Give the Games the cold shoulder?

Does Salt Lake's rare blend of some of the world's most obscure pursuits weaken its claim to be hailed as a major sports tournament?

The Winter Olympics boasts curling and skeleton luge among its more unusual events and often struggles to attract much more than a cult following.

But the fact remains that many athletes in Salt Lake City will be risking life and limb as they hurl themselves down slopes and hurtle round tracks in the chase for Olympic gold.

All have to train just as hard as those who compete in the Summer Games and have spent years preparing themselves for the biggest event of their lives.

But when it comes to seeing how events in Utah unfold, aside from a handful of events, is the Games really worth following?

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I think the winter Olympics are wonderful to see. Athletes have worked hard to be here and deserve it. Being able to see them perform at their best is a great honour. I will be watching non-stop for the whole duration. Good luck team Canada!!
Rich, Canada

The opening to these Winter Olympics was the best ever, by far. Utah is a wonderful state - not well known outside the United States, but truly a representative sample of the real America, not the Washington and New York liberal crowd that most Europeans see reflected in their daily leftist news reports.

I enjoy watching the hockey and speed skating events. Then again, waiting for the one stumble or fall in the more artistic skating competitions is exciting as well. Salt Lake City should be visited by more of our European friends. There is a lot of great country between New York and Los Angeles.
Tom, Cleveland, USA

I think Maggie's a fool for escaping from Utah during the games. She'll no doubt feel the same when she gets back home and all her friends and neighbours are buzzing with excitement from such a spectacular couple of weeks. All I can say is I wish we had the weather in Britain to stage such an event!
Dave McManus, England

There's nothing better than getting home after a night out, getting a cup of coffee, some toast (the toast has to have honey or marmalade on it) and watching the curling.
Daren, UK

Hockey is the best thing to watch at Salt Lake

Ted Rayner, Canada

I am looking forward to attending two events I know nothing/little about - short track speed skating and women's downhill skiing. We are excited about being in Utah at this time (unlike Maggie), and even though we are fenced in, out of school etc, we are choosing to enjoy it to the fullest and take in as much as we can!

I think Hockey is probably the most talked about sport from what we are hearing and tickets are impossible so I'll be at home glued to the television when I'm not at work!
Mary, USA/Utah

Although the GB team only ever have a slim chance of success at the Winter Olympics I can't wait for them to start tomorrow. The mixture of high speed and danger that is involved in a number of the sports makes them much more interesting than many of the boring summer events. Average speed of a 100m runner - 36km/h, average speed of a Downhill skier 120km/h I think that says it all really.
Paul, England

Skeleton is dangerous and very spectacular. Ski Jumping has poetic beauty. Speed skating requires technique, power, speed and endurance. Cross Country skiing is the sport that uses most calories per hour, a good measure of how tough it is. Don't we love sports for all these reasons? I don't see why one sports event should be "superior" or "inferior" to any other.
Martin, Holland

No doubt that hockey is the best thing to watch at Salt Lake. We just have to drop the ridiculous soccer style shootouts to settle ties and play sudden death overtime until someone scores. The way it's been played by the country that invented the game since the 1890's.
Ted Rayner, Canada

The Winter Olympics are the real thing

Rhys Clyburn, Wales

For a Norwegian, the winter games are far more exciting than the summer games for obvious reasons. This will be my first Winter Olympics in exile, so I am very nervous about whether or not the BBC can possibly provide me with the coverage I crave!
Kristoffer Lunde, Ireland

The Winter Olympics are the real thing. There is no other honour that professional athletes would rather win than a gold in their respected events in the Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics are also far more entertaining to watch than the Olympics.
Rhys Clyburn, Wales

The only good event in the Winter Olympics is ice hockey. It really is the fastest team game in the world, and isn't dominated by the Canadians and Americans. Team GB may not be a dominant force in the world hockey scene yet but in a few years if our promising youngsters keep improving we might get a shot at a medal next Olympics.
Chris Belenger, UK

I love it. I remember being ill and off school in 1990 - and I watched it all, every single event, every single day. Since then I've been hooked, and I can't wait for this year's games! Good on you the people at the 'Beeb' keep up the good work!
Al Blaney, UK

The winter Olympics are much more exciting than the summer Olympics

Chris Price, Wales

I love all of the Winter Olympics and will especially look forward to the Ice Hockey. Anyone who saw the drama of The Czech Republic and Canada from Nagano four years ago would know how exciting this dramatic sport can be.

