Construction for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is under way with a new cross-country ski trail and ski jumps.

Budapest council to vote on revoking Olympic bid

When looking at this year's roster for the men's and women's USA Olympic curling teams, Minnesota and Wisconsin connections are everywhere.They competed this weekend for their chance to represent the country next year during the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. Of the four main curlers on the men's team, three are from Minnesota. On the women's team, two are from Minnesota."Curling is here to stay. It's really cool to have a hometown vibe with those teams," said former Olympic curler John Benton, now the director of curling for Four Seasons Curling Club in Blaine. Benton played with some of the soon-to-be Olympians when he curled in the 2010 Olympics, including John Shuster."What is the draw to curling? I think the draw to this is you look at curling as an Olympic sport, and you say, 'I can do that!' What other Olympic sport can you really do that with?" he said.Director of Men's Coaching Phill Drobnick is also from Minnesota."It's exciting for USA Curling to be able to send two medal contenders to the Olympic games," he shared upon returning home from the trials in Omaha.Drobnick says the next couple of months will be filled with ice time and competition leading up to February."It'll be practice, practice, practice," Drobnick said. "Really focusing on the physical side and the mental side, and really making sure they're prepared for the battle that will come at the Olympics." Athletes make it look easy with their special shoes, brooms, sweeping techniques and holding that pose."It takes a lot of core strength: your abs, your glutes, your quads," Benton said. "There's a lot of lower body in the delivery, and there's a lot of upper body in the sweeping, so it's a really good workout."A sport with many complexities that more spectators are taking notice of."Our top-level athletes are all about growing the sport together, and they want to share their support with everyone else across the country," Drobnick added.While Minnesota and Wisconsin are known for curling, Benton says curling clubs are popping up all over the country with interest in California, Arizona and the Carolinas.

VANCOUVER 2010 2010 WINTER OLYMPIC PRESS CONFERENCE

Italy officially suspends Rome 2024 Olympic bid

FTG FOR DAVID MUIR CS VO ON 2010 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES OPENING CEREMONIES SINGER 16 YEAR OLD CANADIAN SENSATION NIKKI YANOFSKY / MUIR INTV W/ YANOFSKY / B ROLL OF YANOFSKY LOOKING OUT ONTO VANCOUVER / ALSO INCLUDES MOS W/ TOURISTS ON THE SURPRISINGLY WARM WEATHER FOR THE WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES HELD IN VANCOUVER THIS YEAR

Construction for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is under way with new luge and ski runs.

Seventeen-year-old Steven Hartman glides on the ice with his training group of elite skaters. The Falcon Heights Teenager is considered one of the best junior speedskaters in the country."When I first started I didn't envision myself being where I am now," Hartman said.Hartman trains with the Midway Speedskating Club at the John Rose Oval in Roseville. He says, the group is competitive and keeps him thinking of big competitions.He has traveled to Japan, Canada and Italy to race. "It's fun, kind of always have those goals in mind of making teams and stuff like that. So there's always that kind in the back of your mind," Hartman said. Chris Hartman is Steven's dad. He says, his son tried basketball, football and hockey but they didn't keep his interest. When Steven tried speed skating he found his sport. The thing is, his dad says, Steven didn't really stand out. "It's a sport where the harder you work the better you are going to get. You see yourself getting better and that motivated him," Steven's dad said.On a winter night in February, Steven and his training partners are in the middle of some serious efforts. "Eight warm up laps, some excels all as a group. And then we will do six by 400 at 100 percent and then some starts and then we'll be off," Hartman said.Leading the way is Steven's coach Paul Dyrud. He's been coaching him for three years. Dyrud is a big time speed skater in his own right.He just missed the 2010 Winter Olympic held in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada by a second. After several years away from the sport he is back in training for the 2014 Olympics. He says, Steven has what many skaters wish they had: mental toughness."Steven is able to stay focused on a day to day basis and then when it comes to a big competition he's really able to put everything together," Dyrud said.The senior at Cretin-Derham Hall High School says, he is fully focused on the World Championships coming up. But he has his eye firmly set on a birth in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea.Steven is a part of the nine-member U.S. Junior Speedskating Team. The World Junior Speed Skating Championships start Friday in Collalbo, Italy.

