This year in Vancouver, the athletes that make their way to the podium will be receiving medals that many consider to be out of the ordinary. The medal tradition began with the first modern Olympic games in 1896, where winners received silver, second got bronze and third place got zip. Summer medals almost always depict Nike, the winged goddess of victory. However, Winter Olympic medals have no standard design. They are known to have strange shapes and are made of nontraditional materials.

Over the past 112 years, the coveted awards have been rectangular, glass, ridged and doughnut-shaped. The medals of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games are circular in shape and look like a microwaved frisbee of gold, silver or bronze. The design is based on a larger piece of artwork featuring an orca. Each of the medals has a unique handcrafted section of the abstract art, making every medal one-of-a-kind.

The undulating shape of the medals represents British Columbia’s mountains, ocean and snow, while the orca design is made to symbolize strength, dignity and teamwork. These medals are the first of their kind in Olympic history. The athletes who are lucky enough to take home a gold, silver or bronze medal this February will surely appreciate the unique design of their prize.

Men’s Halfpipe

Before Dec 31, everyone was expecting this year’s men’s halfpipe competition in to be a duel between Torino gold medalist Shaun White and up-and-comer Kevin Pearce.

On the afternoon of the 31, Pearce fell during a halfpipe run in Park City, Utah, striking his head on the edge of the pipe, causing fluid to build up in his brain.

Pearce’s friends rushed him to the University of Utah Medical Center where they admited him in critical condition. Since then, Pearce’s recovery has been gradual. According to ESPN, Pearce’s doctors are said to be “cautiously optimistic” regarding his chances for recovery. Sadly for fans, White and Pearce will not have a repeat of their very close competition in the pipe at the 2009 Winter X Games.

White will travel to Cypress Mountain aiming to bring home back-to-back Olympic golds in the men’s halfpipe competition. White has attempted to widen the already large gap between himself and his peers. White has been training at his private half pipe on Silverton Mountain in Colorado. While there, his bag of tricks has grown immensely. He has added such tricks as the back-to-back double cork, where the rider rotates 1080 degrees while flipping upside down twice, and the double McTwist 1260, which crams three horizontal rotations inside two vertical flips.

Men’s Ice Hockey

All signs point towards a Russia-Canada Final in the men’s Ice Hockey competition this year in Vancouver. The strong Russian squad, led by reigning National Hockey League MVP Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings are looking to improve upon its performance in Torino where the team failed to reach the podium, losing to the Czech Republic 3-0 in the bronze medal game.

The Canadian team however, has plenty of star-power on their side. Young, scoring sensation Sidney Crosby hopes to lead the host nation to its first Olympic Ice Hockey championship since the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 where it swept the tournament. The high-powered Canadian offense also features the likes of local San Jose Sharks stars Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley.

Women’s Alpine Skiing

After becoming the first American woman to win back-to-back overall World Cup championships in women’s alpine skiing, 25 year old Lindsey Vonn is set to make up for her Olympic heartbreak in Torino by targeting at least three golds at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.

In Torino, Vonn crashed during a training run and spent the night in the hospital. Despite a bruised hip, she returned the following day to compete in the downhill race and finished eighth. The gritty performance earned her the U.S. Olympic Spirit Award for best representing the Olympic Spirit.

Vonn had a spectacular year in 2009 while preparing for the Olympics. She repeated as overall World Cup champion, as well as winning the downhill and the season championship in Super G. She broke Tamara McKinney’s American record of 18 World Cup wins and set an American record for single-season wins. Vonn hopes to bring home the gold in the Super Combined Slalom (Feb. 14, 1:00 PM PST), the Downhill (Feb. 17, 11:00 AM PST) and the Super G (Feb. 20, 10:00 AM PST).