By Mason Smith ’11
THE ROUNDUP

The winter Olympics are officially over.

Over several weeks athletes were able to showcase their different winter skills in the two week event held in Vancouver, Canada.

But how many watched the winter Olympics compared to the people who watch the Summer Olympics?

According to Olympics.org, there are 33 different sports for Winter and Summer Olympics combined. Twenty-six of those sports are summer sports, and the remaining seven are winter events.

Skating, skiing, bobsleigh, luge, biathlon, ice hockey and curling are the seven sports for the winter Olympics.

Even though these are the seven winter sports, there are many different events under skating, skiing and bobsleigh. Some of the events are figure skating, speed skating, snowboarding, freestyle skiing and bobsleigh skeleton.

But with the different events in the sports, that is still no match for the summer games that have twenty-six different sports and a number of different events under each of those.

Track and field, soccer, rowing, gymnastics and basketball are just few of many sports that the summer games have to offer.

In a recent poll conducted by The Roundup, 100 different people were asked if they either watched the summer Olympics or the winter Olympics more.

Sixty-five of those people answered summer, 25 winter and 10 people watch both winter and summer equally.

According to a December article posted by mediadailypost.com, NBC Universal will lose an estimated $200 million on the Winter Olympics.

During this year’s winter Olympics, the United States sent 240 athletes to Vancouver to compete. In 2008 when the summer Olympics were held in Beijing, China, the United States sent 548 athletes, according to teamusa.org.

The Summer and Winter Olympics showcase some of the best athletes from all corners of the world in nearly every sport, but the Summer Olympics best out the Winter Olympics in nearly every aspect.

The next Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia.

In the meantime, fans can look forward to the next summer games in 2010 in London, England.