Olympic Athletes Profile (19 of 25)- Martina Sablikova/women's speed skating/Czech Rep.

We have not posted as many entries as I would like for both Eastern European and Scandanavian countries, but today we will try to mend those proverbial fences by profiling Czech speed skater Martina Sablikova, 23, who has already won a gold medal in Vancouver.

Her brother Milan Sablikova is also competing at the Winter Olympics.

Martina won gold in the 3,000 meters competition on Feb. 14 by beating out German Stephanie Beckert (silver) and Canadian Kristina Graves (bronze). The AP said the Czech speed skater dominated the event with her trademark turns and wide sweeps through the corners.

In Turin, Martina finished fourth behind Canadian Clara Hughes (gold), German Claudia Pechstein (silver) and Canadian Cindy Klassen (bronze). Martina missed a bronze medal in Italy by a mere second.

Hughes and Klassen competed against Martina again in Vancouver. But, both faltered as Hughes finishes fifth and Klassen finished 14th.

Martina was named Sports Person of the Year in the Czech Republic in 2007 and in
2009.

Olympic Athlete Profile (13 of 25)- Sven Kramer/men's speed skating/Netherlands

Has anyone ever felt like calling a reporter stupid? (Actually, I used to be one, but I get that feeling as well sometimes!).

Well, apparently Dutch gold medal-winning speed skater Sven Kramer did just that to an NBC reporter who asked him essentially who he was after he won a gold medal in the 5,000 meters competition on the first official day of the Vancouver Olympics.

Kramer later told a Dutch interviewer that the incident was just ridicilious because he had just won a gold medal and suddenly he was expected to provide a mini-bio of himself on the spot.
(The reporter reportedly was also unaware that Kramer was Dutch!).

Kramer, 23, is the current Dutch, European and world champion in his sport and he is also a world record holder.

He is the son of Dutch speed skater Yep Kramer, who competed for Holland in the
'80s, and against American legend Eric Heiden.

Kramer's personal life was of interest to the Dutch media while he was dating supermodel Doutzen Kroes, but now he is romantically linked to Dutch field hockey player Naomi Van As.

During the competition, Kramer beat out South Korean Lee Seung-Hoon (silver) and Russian Ivan Skrobev (bronze).

Kramer is the most recognized athlete in Holland, where speed skating is considered to be the national sport.

Heiden told "The New York Times" that he was impressed how well the Dutch speed skater handles the pressures given his celebrity status back home.

Olympic Athlete Profile (1 of 25)- Heather Richardson (USA, speed skating)

Since we are generally based in North Carolina, I thought a profile of American speed skater Heather Richardson, 20, of High Point, NC, would be a great place to begin with our series which will profile Winter Olympic athletes from around the globe. She is an alumnus of High Point Central High School.

Richardson, who turns 21 on March 20, currently resides in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she worked at a Bed, Bath and Beyond part-time during her training. She clinched a place on the US Speed skating team in three events (500 meter, 1,000 meter and 1,500 meters) during the U.S. Speed Skating Championships in Kearns, Utah, in December.

The North Carolina native actually stared out as an inline skater before switching to the ice two years ago. She will compete on Tuesday in the 500 meters race at 4:00 p.m. (eastern time). Richardson will round out her Olympics debut with the 1,000 meters race on Thursday, also at 4 p.m. and the 1,500 meters on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m.

Richardson is the second speed skater from the Triad region of North Carolina to compete at the Winter Olympics. Speed skater turned Darfur political activist Joey Cheek from Greensboro won gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy.

When asked by the local newspaper "The News-Record" what she missed most about home, Richardson replied: "A Cheerwine slushie would be great right now."

Her teammates include Jilleanne Rookard and Jennifer Rodriguez, also known as J-Rod.

In an interview with Winston-Salem NBC affiliate WXII, Richardson said she was both nervous and excited about competing in Vancouver, adding that she was amazed that her journey which started at a roller skating rink in High Point had taken her to the Winter Olympics.

Richardson is not the only female speed skater from a Southern state. Long-track speed skater Lauren Choewinski, 21, who now also resides in Utah, grew up in Rock Hill, SC, (my mom's hometown) just outside Charlotte, NC. Like Richardson, Choewinski started out roller skating. She started her journey at the Roller Magic roller skating rink in Rock Hill.

