Here's my first three to start with...
The Biathalon may look strange, and when I describe it to people they certainly think so, but when you consider it's origins it makes sense. Based on a northern European form of hunting, it also took form during the mid 16th century as a way of military defence. If you think of running, archery, javelin and wrestling as a few of the original Olympian sports, the biathalon showcases a human survival capability.
Split into ten separate events that involve cross-country skiing and target shooting, it's no different from a gruelling military competition. A bunch of top notch James Bond-esque athletes trying to one up one another.
The Luge is another favourite, because... well frankly... it's sounds kind of nutty. Just looking at a picture of it you sort of think, um, how exactly does a person fall into a sport like that? Grow up thinking... I've always wanted to do an extremely dangerous sport where I'll move faster than a car (up to 95 miles/hr or 153 km/hr for us metric users), with no protection whatsoever, and where any human error can be fatal... in the freezing cold winter no less.
Now that is a kick ass sport.
When I was first asked to curl by a friend I thought... tossing rocks on ice... uh... I'll pass. Curling is probably the most cerebral of all the winter sports. I call it chess on ice. It's certainly not the most physically taxing sport but one that requires a great deal of strategy. I'm not even sure which country dominates this category, because it looks to be a pretty open field this year.
