Jamaica’s One and Only Olympic Skier, Ready for Glory

Errol Kerr still laughs at jokes about lucky eggs, but he is all business when it comes to being the best in the world at skiercross. This week, he’s heading to Vancouver for his first visit to the Winter Olympic Games. By Olivia Dwyer
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French Olympic Uniforms Are Really Pink

The French skiercross team likes bright colors and shiny things. We asked their coach why they’ll be wearing pink and silver uniforms for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. By Olivia Dwyer

Tucker enjoys pats on the head, chasing balls, and avalanche rescue operations.The ladies love Tucker. So do the grown men, children of all ages, and anyone with a camera phone or a spare hand. I’m riding up the Gold Coast Funitel at Squaw Valley with the golden retriever and his handler, ski patroller Pete York, and I’m learning that it’s hard to conduct an interview when you’re seated next to a good-looking dog. But Tucker is more than just York’s best friend and the darling of Squaw visitors. He is also trained in avalanche rescue, which is why he and York have been invited to assist the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) with security operations at the Vancouver Olympics. Four other canines of the Squaw Valley Avalanche Rescue Dog Team and four more handlers will travel with them.
Adventure

Squaw Dogs Head to Vancouver Olympics

Tucker is your typical golden retriever who likes to roll in the snow and chase balls. He and his owner, Pete York of the Squaw Valley Ski Patrol, also work together on avalanche rescue operations and will travel to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics to assist with security. By Olivia Dwyer

Sarah Schleper is back in racing form for her fourth Olympics.Sarah Schleper knows a thing or two about the Olympics, since the Vancouver Games are her fourth appearance with the U.S. Ski Team. She knows the Opening Ceremonies are a can’t-miss event, but she also knows there is no eye in the Olympic storm.That explains why she left Canada after the Opening Ceremonies, and is now speaking with me over Skype from her hotel room in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she’s training with the U.S. tech team until returning to Vancouver on February 19. I can hear her two-year-old son, Lasse, playing in the background as she talks about how her life has changed since 2006.
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Schleper Returns for Fourth Olympics

A lot has changed since Sarah Schleper skied for the U.S. at the 2006 Olympics in Turin. On hiatus due to a knee injury, she fell in love and got married. Then she took another winter off to have her son. Now she’s back, competing in Vancouver with her new family cheering her on. By Olivia Dwyer

High Fives
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High Fives Foundation Reaches Out to Winter Athletes

In 2006, Roy Tuscany suffered a life-altering spinal injury in a fall on Mammoth Mountain. Four years later, he’s back on skis and helping others return to the slopes through his nonprofit and a partnership with CR Johnson’s family. By Olivia Dwyer

Silver Bean Coffee, Julia Mancuso Blend
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An Olympian Made My Hat

Olympic skiers do more than work out and bash gates. Some make goggles, coffee, hats, and notecards. Introducing four Olympians to watch out for at the 2010 Vancouver Games—and the products and businesses they've launched to provide a little job security after the big show. By Liz Yokubison.

Bahrke tears up the course at Cypress Mountain on February 13.Ready to RideStanding at the top of the course at Cypress Mountain on that rainy night, Bahrke decided to go for broke.“I had such a good feeling in the start gate,” she says. “I qualified in sixth place and I was so mad at myself—I did not work these last four years to get sixth place, so I just pushed out [of the start] like I wanted it.”For me, watching NBC from the couch at home, her run looked like a winner, or close to it. Bahrke thought otherwise.“I went big off the top air, and I thought I made a big mistake and I was really upset at that point but I knew I skied the middle section like I’d been training and just let it rip,” she remembers. “I went really big off the bottom air and finished great. I thought I’d made a significant mistake on the first air, but it turned out you couldn’t see it from the bottom. I got to the bottom and looked at the coaches and they were going insane.”
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Freestyle Skier Shannon Bahrke Talks Life After Bronze Medal

With pink hair, a blinding smile, and a silver medal in moguls from the 2002 Olympics, Shannon Bahrke stood out in a crowd before the five-ring circus in Vancouver kicked off. Now she’s won a bronze medal and made multiple appearances on the Today show, finishing her last Olympics as one of America’s darlings. By Olivia Dwyer

"We're number 1! We're number 1!" Cheerleader Dave Barry sis-boom-bahs over Blackcomb.
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Olympic Countdown: Local Whistler Athletes to Watch

Only 28 days let until the 2010 Winter Olympics head to Whistler and Vancouver. This video podcast from Whistler Blackcomb looks at some local Whistler-area athletes, including ski cross athlete Julia Murray, daughter of famous Canadian downhill skier Dave Murray, Maelle Ricker, a snowboard cross athlete, and halfpipe snowboarder Justin Lamoureux, who reflects on his experiences at the last Winter Olympic Games in Torino and what it means for him to compete on home soil.

Ski Cross
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Guide to the Olympics: Ski Cross

Welcome to the throwdown, year one, also known as ski cross. A Winter X Games event since 1998, ski cross premieres this year as an event in the Winter Olympics. If you are wondering about gold, make sure to watch the two former ski racers, Daron Rahlves and Casey Puckett, participating in the event.