OLYMPICS UPDATE: I actually experienced one of those proverbial busy days where not much got accomplished, so I wasn't able to watch any Olympic footage.

But, I did find out that American short track speed skater Apolo Ohno became the most decorated American winter athlete ever when he won a silver medal in the 1,500 meters. On his Twitter page, Ohno congratulated the gold medal winner Lee Jung-Su of South Korea. "The Vancouver Sun" reported that Canadian Charles Havelin, a pre-Olympic favorite failed to get passed the semi-final rounds in the short track event.

American Hannah Kearney won gold in women's free-style skiing, but the big news in Canada was that their competitor Jennifer Heil (pictured) got a silver.

Heil told "The Vancouver Sun" that while she wanted to win gold, she was pleased with the outcome:

"Of course, I wanted gold but I won silver----I'm happy with my performance---I really felt like I was standing on the shoulders of so many Canadians."

The Twitter page for Team USA hockey reported that players Phil Kessel, Brian Burke and Ron Wilson had arrived in Vancouver.

Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer set an Olympic record with his gold-medal performance in the 5,000 meter race.

Anastazia Kozmin won Slovakia's first Winter Olympic gold in the 7.5 kilometer biathlon.

"The Washington Post" reported that Romanian women's luger Violete Stramaturaru crashed during her competition which forced out of the games, reminding spectators of the tragic event that claimed the life of a Georgian men's luge competitor during the games' opening day.

Vancouver Winter Olympics Preview

Unlike my sister Lale, I will not be attending the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, which got underway yesterday, but hey- I can still blog about them even though I am over 3,000 miles away in Wilmington, NC (not where I actually live, but close enough!).

As many readers know, the games were marred by tragedy yesterday as luger Nodar Kumaritashvili from the former Soviet republic of Georgia died during a practice run. He was only 21 years old.

But, the games must go on.

We are going to attempt to profile 25 Winter Olympic athletes starting with speed skater Heather Richardson from High Point, NC, tomorrow. We will also attempt to cover any interesting breaking news as it happens from Vancouver. The result of today's women's hockey game between Sweden and Switzerland, which will be broadcast at 5:30 p.m. (eastern time) on CNBC is probably not going to be in that category!

Some of the other athletes I hope to discuss are American snowboarder Shaun White, aka "The Flying Tomato" and "Animal" (named from the drummer on "The Muppet Show"), Russian hockey player Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, Norwegian giant slalom skier Alex Lund Suindal (hope I spelled his name right!) and Finnish ski jumper Janne Ahoren.

Two of the more interesting features I hope to post about will include a profile of Turkish women's ice skater Tugba Karademir, who has quite a loyal following in Turkey. My late father immigrated from Turkey, and Karademir is arguably the country's most accomplished winter athlete though she is not in medal contention. Karademir lives and trains in Canada, and she will turn 25 on March 17.

And, I found out, much to my surprise that there is an Iranian female skier named Marjan Kalhor who posed with a head scarf in her team picture. As many might expect, she is the first female winter Olympic athlete to represent Iran which is in the middle of political upheaval.

I would also like to profile Austrian ski jumper Gregor Schlierenzauer, a gold medal favorite, but I am not sure I can consistently spell his name right! In fact, we had to double-check it four times just now!

There is also North Korean speed skater Ko Hyon-Suk, but being that he is from North Korea, arguably the most isolated country in the world, there is probably not much information on him.

Lastly, we should mention the athletes who we will alas have to snub due to time constraints (in fact, I think I'm pressing to try for 25). I must start off with the very attractive Bulgarian snowboarder Alexandra Jekova (pictured here) who would be a dream date of mine for Valentine's Day! But, I doubt if she would have time to meet for lunch at Applebee's, especially since I am snubbing her!

We are also going to by-pass German luger Felix Loch (also pictured) who is expected to perform very well in Vancouver and the eccentric Australian moguls skier Dale Begg-Smith (pictured here) who is a serious medal contender.

Time permitting, we may also post an entry about the Danish women's curling team, expected to medal though they will likely have to contend with host Canada. One Danish curling team member Angelina Jensen actually sells insurance!