The curlers are in the house

The first athletes qualified for the U.S. Olympic team for the Vancouver Winter Games, news that probably went right past you unless you know what a rock, a rink and a broom have in common.

They're all curling terms, and the U.S. men's and women's curling trials were held last weekend at the Broomfield Event Center in Broomfield, Colo. The men's event was won by skipper John Shuster of Duluth, Minn., and teammates Jason Smith of Cape Coral, Fla., Jeff Isaacson of Gilbert, Minn., and John Benton of St. Michael, Minn.

Among the women, Debbie McCormick of Rio, Wis., earned her third Olympic berth when her rink won its final. Her teammates are Allison Pottinger of Eden Prairie, Minn., Nicole Joraanstad of Madison, Wis., Natalie Nicholson of Bemidji, Minn., and Tracy Sachtjen of Lodi, Wis.

-- Helene Elliott

Now it's on to Vancouver

Welcome back to the LAT Olympics blog as it shifts from the Beijing Summer Games of last August to the Vancouver Winter Games, set for Feb. 12-28 of next year. Instead of Ticket to Beijing, it now is Ticket to Vancouver.

We will be posting throughout the year on Olympic news, but particularly as it relates to the Vancouver Games.  All of the Beijing posts can be accessed through the "Beijing Games" category link in the right rail of the blog.

Many of our Summer Games bloggers will be back for the Winter Games, including LAT columnist Helene Elliott and Philip Hersh, a veteran of Olympics coverage who writes for the LAT and the Chicago Tribune.

Many of the features created for Beijing will still be accessible, including photo galleries and videos.

Though we will be updating the look of this blog as we go, you can catch Olympic news right here. That will include blogging from the World Figure Skating Championships next month by LAT staff from Staples Center.

-- Debbie Goffa

Photo: Last week the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympic Games cauldron burned brightly at Canada Olympic Park,  marking the one-year countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Credit: Jeff McIntosh / Associated Press