skiing ,curling, figure skating , freestyle skiing ,ice  hockey ,luge ,nordic combined ,snowboarding, skeleton, ski jumping, speed skating.

Bobsleighing is a Winter Olympic game in which 2-4 people they slide down a slide and accelerate down a track.  We found that bobsleighing started on Switzerland. The first sleds carried rich people.  The first track was built in 1903 and 1904 and is still used today. The teams slide one at a time. It’s a dangerous sport and that’s why they wear helmets.

The athlete we chose is Michael Kuonen.  He is on the Switzerland bobsleighing team.  Michael is in the 2 man race and the 4 man race.  He is 26 years old. He was born in 1991.

Here are  Switzerland’s results for the 2018 Winter Olympics.  Switzerland won 5 gold medals and 6 silver medals and 4 bronze medals.  Switzerland won a gold medal in men’s alpine skiing. Michelle Gisin won the gold medal in the women’s alpine combined competition. Switzerland also won a silver medal for curling mixed doubles and a gold medal for snowboarding.