The Olympics Lists (9 of 10): Athletes from Asian-Pacific Countries, Including one 'Russian'

We are almost near the finish line! Yes, indeed.

Here is a list of 10 athletes from Asian-Pacific countries as well as some from countries that are located within the vast Pacific Ocean, which I've only seen one time in San Diego, Calif.:

1) Noriaki Kasai. (pictured) 41, Japan. Men's Ski-jumping. Won silver and bronze.

2) Zang Hong. 25. China. Women's Speed-skating. Won gold.

3) Viktor Ahn (Ahn Hyun-Soo). 28. Russia. Short-track Speed-skating. Won gold and silver. Ahn is actually a South Korean who was offered to be in the Olympics representing Russia, and he won!

4) Lee Sang-hwa. 24. South Korea. Women's Short-track Speed-Skating.

5) Michael Martinez. 17. Philippines. Men's Figure Skating. Martinez has become a social media sensation.

6) Katharine Eustace. 38. New Zealand. Women's Skeleton.

7) Pan-To Barton Lui. 20. Hong Kong. Short-track Speed-Skating. He is the only athlete representing Hong Kong.

8) Lydia Lassila. 32. Australia. Free-style skiing. Won bronze.

9) Jossi Wells. 23. New Zealand. Men's free-style skiing. Ouch! (he finished fourth, the event was won by American David Wise).

10) Mao Asada. 23. Japan. Women's Figure Skating. The event is traditionally the most watched event during the games; competitions starts today.

http://sochi2014.olympics.com.au/

http://www.olympic.org.nz/sochi-2014

http://jossiwells.com/

Top 10 Olympic Lists (3 of 10): From Russia with Love

We were going to post photos of several Russia athletes, but we have time constraints (well, doesn't everyone), but here are our list of ten winter Olympic athletes competing for the home team in Sochi. Ironically, Alex Ovechkin, the captain of Team Russia, is a star player for the Washington Capitals. The world has indeed changed since 1980 Lake Placid Olympics:

1) Evreni Plushenko. Age 31. Men's Figure Skating (won team gold)

2) Julia Lipnitskaia. Age 15. Women's Figure Skating (won team gold)

3) Olga Vilukhina Age25. Biathlon (won individual gold)

4) Egor Korotkov. Age 27. Men's Ski Cross.

5) Yulia Livinskaya. Age 23. Women's Ski Cross.

6) Alex Ovechkin. Age 28. Men's Hockey (pictured)

7) Anna Prugova. 20. Women's Hockey

8) Viktor Ahn* (Ahn Hyun Soo). Age 28. Short-track Speed-skating. (won individual bronze)

9) Olga Belyakova** Age 25. Women's Short-track Speed-skating

10) Dimitry Vassilve. Age 34. Ski-jumping.


*-One of the more interesting of the games is that this South Korean short-track speed-skater was angry at his country's speed-skating federation, so he shocked the sports world by becoming a Russia citizen and skating for the host nation.

**-There is a women's body builder with the same name!

http://www.sochi2014.com/en

http://www.capitals.nhl.com