Preview; Germany likely to dominate in a row in Vancouver

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-29 15:00

BEIJING - Led by triple Olympic champion Michael Greis, Germany, a cradle of a strong skiing experts, is tipped as hot favorite to dominate for the fourth consecutive time at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games slated for February 12-28 in Canada.

In the previous Games, the German athletes have swept most victories in the Nordic combined, cross-country skiing and bobsled.

Four years ago in Turin, they bagged home five golds, four silvers and two bronzes from the biathlon to top the medal table on a 11-12-6 sheet, thanks to Greis.

Greis, the reigning biathlon Olympic champion in the men's individual, relay and the mass start, also savors 11 career victories to his credit, along with three gold medals in the World Championships, and he even elbowed out Formula One legend driver Michael Schumacher as Germany's Sportsman of the Year in 2006.

As 58 out of the 86 events on offer in Vancouver are from the snow competition, including Alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, Nordic combined and cross country, the formidable German squad will likely feel at home to rule the "snow world".

However, the hosts may take the home advantage to dampen Germany's dream of topping the tally again. Canada finished third, fourth and fifth respectively in the last three Olympics since the 1998 Nagano Winter Games.

In 2006 Turin, they collected 2-7-3 from the speed skating and short track speed skating.

After a hiatus of four years on home soil, Canada's ice hockey teams, both men and women, may eventually become winners against both the United States and Sweden.

The United States conceded to the second place on the medal tally in Turin on 9-9-7. However, unlike Germany, strong on the snow, and the host Canada, good at ice events, the Americans are well-balanced on both snow and ice arenas.

Shani Davis will spearhead the U. S team to Vancouver. The first Winter Olympic individual black champion and a three-time 1,500m and two-time 1,000m world champion, Davis holds the world record of each distance, and is surely to be odds-on favorite to win the 1,000m and 1,500m at the Vancouver Games.

The Americans also expect to claim titles from the Alpine skiing and snowboarding.

Being traditional strong countries, Russia, Austria and Norway are also due to vie for the top three on the final tally.

Yevgeny Plushenko made his comeback last year but he has aridly won the European championships.

The 19-year-old Kim Yu-na, dubbed Figure Queen by the South Koreans, has dominated the women's figure skating for the last two years with a combination of stunning jumps and perfect artistry. She is the biggest hopeful to win her country's first Winter Olympic gold outside the short track speed skating rink.

China announced its biggest ever 91-strong squad for the Games on Thursday, including women's short track speed skating Olympic champion Wang Meng, figure skating couple Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo, and many post-90s rookies.

"We hope that our athletes will make breakthrough in Vancouver and surpass the previous Games' performance," said Zhao Yinggang, director of China's Winter Sports Administrative Center.