The XXV Winter Olympic Games are being held in sites across Lombardy and Northeast Italy, starting with the opening ceremony on Friday, February 6, and lasting until February 22. From ice hockey (having a cultural moment of its own) to newer competitions like ski mountaineering, the games span the full breadth of the Winter Olympics.
Follow along here for all of Vox’s news and explainers about the Games.
Think like an Olympian
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Olympic athletes: They’re not like us. They eat differently; they sleep differently; and they definitely think differently.
Mindset is a huge part of what makes elite contenders elite, says Kai Laird, who leads a sport and performance psychology group based in Illinois and Virginia. “Athletes who have reached that level are typically all around the same athletic standard,” he says, but what sets champions apart from the rest “really comes down to that mindset.”
The surprising science of why ice is so slippery
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Winter ice sports depend on this one fact: Ice is slippery.
The low friction of ice is why speedskaters can reach 35 mph, why figure skaters can twirl in dizzying circles, and why a 40-pound curling stone can glide and accomplish whatever the heck the point of curling is.
How ski warfare created biathlon
Ever wondered how biathlon came to be? Although it’s a popular sport in Europe, the combination of ski racing and rifle shooting strikes many Americans as odd and unfamiliar. But, it turns out, biathlon isn’t a Frankenstein sport that came out of nowhere. In fact, it has a long military history that stretches back several centuries.
It all started in Scandinavia during the 19th century, where a precursor to biathlon was a military drill that trained Norwegian soldiers to shoot rifles while skiing. As skiing grew in popularity, so did military applications of the sport. By 1900, ski warfare tactics had spread from Norway across Europe. In World War I, ski troops fought on both sides of the conflict and, once it ended, the modern Olympics gave ski troops a new avenue for their skills.
How Olympic figure skating is scored
Ever wonder how Olympic figure skating is scored? We talked to Mirai Nagasu and Tara Lipinski, two Olympian figure skaters, about the complex system and the incentives it creates for skaters.
Figure skating completely overhauled it’s scoring system after a judge rigged the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics pair’s event. The changes were intended to prevent collusion and guarantee that skaters were fairly judged, but they also changed how skaters approach the sport, which is why the scoring system remains controversial.
The science of choking under pressure — and how to avoid it
At the Olympics, even the most rehearsed athletes can crack under the pressure. There’s something about high-stakes situations that seems to destroy people’s ability to do well. And many of us non-athletes have been there too.
But why does choking happen, and how can we stop it? Over the past decade, researchers have shed a lot of light on this once-mysterious question. That’s mostly because of the work of Sian Beilock. She’s a psychologist at the University of Chicago who has been studying why people fail when the pressure is on. She even wrote the book on it: Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have to.
