Shannon Bahrke, who you might remember won a silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, is retiring from mogul skiing. Although she will be leaving athletic competition, she has plenty of things that will keep her busy. Her brother, Scotty Bahrke, is still competing.

She is currently engaged to Matt Happe, and plans to marry him in Hawaii on September 10, 2010. The two run Silver Bean Coffee together.

She would like to have kids in the future, and is interested in being an Olympic commentator.

Canada’s Brian McKeever is one such person. Born with Stargardt’s disease, McKeever has only 10% of his vision, and what he does sees is primarily out of his peripheral vision. Previously, he has competed in the Paralympic Games, where his brother is able to ski with him as a guide.

For 2010, McKeever will be joining the small group of athletes, like swimmer Natalie Du Toit, who have participated in both the Paralympics and able-bodied Olympics. He will be the first athlete to participate in both the Winter Olympics and a Winter Paralympics.

Many of the races that he will be participating in are mass-start events, where he will be able to see other people with his limited peripheral vision. The trick for this Canadian will be trying to stay with the fastest group, and then breaking out for the win at the end.

Tomorrow’s the day! Are you excited?

Athletes are starting to get some practice runs in, and final preparations are being made for the opening ceremonies.

The ski slopes were closed down partway through the day yesterday due to fog. I suppose that it’s better than being rained out. American skier Will Brandenberg tweeted “I’m bummed. I wanted to go so bad. But, maybe tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day.” While the slopes were closed down, a lynx wandered onto the slopes.

Lindsey Vonn, who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s
Olympic preview issue, has a severely bruised shin, and might not be able to compete in the Olympics. She’s a fighter though; let’s hope she gets better soon.

North and South Korea will not be marching together during tomorrow’s opening ceremonies; they could not work out their differenced in time. They marched together in 2000, 2004, and 2006; they did not march together in 2008 either. North Korea will have two athletes in the Olympics, while South Korea has 46.

The United States has announced that Mark Grimmette will carry the US flag during the opening ceremonies tomorrow. Grimmette is a luger who made his Olympic debut at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. He is only one of three five-time Olympians to compete for the US this year (the other two are nordic combined’s Todd Lodwick and ski cross’s Casey Puckett).

During the Olympics, you may have heard that Dawson, who took home a bronze medal in the moguls, was adopted from Korea. The fact that his adoption made his Olympic dream possible would have been an interesting enough story. The rest of the story is even more amazing.

The amazing part of the story started in 1981. A man named Kim Jae-su was shopping in a crowded Korean marketplace with his son, Kim Bong-seok. He lost his child. Although he made a valiant effort to find his son, looking through orphanages in the country, he never found him.

It turns out, Kim Bong-seok had been adopted by American parents, and was renamed… Toby Dawson. Friends of Kim Jae-su saw Dawson competing in the Olympics, and thought that there was a resemblance. Since his missing son was about the same age as Dawson, he decided to look into the matter. After the Olympics, many people tried to claim Dawson as their biological son, but DNA tests proved who the real father was.

After the Olympics, Dawson retired from skiing. In 2007, he was able to meet his real father, along with his biological younger brother. You can read more about the family reunion in various news stories.

If you’re itching to watch Olympic programming now, and don’t want to wait another two weeks, Audi’s Truth in Motion will be something you want to watch. Follow the US Ski team as they get ready for the big day; see what it takes to reach the highest form of competition.

The video airs tomorrow at 8 PM Eastern and Pacific. If you can’t catch it then or forget to DVR it, you can watch it again on USA Network on February 6th, at 5 PM.

For more information and to see the trailer, you can visit the Truth In Motion Movie web site.

With just 15 days to go until the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, two more names have been added to the US roster for cross-country skiing. Initially, the US had only been granted eight slots. More successful teams were allocated more slots, but because they didn’t use their full quota, the United States was allowed to send more people. The following athletes will compete for the United States in Vancouver:

Men

• Kris Freeman (Olympic veteran from 2002, 2006)
• Torin Koos (Olympic veteran from 2002, 2006)
• Garrott Kuzzy
• Andy Newell (Olympic veteran from 2006)
• James Southam (Olympic veteran from 2006)

Women

• Morgan Arritola
• Caitlin Compton
• Kikkan Randall (Olympic veteran from 2002, 2006)
• Liz Stephen
• Holly Brooks