Biathlon was actually a way of training for fighting in the Nordic countries. Soldiers there would have to be able to travel over the snow, and of course would have to know how to shoot. While they might be able to ride around in tanks now, the tanks were very primitive in 1924.

So I don’t get why comedians are so dismissive of the biathlon; however, I think that they would have a heyday with blind biathlon. I suppose the only reason we haven’t heard jokes about it is because most comedians don’t know about it. Blind people with guns? Sounds a little dangerous, right?

Probably not. The blind paralympians have guns, but they also have guides to make sure that they’re skiing in the right direction, and actually are pointing the guns at the target, rather than another skier, or someone in the stands watching. Furthermore, that wouldn’t win them any medals. I’m not sure what the penalty for shooting someone would be, but I’m guessing that it might lead to disqualification.

Blind biathlon may sound a little odd, but the biathletes actually use a special gun that will send the information about how close they are to their target with sound. So even though they cannot see the target, if they’re pointing at it correctly, they will hear a special tone. You can read more about the blind biathlon at Yahoo Sports.

On another slightly different note, Canada’s Brian McKeever, whom I have written about before, and was going to be the first Paralympic cross-country skier to ski in the able body Olympics (Canada eventually replaced him with somebody else), is one of the blind Biathletes. He won a gold medal in the 20 km race that took place on Monday. Good for him.

If you watched the figure skating competition in the Vancouver Olympics, especially ladies’ figure skating, you may have heard a few references to Sonja Henie. She skated for Norway, and had an extremely long career that started early.

Henie was just 11 years old when she skated in her first Olympics, the 1924 Chamonix Olympics. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do, and skated over to the sidelines during the performance to ask what to do next. Not surprisingly, she came in eighth place, in an Olympics where only 13 ladies competed.

In 1928 in St. Moritz, 27 ladies competed, but Sonja Henie was ready. She came in first place. She would repeat this feat in 1932 Lake Placid and in the 1936 games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in which 80 ladies competed. The Olympic Games did not take place for another 12 years due to World War II, but Henie wouldn’t have been eligible to compete in a fifth Olympics anyway, as she gave up her amateur status after the 1936 Olympics.

Henie became very popular, and the police had to escort her in several cities. She became friendly with Adolph Hitler, and gave the Nazi salute during a performance in Berlin in 1935. While this may sound controversial today, at the time, Hitler was popular with many people all over the world, even in the United States.

After her skating career was over, Henie went into films. She starred in One in a Million and nine other films. She proved to have a good head for business: in 1941, her contract ran out the day before she finished filming Sun Valley Serenade, and she ended up convincing Twentieth Century Fox to pay her $225,000 for one day of work.

In her 50s, Henie was diagnosed with leukemia. She died in 1969 at age 57. She is considered by many to be one of the best figure skaters ever.

The next event on the Olympic calendar is the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, this year. It’s less than six months away. I have no idea what to expect with these new Youth Olympics. The event is supposed to be a low-pressure event for the younger athletes, yet they hired Michael Phelps as an ambassador. I’m not sure how much publicity these games are likely to get. The Paralympic games, which will take place in a little less than two weeks, don’t get much publicity at all.

In 1924 in Chamonix, the first Olympic games wasn’t even called an Olympics. It was then known as “International Sports Week”, but was relabeled after the fact. It only had 16 events and 325 competitors from 16 countries. The recent Vancouver Olympics, in comparison, had 86 events and 2,629 athletes from 82 nations. What the Youth Olympics start out as may not be what they end up actually being.

So it should be interesting to see. Also, it will be interesting to see who does well at the first Youth Olympic games, if it is covered by the media. Many of the first Youth Olympic champions will be seen on the podiums in 2012, especially in fields like gymnastics, where younger athletes are favored. Then again, some athletes in events like gymnastics may reach the height of their careers before 2012.

While I do intend on including some coverage of the Paralympic games, the big focus for now will be on Singapore and London, the two upcoming games.