Web Links to Torino Winter Olympics

I must admit I am enjoying the Winter Olympics, more than usual. The reason is that I have been to Torino several times as that is where our Italian daughter, Elisa lives. For those who don't know, a few years ago we hosted Elisa as an exchange student for a year and she is as close to us as our own daughters.

Both Susan and I have gone to Torino to visit Elisa and her wonderful family as well as see the sights. So, we have come to know the city well. In fact, on our last trip, Elisa dropped me off at the airport to pick up a rental car (many miles away from her home). I was supposed to follow her back home but we were separated. I found my way back to her home up in the hills with no problems, so I guess you could say I know the city well.

So it is a great for us to see Torino again, even if only on TV. We have even visited some of the places in the Italian Alps where the alpine events are being held. We have walked all through the downtown area, including the piazza where NBC's anchor position is located. If you ever get to Italy, I hope you get a chance to see the city (and the nearby wine country of Piedmonte).

There is plenty of coverage of the games both on TV and on the Internet. A sort of competition has arisen on the Net, not only between the polished performances of seasoned commentators, but also against the new media world of blogs. A quick surf of the Net, and you find online diaries dedicated to individual athletes, random comments from people hanging out in Turin, and thousands of links to news stories and pictures.

Reading some entries, unedited and posted with just a click, people around the world can get a glimpse of the personal side of the Olympics, the behind-the-scenes experience of being here. It is almost as fun as being there (but not quite).

Anyway, for your information, here is a quick list of links to sites covering the Olympics. It's a good place to start:

Torino 2006

Schedules and results
Official program
NBC Universal TV scheduling
NBC Universal's full event schedules and results
Yahoo Sports event schedules
Main Yahoo Olympic Web site

Explanations of events
Torino 2006 animations

Video
NBC Universal event highlights (click on Video tab)
BBC (some video not accessible outside the U.K.)

Podcasts
U.S. Olympic team

Blogs
NBC's Torino Tracker
USA Today's SportsScope
Associated Press blogs