As the Olympics are going on, with over 2,900 athletes from 93 nations participating in 8 different sports, with the biggest among those being alpine skiing, snowboarding, and figure skating. The Winter Olympics have been held for 102 years, with the inaugural event in 1924 and continuing for decades to come. It has never stopped, and never will.

The Winter Olympics are very difficult to get into, with only 1 in 500,000 athletes being admitted—it’s a huge honor. During these Olympic Games, 4 athletes from Oregon participated, including alpine skier Jackie Wiles, freestyle skier Hunter Hess, Snowboarding Sean FitzSimons, and Alessandro Barbieri.

Having 4 people from Oregon with only a 1 in 500,000 chance of being in the Olympics shows how talented and special you have to be to participate in the Winter Olympics.  As the snowboarding coach, Jared Alvarez, says,

The Winter Olympics are very dangerous, with injury rates that range from 20%-30%, the big ones being ski halfpipe, big air, and slopestyle. Athletes face the risk of brain and spinal injuries because of high-speed crashes. The difference between the safety of the Olympics and high school tournaments is drastic, as Jared Alvarez puts it,

Wilsonville High School has 50 athletes on the snowboarding team, and any one of them could be in the Olympics one day. They just need the dedication and time on the mountain. Especially with their dedicated coach, Jared Alvarez, who wants to see every single one of them succeed in snowboarding and every other facet.