Ice Hockey is played currently in 61 countries in the world. I have to disagree with Connor from Ireland about the game being dominated by North Americans here as the success of the GB team who lost out on goal difference from joining the world's elite proved. Look out Turin 2006 GB Ice hockey is on its way!
Allan Petrie, GB

The sports showcased at the Winter Games offer a unique blend of skill, speed, danger and determination. These attributes are unrivalled by any other sporting occasion and will contribute to a wonderful festival of sport. Tune in for inspiration!
John Norton, England

I love the Olympics but I am sick to death of the coverage given some sports. Are there other sports in the Winter Olympics besides Figure Skating?
Susan Cooper, USA

The winter Olympics are much more exciting than the summer Olympics. The most of the sports involved are fast paced and more thrilling to watch than their summer rivals. I will definitely be tuning in.
Chris Price, Wales

The Winter Olympics beats its summer cousins hands down

Rusty, Canada

I for one will be watching the games and enjoying every minute of it! I know that there is athleticism in all events. I would challenge those who think otherwise to get off their couches and prove me wrong!
Mark, USA

What a joke, Stu (Scotland). As if watching a bunch of people from third-world Eastern European countries indulge in cross-country skiing and curling (since when did sweeping the floor become an international sport?) could be considered exciting! Although at least Scotland will be represented at the Olympics, unlike the World Cup...
Andrew Stevenson, New Zealand

The Winter Olympics beats its summer cousins hands down. Where can you match its speed and excitement? I'll take skiing and skating any day over synchronized swimming and gymnastics!
Rusty, Canada

I love the Winter Games, it's a great chance to watch sports you'd never normally see, and being a female ice-hockey player it's certainly the only chance I ever get to see my sport on TV! I'm also looking forward to watching my Swindon Top Cats team-mate Debbie Palmer, in the short-track speed skating. Good luck Debbie!
Ruth Aspinall, England

I'm totally looking forward to the Winter Olympics

Sharon, Wales

I am extremely excited about the Winter Olympics, because it is one of the only large events that we can beat the Americans at! Look for 15-20 medals for Canada in Utah, best ever.
Ryan Barrett, Canada

I love the Winter Games, particularly as it is one of the few opportunities that we Brit Ice Hockey fans have to see our favourite sport on television, played the way it should be played.
DaveC, England

The Winter Olympics embraces sports largely foreign to the British. However, all the other sports included are preferable to the "posing around on ice" that seems to be popular in Britain for some strange reason.
Andy Brown, UK

I'm totally looking forward to the Winter Olympics, especially the figure skating! But I'll probably be up until the wee hours watching all the other obscure sports too. Love the Big O'S!
Sharon, Wales

The ice hockey should be well worth watching. The rest of it is all a bit daft

Graham, UK

I think the Winter Games are wonderful, especially some of the "high-risk" sports such as the skeleton. I'm an Olympic Volunteer so I know that I'll be pumped for two solid weeks!
Jason, United States

The ice hockey should be well worth watching. The rest of it is all a bit daft.
Graham, UK

I live in Salt Lake City and I am coming home to the UK during the Games. Never mind the happy chatter you see on the box, most people here think it a damned nuisance.

My son's school is going to be shut, leaving us 17 days to make up later in the term, and my husband's office is in the fenced-off Events area and will be closed.

Do we get compensation for that? Not likely. Tickets for the Opening Ceremony went for $900 each. If you bother watching the Games, you'll see them as well on telly as we would here.
Maggie, US/UK

The Olympics provide some of the best entertainment ever

Tom Hill, England

The winter games has "speed thrills". What more can I say?
Pedro, Australia

I would love to see some summer Olympians skiing at 90 mph downhill, flying round the ice or leaping off ski jumps. Boring, absurd - I don't think so.

Mind you, on the otherhand there is always synchronised swimming, hammer throwing, beach volleyball, all riveting stuff, or not. As for the World Cup, the prospect of a mind-numbing 90 minute goalless draw fills me with great anticipation. Get a grip and give winter sports the respect it's due.
Stu, Scotland

The Olympics provide some of the best entertainment ever, why should Salt Lake City be any different? Just remember Torvill and Dean, Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsleigh team.

The Winter Olympics are just as great as the Summer Games, they really bring the world together. However, why America again? Does the US have to hold the Olympics once a decade?
Tom Hill, England

The winter events are really no more absurd than some of the summer ones

Martin McEvoy, Ireland

I'm from Canada so I'm all for winter sports and as I found out last Olympics some "bizarre" sports such as curling are a lot of fun to watch and play. Meanwhile, such regular sports such as ice hockey are amazing sports to watch.
Benjamin, Canada

The winter events are really no more absurd than some of the summer ones - synchronised swimming and diving, rhythmic gymnastics, hammer: all of which, bar the hammer are arguably art forms rather than sports - at least skeleton luge (which actually has ancient pedigree) involves the objective measurement of speed in a physical race and can be honestly called a sport.
Martin McEvoy, Ireland

Each year, we winter sports enthusiasts are treated to very limited coverage of our favourite sports but with the Olympics I shall revel for the whole session. Let's go!
BJ, England

When it's up against the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, it's got no chance. It's just plain boring.
Andrew Stevenson, New Zealand

In this part of the world, winter sports aren't embedded in the sporting psyche, ice hockey has a presence but it's still a long way down the line and dominated by second and third rate Canadians. Yet we must remember that in the Nordic and Alpine countries and North America winter sports are amongst their most popular and coveted.
Conor, Ireland