Wang Beixing

Wang Beixing (born March 10, 1985 in Harbin, Heilongjiang) is a Chinese long track speed skater, specializing in short distances (500m and 1000m). She is coached by Canadian former skater Kevin Crockett.

Wang Beixing first competed in 2003. However, her breakthrough came in the 2004-2005 season, winning several times in the World Cup B-group and competing in the A-group.

At the World Single Distance Championships she surprisingly won silver. She appeared to be a medal candidate at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. However, here she disappointed with a 7th place at the 500m and a 29th at the 1000m.

In January 2009, she won the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships for Women, the first Chinese woman to do so since Ye Qiaobo in 1993.

Julia Mancuso

Julia Mancuso (born March 9, 1984 in Reno, Nevada) is an alpine ski racer with the U.S. Ski Team. She was the gold medalist in the giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the silver medalist in both downhill and combined at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She has also won four medals (two silver and two bronzes) at the World Championships and five races in regular World Cup competition. Her three Olympic medals are the most ever for a female American alpine skier.

Following the 2008 season, Mancuso did not achieve a top-three finish in World Cup events for nearly two years due to back problems, so her silver medal in the women's downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics was another surprise. The very next day, she won another silver in the Women's Super Combined, an event that incorporates both a downhill and a slalom run.However, while Mancuso was trying to defend her title in giant slalom, Lindsey Vonn crashed after Mancuso, the next skier, had started, forcing Mancuso's run to be stopped just before she reached Vonn's crash. Forced to re-start from the back of the pack, Mancuso only managed an 18th-place first run, and her strong second run only brought her up to eighth overall. On the first competition day at the 2011 World Championships in Garmisch, Germany, she once again proved her strength at big events by winning the silver medal in the Super-G.

A month later she won her first World Cup race in over four years, a victory in the downhill at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Since this was a few days after a terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan, she launched a fundraiser by pledging half her race earnings of the World Cup finals to the www.skiershelpingjapan.com campaign website

Allison Baver

Allison Baver (born August 11, 1980 in Reading, Pennsylvania) is an American short track speed skater. Baver trains with the US permanent winter sports Olympic team, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the 2005-2006 season, she was ranked third overall in the World Rankings. Baver is a Pennsylvania State University Class of 2003 Alumnus.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics, in Turin, Italy, Baver finished seventh in the Women's 500 m competition, following a third place finish in Semifinal A and a collision with the Czech Republic's Kateřina Novotná in Final B, which took her out of the race for fifth place.

On February 25, 2007, Baver won her first U.S. National Championship. On February 8, 2009, Baver collided with teammate Katherine Reutter on the third lap of the 1500m race in Sofia, Bulgaria and fractured her leg in multiple places.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics, in Vancouver, Baver competed in three events. In the 1500 m, Baver did not make it past the semifinals. In the 1000 m, Baver was disqualified in the heats.In the 3000 m relay, Baver's U.S. team finished fourth but were awarded the bronze medal after one of the teams was disqualified for an infraction.

In October 2010, Baver was the Grand Marshal for the 2010 Pennsylvania State University Homecoming celebrations.

Tanith Belbin

Tanith Jessica Louise Belbin (born July 11, 1984) is a Canadian-American ice dancer. Though born in Canada, she holds dual citizenship and has competed for the United States since she began skating with Benjamin Agosto in 1998. With Agosto, Belbin is the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, four-time World medalist, three-time Four Continents champion (2004–2006), and five-time U.S. champion (2004–2008).

Tanith Belbin began skating when she was almost three and started ice dancing at about eight or nine. She competed both as a pair skater and ice dancer in Canada before deciding to concentrate completely on ice dancing. She was introduced to ice dancing by Paul Wirtz and competed with partner Liam Dougherty. Her pairs partner was Ben Barruco, with whom she placed 2nd at the novice level at the 1997 Canadian Championships. She did not compete with either partner internationally.

On June 10, 2010, Belbin and Agosto announced their retirement from eligible skating. Belbin said that in addition to touring professionally, she is interested in a career in broadcasting.

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn is an American alpine ski racer. She won the gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in downhill, the first American woman to do so. She also won three consecutive overall World Cup championships (2008, 2009, 2010), the first American woman and second woman ever to accomplish this. Lindsey also won World Cup discipline championships in downhill (back-to-back) and Super G (the first American woman to do so).



With her Olympic gold and bronze medals, 33 World Cup wins in four disciplines (downhill, Super G, slalom and super combined) and two World Championship gold medals (plus two World Championship silver medals), Vonn has become the most successful American woman skier in history.



Date of birth October 18, 1984 (1984-10-18) (age 25)

Place of birth Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States

Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)

Olympics:

Teams 3

Medals 2 (1 gold)

World Championships:

Teams 3

Medals 4 (2 gold)

World Cup:

Seasons 10

Wins 33

Podiums 64

Overall titles 3

Discipline titles 6