Snow Brightens Vancouver In Time for Olympics

Heavy snow fell on Vancouver's Cypress Mountain on Thursday, cheering organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics who had fretted over the lack of snow at the venue for freestyle skiing and snowboarding caused by unseasonably warm temperatures and frequent rain. The poor conditions had forced organizers to shorten practice times for athletes with just a few days before the Games kick off.

As the snow concerns cleared, Korean athletes were busy getting into the competitive mood. The ski jumping team, which will have its first competition on Saturday morning in the individual normal hill preliminaries, was able to gear up for the final push at Whistler Olympic Park.

The North Korean team sparked some talk due to their no-show in a ceremony before entering the Olympic Village scheduled on Thursday. An official said the team was not reached in time so it had to pull out. North Korea has sent two athletes, male and female figure skaters.

Meanwhile, things do not look good for Team U.S.A. Lindsey Vonn, a strong contender for the gold medal in women's alpine ski downhills and super-Gs, was injured and might be forced to withdraw. In a press conference, Vonn said she injured her right shin while training in Austria on Feb. 3, and it hurts so much that she can't walk without boots or execute turns properly. The overall World Champion in 2008 and 2009 and currently the world's no. 1, Vonn has been hailed as the greatest skier in history. She had also injured herself just before the Torino Olympics four years ago and was unable to medal there.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics, the official sponsor of the Olympics in wireless telecommunications, opened a facility  to showcase the company's Wireless Olympic Works (WOW) service, which provides real-time information on Olympic events to smartphones.