Kohn clinches 4-man Olympic bobsled spot

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mike Kohn of the United States has secured a four-man bobsled spot at the Vancouver Olympics, after finishing sixth in a World Cup race at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Kohn's result on Sunday means the Americans will have three sleds in the Olympic four-man competition, with Steven Holcomb and John Napier having already secured enough points to mathematically wrap up bids that will be formally announced later Sunday by the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. The USBSF said Sunday that Kohn had enough points to clinch his trip.

Kohn earned a spot in the two-man Olympic competition on Saturday, also giving the U.S. the maximum allotment of three sleds in that discipline. The USBSF took 14 of a possible 15 Olympic start positions in bobsled and skeleton.

Kohn won a bronze medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics as a push athlete in Brian Shimer's four-man sled.

Winter Olympics: Winter panel takes a cooler approach

New Zealand's summer Olympic selection policy has long been known as being demanding on athletes.

Tough standards are set. Expectations are such that in some sports simply achieving the international standard is insufficient.

So too the Commonwealth Games. But for the winter Olympics, which are in Vancouver from February 12-28, the philosophy is rather different.

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.