After five years of work by the Vancouver Olympic bid commitee, Vancouver is awarded the 2010 Winter Olympic games. Crowds in Vancouver await the result and erupt in cheers and applause when they hear the committee's decision. Streamers and balloons as well as confetti fall from the ceiling. Olympic Gold snowboarding medalist Ross Rebagliati speaks to reporters about the win. Aerial helicopter images are shot of Whistler resort where many of the olympic events will take place. Huge mountains surround the city of Vancouver and Whistler Resort. PLEASE NOTE VIDEO AND AUDIO OF NEWS ANCHORS AND REPORTERS IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR LICENSING.

The America versus Canada Olympic hockey semi-final match is stirring memories of the 2010 Olympic gold medal match. The teams meet on the ice Friday. (Feb. 20)

When White House officials chose St. Paul's Union Depot for President Barack Obama's announcement Wednesday of a $600 million competition for federal grants to fund infrastructure projects that create jobs, they picked a site that received nearly $125 million in federal funds for a major renovation in an earlier round of the program. Union Depot went into decline in the early 1970s after the city's dwindling passenger train service was moved to a new depot in the Midway area between downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis. "This project symbolizes what's possible," Obama said of the station's rebirth. U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-St. Paul, said the station was in serious disrepair when she toured it shortly after being elected to Congress in 2000. "It had been overrun by pigeons, windows were broken and shuttered, and the space was cold and largely abandoned, except for a few empty mail carts," McCollum said in a statement beforehand. Obama pointed out that it's now becoming a regional transit hub that brings several modes of transportation under one roof. It's already being used by Metro Transit buses and some intercity bus companies, and it's poised to become busier later this year when a light-rail line connecting downtown St. Paul with downtown Minneapolis starts running and Amtrak service returns. The project, which was in the works before Obama took office, has created more than 3,000 jobs since construction began in 2010, according to McCollum's office. The renovations were completed in December 2012. Obama noted that the light-rail line that ends at Union Station is expected to cut the trip between the two downtowns in bad weather to just 30 minutes instead of the two-hour slogs that aren't uncommon when it snows heavily. "I just had a chance to take a look at some of those spiffy new trains," he said. "They are nice. Big. They're energy-efficient. They're going to be reliable." ___ Obama couldn't resist the chance to joke about Minnesota's deep freeze. It's shaping up as the coldest winter in the Twin Cities since 1978-79. And he did it at the expense of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. The temperature had crept up only to about 10 degrees with a wind chill of minus 8 at the airport when Obama, Foxx and their entourage disembarked from Air Force One. "He turned to me and he said, 'This is the coldest I've ever been in my life!'" Obama said of Foxx. "And we were only out there for, like, a minute. Which goes to show how soft these folks from North Carolina are." ___ Obama said he has spent a lot of time with Minnesotans lately - because he was watching the Winter Olympics. "Minnesota sent 19 athletes to the games," he said to loud cheers, adding, "They did us all proud." And he singled out a community in far northwestern Minnesota where hockey is a way of life. "Once again the tiny town of Warroad proved it's Hockey Town U.S.A.," he said, naming Warroad High School graduates T.J. Oshie and Gigi Marvin, who were stars on the U.S. men's and women's hockey teams, respectively. He paid tribute to Oshie for securing a shootout victory in the U.S. game against Russia. ___ Republicans tried to score political points by highlighting the absence of leading Minnesota Democratic officeholders at Obama's appearance, targeting Sen. Al Franken, who's running for re-election this fall. McCollum and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minneapolis, accompanied Obama to Minnesota on board Air Force One. But Franken did not. His spokesman, Michael Dale-Stein, said Franken had planned to make the trip but needed to attend a friend's funeral. