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SKIING

Skiing is gliding on snow using skis. Skiing is a popular form of recreation and competition in winter. It consists of Nordic skiing, alpine skiing, freestyle and snowboard. The governing body of the international skiing is the International Ski Federation (FIS) founded in 1924.

Nordic skiing can be divided into cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined and biathlon. CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING appeared in Northern Europe, where it was practical means of travel in winter. The first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, France, in 1924, included men’s cross-country skiing. A women’s cross-country ski competition first featured in the 1952 Games in Oslo, Norway. At present, there are twelve cross-country skiing events at the Olympic Winter Games: six men’s events and six ladies’ events, including individual races and mass start races, the skiathlon, the relay, and individual and team sprints.

Cross-country skiing has two basic propulsion techniques: classic and skate skiing, for which two different kinds of skis are used. Both techniques employ poles with baskets that allow the arms to participate in the propulsion. In classic (the "diagonal stride"), it is most typical to use the alternating poling technique when the poles are planted alternately on the opposite side of the forward-striding foot. Skiers sometimes use kick-double-pole variant when the poles are planted simultaneously with every other stride. In the skating technique, skiers alternate skis away from one another at an angle, in a manner similar to skating, and use double-poling.

Skiers climb hills, using "herringbone" technique, by widening the angle of the "V" and by making more frequent, shorter strides and more forceful use of poles. Turns, used while descending or for braking, include the snowplough (or "Wedge Turn"), the stem Christie (or "Wedge Christie"), parallel turn, and the Telemark turn. The step turn is used for maintaining speed during descents.

The sport of BIATHLON has its origins in the ancient hunting practices of northern Europeans. The biathlon is a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It has been part of the Olympic program since 1960.The Olympic Winter Games program has five biathlon events for men and five for women: individual race, sprint, pursuit, mass start race and relay; and there is also the mixed relay.

In SKI JUMPING, athletes jump from 105m normal hills and 140m large hills. Men’s ski jumping has been a part of the Olympic Games since the very first Winter Olympics, in Chamonix in 1924. Women competed in ski jumping for the first time during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Four events make up the Olympic program: the men’s and women’s individual normal hill competition, the men’s individual large hill competition, and the men’s team competition.

NORDIC COMBINED events include a ski jumping competition (1 jump) and a 10 km cross-country ski race. There are three men’s events in the Olympic program in Nordic Combined: the individual event with a normal hill (NH) ski jump, the individual event with a large hill (LH) ski jump, and the team event, with two jumps from the large hill for each team member and a 4×5 km relay.Nordic Combined individual events have been part of the Olympic program since the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924. The team competition was introduced at the Calgary Olympic Winter Games in 1988.

Alpine skiing appeared in the Alps. It first became part of the Olympic program in 1936. Ten events make up the Olympic alpine skiing program, five for men and five for ladies. These include the downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super giant, and combined races. Different courses are prepared for the different events. The DOWNHILL event features the longest courses and the highest speeds in alpine skiing, with athletes achieving speeds up to 120 km/h. In the SLALOM, athletes must ski a course marked with flags and gates spaced much closer together than in the downhill event, giant slalom, or super giant slalom for quicker and shorter turns. In the GIANT SLALOM, the gates are placed farther apart than in the slalom, but not as far apart as in the super-G. In the slalom and giant slalom, athletes must ski two different courses The SUPER GIANT (SUPER-G) incorporates aspects of both the downhill and the giant slalom. The COMBINEDEVENTS consist of one run of downhill and two runs of slalom. At some competitions the SUPER COMBINATION is held. It consists of one run ofdownhill and one run ofslalom. The downhill is sometimes replaced by the super-G.

In Alpine skiing, a skier following the fall line will reach the maximum possible speed for the slope. However, downhill skiing technique focuses on the use of turns to smoothly turn the skis from one direction to another by using the stem methods. The three basic techniques of Alpine skiing are schussing, traversing and turning.

Freestyle skiing first appeared as a demonstration event at the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games. The Olympic freestyle events include mogul skiing, aerials, ski cross, ski halfpipe, and ski slopestyle. The MOGUL event is a descent down a bumpy slope. Athletes are required to perform two jumps on their way through the course. In the AERIALS event, athletes complete special ski jumps. Athletes are judged on their technique for jump takeoff, jump form, and landing. The SKI CROSS event includes a qualifying round and a final round. In the qualifying round, athletes race individually down a course approximately 1000 meters long with turns and obstacles. The athletes with the best times are then divided into groups of four. The two top finishers continue to compete, while the losers are eliminated. In SKI HALFPIPE, athletes perform on a halfpipe slope on freestyle skis, performing various tricks – somersaults, flips, grabs, and twists. In SKI SLOPESTYLE, athletes perform on a slope with various types of obstacles (rails, quarter-pipes, and jumps).

Snowboarding made its Olympic debut in 1998 at the Nagano Winter Olympics. There are ten snowboarding events in the Olympic Games: men’s and women’s events in the halfpipe, parallel giant slalom, snowboard cross, slopestyle, and parallel slalom. The HALFPIPE competition is held on a special halfpipe-shaped course. Using the speed gained on the slope, snowboarders come up over the rim on the other side of the pipe and perform acrobatic aerial tricks. In the PARALLEL SLALOM and PARALLEL GIANT SLALOM events, two athletes engage in a head-to-head competition on parallel courses marked with blue and red flags. The SNOWBOARD CROSS event takes place on a course made up of various moguls, obstacles, banks, and jumps. In SLOPESTYLE athletes perform on a slope featuring various forms of obstacles (rails, quarterpipes, and jumps).

Skiing and snowboarding are very popularsports and pastime in winter in Belarus. Belarusian skiers have been winners of the Olympic Games and World Championships many times. Belarus is proud of Alexander Popov, Alexei Aidarov, Oleg Ryzhenkov, Svetlana Paramygina, Aleksey Gryshin, DmitriyDashchinski, NadezhdaSkardino and others. Darya Domracheva became a national hero after winning three gold medals in biathlon at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.