The Winter Olympics may not share the profile of its summer cousin, but it boasts a host of stories and legends of its own.
Here we highlight five to look out for in Beijing this month.
Shaun White – Men’s snowboard halfpipe
Snowboard legend Shaun White will appear at his fifth Winter Olympics in Beijing and is gunning for a fourth gold medal in the halfpipe.
Known as the Flying Tomato for his distinctive red hair, the Californian X-Games star won his first Olympic gold at Turin 2006.
After finishing only fourth at Sochi 2014, White recovered from a training crash that left him with 62 stitches in his face to claim a third halfpipe gold at Pyongchang 2018.
Johannes Thinges Bo & Tarjei Bo, Hanna Oeberg & Elvira Oeberg – Biathlon
Two pairs of siblings provide a fascinating storyline to the biathlon competitions, and both could be involved in the opening event for that sport – the mixed relay.
Norwegian 2011 World Cup champion Tarjei Bo has seen his achievements overshadowed by younger brother Johannes Thinges.
The younger Bo unseated legendary French biathlete Martin Fourcade as the dominant force in men’s biathlon, winning the last three overall World Cup titles.
However, Tarjei has been the more consistent performer this season and has claimed the crown in the individual discipline – a long-distance race against the clock.
Sweden’s Hanna Oeberg was a surprise winner of the Olympic women’s individual in 2018, but her younger sister Elvira is the more fancied for golds this time.
The 21-year-old Elvira has enjoyed a breakthrough season, scoring three wins in three different disciplines.
Hanna won’t have given up on adding to her own medal haul though after four World Cup podiums this season and their rivalry could become one of the big stories of these Games.
Mikaela Shiffrin – Women’s Alpine skiing
Since winning slalom gold at Sochi 2014 at the age of 18, American Mikaela Shiffrin has gone on to become a record-breaking heroine of the slopes.
As well as 73 World Cup wins (a record 47 of those in slalom), Shiffrin added another Olympic gold in the giant slalom in 2018, as well as winning silver in the combined.
Life off the piste has been more challenging. She took an extended break from skiing following the death of her father in February 2020 towards the end of a season of mixed results, returning in December that year.
More recently, her performances have been affected by a bad case of Covid, but she claimed an emotional win in the most recent slalom race on the World Cup calendar in Schladming.
Ester Ledecka – Women’s Alpine skiing and Snowboard
The only athlete to win two golds at the same Winter Olympics using two different types of equipment is out to repeat the feat in Beijing.
Czech Ester Ledecka was a big outsider to win the Women’s super-G in Korea in 2018 but her victory in the Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom was less unexpected.
Ledecka is favourite to repeat her snowboarding gold and while she is less fancied on skis, she has made six Alpine World Cup podium appearances since the last Olympics, including two wins.
Sven Kramer – Men’s speedskating
Speedskating legend Sven Kramer will retire at the end of the season, and the Dutch veteran will be hoping to add to his tally of nine Olympic medals before he does so.
The 35-year-old has won gold in the men’s 5000m at each of the last three Winter Olympics, and while the odds are against him extending that run Kramer has a great chance of a medal as a valuable member of the team pursuit.