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges - both Democrats - greeted Obama as he got off Air Force One at the airport. Minnesota GOP Chairman Keith Downey accused Franken of distancing himself from the president. "Al Franken's record is a total rubber-stamping of President Obama's agenda," Downey said in a statement. "Between casting the deciding vote for the Obamacare debacle to supporting President Obama 100 percent of the time, why wouldn't Al Franken want to welcome the President to Minnesota?" A Star Tribune Minnesota Poll published last week put Franken's approval rating in the state at 55 percent, compared with 58 percent for Gov. Mark Dayton and 43 percent for Obama. Dayton did not attend the event either, but it's because he's recovering from hip surgery. U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., said he planned to pose a series of unanswered questions via his Twitter account in response to Obama's visit. "Minnesotans keep telling me they have had enough and they can no longer bear the burden of failed policies and a weak economy," Kline said in a statement. ___ About two dozen climate change activists rallied in the frigid cold outside Union Depot to urge Obama to reject the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline and protest the expanded use of Canadian tar sands oil. The event was organized by MN 350 to protest how the upsurge in trains transporting crude oil, primarily from North Dakota, is snarling passenger train service, including the Empire Builder, which connects St. Paul with Chicago to the east and Seattle and Portland, Ore., to the west. "Hey hey, ho ho, Amtrak is the way to go," they chanted. "Trains for people not for oil." Obama told governors at a White House meeting on Monday that he expects to decide within the next couple months on whether to approve the pipeline from western Canada across the U.S. to Gulf Coast refineries in Texas. The project has been caught up in the debate over climate change. Pipeline opponents say the tar sands oil Keystone XL would carry is dirtier than other crude because producing it generates more greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming. They're also worried about spills. The protesters stood against a backdrop of a light-rail train, which Metro Transit parked in front of the station for the president's visit. Kate Jacobson, lead coordinator for MN 350, said the protesters want Obama to support mass transit to reduce the need for oil. ___ Event organizers packed several hundred people into a penned area under a high arched-ceiling hall at Union Station that leads to the Amtrak platform. Some spectators were lucky enough to score chairs. The rest were crammed into an area that strongly resembled a mosh pit at a rock concert. And when the crowd of 1,300 cheered, the noise echoed as loudly as at any concert. Ryan Gilmer, a ticket reseller from Plymouth, said he couldn't pass up the chance to see Obama, which he considered "a real cool thing," and wasn't worried about getting a decent look because he's 6-foot-4. "You don't get a chance to hear a sitting president very often," Gilmer said. Lou Fragale, a real estate agent from Golden Valley, said he wasn't bothered by being penned in amid the tight crowd. "It's OK. We're comfortable. We're in a good mood. We'll get a glimpse of the president while he talks about his transportation issues," Fragale said.

YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF THE 2010 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES OPENING CEREMONIES SINGER 16 YEAR OLD CANADIAN SENSATION NIKKI YANOFSKY SINGING AT EVENTS AND CONCERTS - OLDER AND NEWSER

Vancouver British Columbia is awarded the 2010 Winter Olympic games. The crowd goes wild both at the announcement ceremony in Prague and in Vancouver as people hear the news. People run through the streets waving Olympic flags and honking car horns in celebration. Prime Minister Jean Chretien in Prague speaks to reporters about the successful bid. PLEASE NOTE VIDEO AND AUDIO OF NEWS ANCHORS AND REPORTERS IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR LICENSING.

VS OF VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN AND HIS WIFE JILL IN VANCOUVER FOR THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES / BIDEN WALKING WITH LITTLE GIRL / CHEERING IN THE STANDS / BIDEN AND JILL PHOTO OP WITH A USA OLYMPIC TEAM

International Olympic Committee session gets underway

Olympic medalist Shelley Ann Brown speaks to a room full of high school girls at a Young Women on the Move event in Toronto, Ontario about her experience becoming the first black woman to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. Brown holds up her Olympic medal as she attends the event. Brown reiterates how the crowds chanted "Can-a-da" over and over when she won a medal.