Ice hockey roster revelations to spark Olympic excitement

Ice hockey roster revelations to spark Olympic excitement

By Jim Slater (AFP) – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin will lead world champion Russia into the Vancouver Winter Olympics and a host of his fellow National Hockey League superstars will follow him onto team rosters in the next week.

Washington Capitals playmaker Ovechkin, named the NHL's Most Valuable Player the past two seasons, and fellow stars Ilya Kovalchuk, Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar were named Thursday to Russia's 23-man provisional Olympic roster.

Other global powers will follow in the next few days, with defending Olympic champion Sweden announcing Sunday, Slovakia revealing its lineup Tuesday, Czech Republic, Finland and Canada following Wednesday and the Americans next Friday.

Decision makers have used the first three months of the NHL season as an audition period, looking to see if injured players have regained their form and young talents have improved their skills enough to join the quest for gold.

Sweden beat Finland in the 2006 Turin Olympic final with the Czechs beating Russia for bronze and Canada finishing a disappointing seventh, one spot above the Americans.

Russian talent won eight Olympic gold medals, most recently in 1992 as the Unified Team, but defeating Canada in the past two world championship finals has brought bragging rights and a sense the Olympic drought might end in 2010.

Official Olympic ticket reselling site may lead to fraud.

VANCOUVER – Olympic ticket holders will still keep their original tickets after they sell them on a new Games committee website, creating the potential for some tickets to be illegally resold.

More than 120,000 duplicate 2010 Winter Olympic tickets could be floating around by the time the Games begin in mid-February, officials said.

On Monday, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee announced the opening of its "fan-to-fan marketplace," an online ticket re-sale venue, and said it expects about 10 per cent of the 1.2 million Olympic tickets made available to the public will be re-sold.

Olympic hero Michael Phelps is beaten as 'Rocky' rules the waves in Manchester

Michael Rock beat the greatest swimmer of all time as the Duel in the Pool encapsulated everything about swimming in 2009.

Rock relegated Phelps to second in the 200metres butterfly, something the 22-year-old can celebrate for the rest of his days.

But the Stockport man was wearing a performance-enhancing suit, while the Olympic and world champion was wearing the Speedo 2010 textile-only jammer.

VanderBeek to miss 2010 Olympic Games

VanderBeek to miss 2010 Olympic Games

Updated Thu. Dec. 17 2009 8:28 PM ET

Canadian skier Kelly VanderBeek will not be able to compete in the 2010 Olympics in British Columbia.

The Kitchener native suffered a knee injury while training for Saturday's downhill in Val-d'Isere, France. She was taken from the hill on a stretcher.

The 26-year-old has spent the past four years training for the Olympic Games.

Coaches who saw the fall say VanderBeek hit some ripples on the snow. Her righttp://southwesternontario.ctv.ca/news.php?id=6442

Thousands in Ottawa Valley welcome Olympic flame

OTTAWA — The streets of Ottawa Valley communities along the Olympic torch route were jammed from end to end with spectators Sunday, as people of all ages came to be part of the party.

Renfrew, Ont.’s Raglan Street looked like a summer fair for all the activity, with thousands or residents participating in a ball hockey tournament, crafts, horse-and-wagon rides, Olympic ring-toss games, free hotdogs, poster contests, and a visit from Santa and some of his elves.

"It’s a party to get ready for the Olympics," said Mayor Sandi Heins.

Mixed tennis and more women's cycling in 2012 Olympics

LAUSANNE — London 2012 will host a mixed doubles tennis event for the first time in the Olympic Games as well as more women's cycling, the International Olympic Committee announced Thursday.

But the changes, made in a bid to increase the prominence of women's sport, will spell the end of the individual cycling track pursuit races at the Olympics, the IOC said after an executive board meeting.

The changes will increase the number of women cyclists at the Olympics from 35 in Beijing to 84 -- 45 percent of the track cyclists instead of about a fifth - by introducing more track events for women.

A taste of the Olympics

REPULSE BAY - Michael Putulik returned home to a hero's welcome in Repulse Bay this past week after taking part in the Olympic Torch Relay.

Michael Putulik, centre, brings the torch he carried in the Olympic Torch Relay for a visit with students at Tusarvik School in Repulse Bay this past week. - photo courtesy of Michael Putulik

One aboriginal person from each province and territory were selected to take part in the event.

Putulik, 23, acted as both a torchbearer and a flame attendant during the relay.

He said the flame attendant takes care of the mother flame, which is the actual Olympic flame that came to Canada from Greece for the 2010 Games.