The 2010 Winter Olympic Games are being held in Vancouver, just miles north of the U.S. border, and they will be broadcast in America on the NBC family of networks. As always, the focus of these telecasts will be on the American athletes, for whom the fans watching on NBC will likely be rooting. But while you're expressing your pride for the red, white and blue, be sure to watch for these five non−U.S.−born athletes, whose abilities are incredible regardless of the colors of their flags.
1. Martin Brodeur: A familiar and venerable name to NHL fans across America, the Canadian has broken countless goaltending records while playing 17 seasons between the pipes for the New Jersey Devils.
Brodeur is likely to be the starting netminder for the Canadian national hockey team, which won the gold medal in Salt Lake City in 2002 but was defeated by Russia in the quarterfinals in 2006. Ice hockey is Canada's national winter sport, and nothing short of another Olympic championship will be acceptable to the fans in Vancouver.
That means that the 37−year−old veteran will need to turn in some of the best performances of his career. And Brodeur is certainly up to the task.
2. Kim Yu−Na: The reigning world champion of women's figure skating is considered the favorite to win gold in Vancouver. The South Korean has already mastered just about all there is to learn in the sport, after moving to Canada in 2007 to take full advantage of the instructional opportunities that she could not get in her home country.
The 19−year−old is regarded as the world's foremost jumper, having executed numerous triple−triple combinations, thanks largely to her ability to generate incredible lift on her jumps. But Kim's gracefulness and musicality do not lag far behind her technical abilities, and some believe that she may be regarded as the greatest women's figure skater of all time by the end of her career.
Kim will perform an ambitious short program set to the "007 James Bond Medley" on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
3. Andre Lange: Lange heads to Vancouver with the goal of becoming the first bobsledder ever to win four gold medals in his Olympic career. The 36−year−old German took first place in the four−man event in Salt Lake City eight years ago, and remained atop his sport four years later by leading his teams to victory in both the four−man and two−man contests in Torino, Italy.
Lange endured a rough 2008−2009 bobsledding season due to equipment troubles and injuries to his crew, but he nonetheless won the 17th medal of his career in Lake Placid, NY. That honor pushed him past Italy's Eugenio Monti for the most overall medals held by a bobsledder in history.
Counting Olympiads and world championships, Lange has collected 11 gold medals, but another record−breaking victory in Vancouver would make the 12th by far his most special. He begins Germany's title defense in the two−man event heats on Feb. 20.
4. Wang Meng: Born in China, it did not take Weng long to rise to the top of her country's elite in the sport of speed skating. At the 2006 Games, the then−20−year−old Wang became the first athlete to win a gold medal for the Chinese team when she emerged victorious in the 500−meter race. But she also showed outstanding versatility by excelling in the 1,000−meter and 1,500−meter events, taking home silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Counting Olympiads, world championships, and world junior championships, Wang has won a remarkable 16 gold medals since 2002. Her successes have come in a variety of speed skating events, ranging from the 500−meter sprints — in which she has held the No. 1 world ranking since 2005 — to the 3,000−meter relay, which her team has won thrice, including last year at the world championships in Vienna.
Wang is known for hoping that her unparalleled consistency in the volatile sport of speed skating will eventually help her attain a lifelong dream of owning a $2 million Bugatti Veyvron car. She will start her latest quest on Saturday, Feb. 13 in the ladies' 500−meter heats.
5. Pietro Piller Cottrer: The Italian cross−country skier is infamous for having chopped off the tip of his left index finger in a terrible logging accident and then disguised the injury with a foam finger during a medal ceremony in 2002 in Salt Lake City. But his accolades and titles in the sport of cross−country skiing are far more notable.
Nicknamed "Killer Piller," the 35−year−old took home a silver medal in the 4x10−kilometer relay at the 2002 Olympics. Four years later, he led Italy to a gold medal in the same event in his native country at the 2006 Olympics in Torino.
Piller has also enjoyed success in British Columbia, winning the 15−plus−15−kilometer pursuit at the world championships in Vancouver last year. His first event of the 2010 Olympiad will be the men's 15−kilometer freestyle on Monday, Feb. 15.
