The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Vancouver 2010, was an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the surrounding suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University Endowment Lands, and in the nearby resort town of Whistler.
India sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy from 10–26 February 2006. This was the nation's seventh appearance in a Winter Olympic Games. The Indian delegation consisted of four athletes, two in alpine skiing, one in cross-country skiing, and one in luge. Their best performance in any event was 25th by luger Shiva Keshavan in the men's singles.
Canada has competed at every Winter Olympic Games, and has won at least one medal each time. By total medals, the country's best performance was in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games where Canadian athletes won 29 medals. Canada set a new record for most gold medals won by a country in a single Winter Olympics with 14 at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. This achievement surpassed the previous record of 13 gold medals held by the Soviet Union (1976) and Norway (2002). Both Germany and Norway matched the record total of 14 gold metals in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Jennifer Heil is a Canadian freestyle skier from Spruce Grove, Alberta. Heil started skiing at age two. Jennifer Heil won the first gold medal for Canada in the 2006 Winter Olympics games in Turin, Italy and a silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which was also Canada's first medal in those games. Heil is the reigning world champion in dual moguls. She has three world championship titles in total and two silver medals from the Worlds as well. Over her career, Heil has won a record-tying five overall FIS World Cup Crystal Globe titles for freestyle skiing.
Andreas Linger is an Austrian retired luger who has competed internationally since 2000. He and his younger brother Wolfgang began luging at a very young age, and did their first doubles run when they were 14. Linger has won five medals at the FIL World Luge Championships with three golds and two bronzes. He also earned seven medals at the FIL European Luge Championships with a gold, three silvers, and three bronzes. The Lingers were overall Luge World Cup men's doubles champions in 2011-12 and scored 15 World Cup race victories. They were two time Olympic champions in the men's doubles event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They won in 2006 despite Wolfgang having broken his leg in a luge crash the previous year. In 2010, they successfully defended their gold medal against another team of brothers, Andris and Juris Šics of Latvia.
Wolfgang Linger is an Austrian retired luger who has competed internationally since 2000. As young children, he and his older brother Andreas learned to luge on a former Olympic luge track, and at age 14 began competing as a doubles team for the first time. Linger has won five medals at the FIL World Luge Championships with three golds and two bronzes. He also earned seven medals at the FIL European Luge Championships with a gold, three silvers, and three bronzes. The Lingers were overall Luge World Cup men's doubles champions in 2011-12 and scored 15 World Cup race victories. In 2005, he broke his leg in a crash, but the next year at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy won the gold medal in doubles luge. He repeated this feat at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, defeating another team of brothers, Andris and Juris Šics of Latvia.
Alex Gough is a retired Canadian luger who competed between 2002 and 2018. Gough is a two-time Olympic luge medalist winning bronze in women's and silver in the team relay at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She was the first Canadian to win a luge medal at the Olympics. Gough won a bronze medal in the women's singles event at the FIL World Luge Championships 2011 in Cesana, the first ever for a Canadian woman and only the second overall. Gough has won a total of six World Championship medals, two bronze in women's singles and a silver and three bronze in the mixed team relay events.
Shiva Keshavan is a six time Olympian and the first Indian representative to compete in luge at the Winter Olympic Games. He set a new Asian speed record at 134.3 km/h (83.5 mph) after beating the previous record of 131.9 km/h (82.0 mph) and won gold medal in the 2011 Asian Luge Cup at Nagano in Japan. In 2012, he set a new Asian track record at 49.590 seconds. He is the reigning Asian Champion.
Canada hosted and participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. Canada previously hosted the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Canada sent a team of 206 athletes, including participants in all 15 sports, and finished with 14 gold medals and 26 in total, surpassing their previous best medal performance at the 2006 Winter Olympics. The 14 gold medals also set the all-time record for most gold medals at a single Winter Olympics, one more than the previous record of 13 set by the former Soviet Union in 1976 and Norway in 2002. Canada was the first host nation to win the gold medal count at a Winter Olympics since Norway at the 1952 Winter Olympics.
The luge competition events of the 2010 Winter Olympics were held between 13 and 17 February 2010 at the Whistler Sliding Centre in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.
For the 2010 Winter Olympics, a total of ten sports venues were used, seven in Vancouver, and three in Whistler. The majority of ice sport events were held in Vancouver, while Whistler, which normally serves as a ski resort, hosted the snow events. Six non-competition venues, three each in Vancouver and Whistler, provided athlete housing, space for media, and locations for ceremonies associated with the Games.
The opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics was held on February 12, 2010, beginning at 6:00 pm PST at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This was the first Olympic opening ceremony to be held indoors. It was directed by David Atkins.
The men's luge at the 2010 Winter Olympics took place on 13–14 February 2010 at the Whistler Sliding Centre in Whistler, British Columbia. Germany's Felix Loch was the two-time defending world champion and won the gold medal with the fastest time in each of the four runs. The test event that took place at the venue was won by Germany's David Möller, who would win the silver medal in this event. Italy's Armin Zöggeler was the two-time defending Olympic champion and won a bronze medal in this event. The last World Cup event prior to the 2010 games took place in Cesana, Italy on 30 January 2010 and was won by Zöggeler, who also won the overall World Cup title.
The doubles luge event at the 2010 Winter Olympics was held on 17 February at the Whistler Sliding Centre in Whistler, British Columbia. Twenty teams participated. Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger, the defending Olympic and European champions,. won the gold medal. The silver medal was also won by a pair of brothers, Andris and Juris Šics of Latvia. Germans Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch clinched the bronze medal after edging out Italians Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber, who were in third place after the first run.
During the Parade of Nations at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, held beginning at 6:00 PM PST on February 12, 2010, 82 athletes bearing the flags of their respective nations led their national delegations as they paraded into BC Place Stadium in the host city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
A number of concerns and controversies at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, surfaced before and during the Games, and which received media coverage.
Three athletes represented India at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia from 7 to 23 February 2014. They initially entered the competition as Independent Olympic Participants, competing under the Olympic flag, as the Indian Olympic Association had been suspended by the IOC since 2012. However, on 11 February 2014 the IOC reinstated the India's NOC after they held an election, allowing the two athletes that still had competitions planned to compete under the Indian flag rather than as independent athletes. India still has yet to win its first Winter Olympic medal.
The men's luge at the 2014 Winter Olympics was held between 8–9 February 2014 at the Sliding Center Sanki in Rzhanaya Polyana, Russia. Germany's Felix Loch was the two-time defending world champion and won the gold medal with the fastest time in two of the four runs. The test event that took place at the venue was won by Germany's Andi Langenhan. Loch was also the defending Olympic champion.
India competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from 9 to 25 February 2018. The Indian team consisted of two male athletes competing in two sports.
