The 21st Winter Olympics AKA Vancouver 2010, will be the third time that this fantastic event has been held in Canada. From February 12-28, Vancouver will see snow and ice action from competitors of 86 events across 7 winter sports.

Athletes competing in Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Curling, Ice Hockey, Luge, Skating and Skiing will descend upon Vancouver to attain the most glorious of prizes, an Olympic Gold Medal. Previous years’ winners from Great Britain include figure skaters John Curry, Robin Cousins and Olympic favourites Torvill and Dean.

So far, 35 participating nations have already qualified, including first-timers Ghana and Bahamas. One to watch is the Snow Leopard from Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, the first Ghanaian to participate in the Winter Olympics. Great Britain will be looking to improve on a disappointing medals haul in Turin 2006, when only 1 silver medal was won, by Shelley Rudman in the Women’s Bob Skeleton.

Traditionally, Team GB struggles for medals at the Winter Games with most success coming on the ice rather than snow. Among GB’s major medal hopes for Vancouver 2010 will be Rudman looking to go one better this time around with a gold, as well as Nicola Minichiello & Gillian Cooke looking to reproduce their world-championship winning form in the Bobsleigh.

It is unlikely that the Winter Games will bring the same glory and media attention that last year’s Summer Games attracted to Team GB. However, with a couple of medals and maybe even a gold, the Great British Winter Olympics team could find themselves back on the map.