In a little over two weeks I’ll be going to my first Olympics, the winter games in Sochi, Russia. ASide from the plethora of sports and medals and records, there will be plenty of political and social news to cover too.

When it comes to the competition though, a passing knowledge of winter sports is nowhere enough, so I’m currently immersed in a ton of books, magazines and blogs about everything from luge to freestyle skiing and snowboarding.

I’ve covered the last two ice hockey World Championships (which took place in Stockholm and Helsinki) – with any luck, the hundreds of hours I spent watching games and talking to players will be of some use to me in Sochi.

Whatever sports I cover I don’t really mind – as long as they don’t ask me to try any of them out…

fan·tas·tic  (fn-tstk) also fan·tas·ti·cal (-t-kl)
adj.
1. Quaint or strange in form, conception, or appearance.
2.
a. Unrestrainedly fanciful; extravagant
b. Bizarre, as in form or appearance; strange
c. Based on or existing only in fantasy; unreal

There’s a “fantastic” story doing the rounds today about how Kim Jong Un’s uncle was executed by being fed to 120 hungry dogs –  journalistically, it’s an own goal as NBC admit that “the report could not be independently verified.”

… who said the building boom is over?

Soon it will be a new home for multimedia journalist, storyteller, teacher and content creator Philip O’Connor. Until it is, you can visit the website of his company to find out more – www.eblana.ie (English) or www.eblana.se (Swedish).