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Alpine Skiing: Skiing: a sport imbued with danger – AFP News : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

Whistler (AFP) - Downhill skiing is undoubtedly one of the most dangerous sports to practise and the absence from the Olympic Winter Games of a number of top racers through injury has the sport's governing body worried.

In the speed events of the downhill and super-G in particular, the margin of error is tiny for skiers who put their trust into physical form and technical proficiency on the two skis strapped to their boot-clad feet.

Dressed only in figure-hugging catsuits and helmets, the skiing speed kings and queens hurtle down long, steep and icy slopes at speeds sometimes topping 140kph, with an altitude drop of around 800 metres.

The events are spectular, bone-rattling and danger-laden races which regularly feature gruesome crashes.

Missing from the Winter Games, during which the skiing events will take place here at Whistler, are a host of top-notch skiers.

They include Canada's own reigning world downhill champion John Kucera, reigning World Cup slalom champion Jean-Baptiste Grange of France and former women's World Cup winner Nicole Hosp of Austria.

That trio are but the tip of the injury iceberg, and alpine skiing's world governing body, the International Ski Federation (FIS), said the "significant number of injuries... is a cause of great concern".

What was even more frustrating, added FIS president Gian Franco Kasper, was that World Cup races are conducted with safety at the fore and that the type of injuries are varied.

The FIS established the Injury Surveillance System in 2006 to systematically collect facts and figures on injuries that happen to elite athletes across disciplines.

And Dr Roald Bahr, chair of the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center, the research partner for that surveillance system, argued that injury rates had not gone up in four seasons.

"The data from the first three seasons show that although the injury rate, especially the rate of serious knee injuries, is high, there has been no increase in injury rate since the surveillance was started in 2006," said Bahr.

"The injury rate has been stable, with about 40 time-loss injuries per 100 athletes every season in the alpine, snowboard and freestyle disciplines. The injury pattern also seems to be stable.

"The main concern is that every third injury is classified as severe; these are generally season-ending injuries, mainly to the knee."

Ski racing is a tough sport but the racers try not to be drawn on the fear factor, instead talking about "respect for the course".

Top German skier Maria Riesch admitted, however, that "fear is sometimes very present".

"Especially when something has happened again, as in the case of Niki Hosp. But as a ski racer, you have to be able to hide your fear, otherwise you cannot be fast any more."

British hope Chemmy Alcott added: "Ski racing is damned competitive at any time but in an Olympic season you're putting your body on the line as everyone looks to ski faster to win selection for the Games."

Alcott added that racers were not simply athletes with a "screw loose".

"We're adrenalin junkies and we are addicted to searching for speed that the average Joe, sat behind his desk, can't understand," she told the Daily Mail newspaper.

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Speed skating: US star Davis sings Japan’s praises – AFP News : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

Vancouver (AFP) - US speed skating star Shani Davis has a Japanese girlfriend, counts a Japanese rival as one of his friends and will carry a lucky mascot from the Asian nation on his skates at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Davis, who became the first black Winter Olympic individual event champion by capturing 1,000m gold in 2006, has even been dishing out advice to teenage Japanese skater Miho Takagi.

"I'm a big fan of Japan. I have a lucky pendant and I love Pikachu (a cartoon character printed on his skate guards). He's my greatest fan," said the 27-year-old at the Olympic Oval at Richmond in Vancouver's suburbs, where he won 1500m gold at the world championships in 2009.

Davis said he was delighted to pass on tips to 15-year-old Takagi.

"It was realy nice to see someone so young on the circuit. It's an opportunity of a lifetime for her," said the American.

"(I told her) not to get too distracted. Most of the time it can get distracting if you are not used to it. When I was 15 I was watching the Olympics on television."

Davis admits he is also a fan of friend Joji Kato who will take part in the 500m.

"We talk all the time. His strength is his amazing speed from 100m. He runs those corners like nobody else. He is light as well. I think the ice conditions are good for him."

Davis added that his girlfriend will not be in Vancouver.

"She's supporting me from afar," he said.

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Figure skating: Russians ‘ditch Aboriginal costumes’ – AFP News : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

Moscow (AFP) - A top Russian skating pair whose 'Aboriginal' ice dance routine hurt feelings in Australia have decided to ditch their costumes for the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, a newspaper reported on Monday.

Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, Russian world champion ice dancers considered favourites at next week's battle on ice in Vancouver, caused an uproar in Tallinn, Estonia last month with their 'Aboriginal' act.

Their routine included costumes of dark, skin-toned bodysuits punctuated by bright red loin cloths, white body paint and eucalyptus leaves.

A stunned Australia said, however, that the music, movement and body decorations worn by the champion pair have nothing in common with Australia's 60,000-year-old Aboriginal culture.

"On the eve of the Olympics, our guys have decided not to push their luck and go to war with the creators of the boomerang," the populist daily Komsomolskaya Pravda said.

"Oksana and Maxim have announced that they will perform in different costumes but have not given up the dance itself," said the newspaper, without providing further details.

Domnina and Shabalin had earlier defended their routine, which proved a hit with the crowds in Estonia.

"Our coach offered us this music and we decided to try it. We researched it on the internet and got a lot of information," 27-year-old Shabalin said at the time.

"It's wasn't our purpose that it be especially Australian, just a dance from many thousands of years ago."

Last month, reports of the duo's dance number unleashed a torrent of anti-Russian vitriol on the internet, with some commentators claiming the faux pas was not surprising because most Russians are rude and insensitive.

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