"Road to Sochi" interactive exhibit, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 25-26. Free. 1380 Atlantic Dr , Atlanta, GA 30363. The exhibit, which includes figure-skating memorabilia from throughout the sport's history, is sponsored by the U.S. Olympicc Committee, and the committee will be selling "Go USA" mittens to help raise funds for the athletes who will be going to the 2014 games. To get you in the mood, Atlantic Station has recently oipened a new 10,000-square-foot open-air skating rink. Information: 404-410-4010; atlanticstation.com/
Recruiting young Americans for Winter Olympic sports is a challenge.
Most of them have never seen a bobsled or a luge, they don’t know what curling is or how to ride a skeleton or even whether the word “skeleton” means bones are involved.
For David Giglio, a marketing man with the U.S. Olympic Committee, giving kids a chance to actually see and touch and try these sports makes sense for the U.S. team.
“We want to educate the youth of America, who possibly could be future Olympians,” said Giglio.
To help grow potential skiers and skaters, the committee has created a “Road to Sochi Tour” which brings interactive exhibits and games to Atlantic Station on Saturday and Sunday that show what the winter games are really like, or at least give you a good idea.
“We want to bring that as close to the experience as possible,” said Giglio.
The traveling show includes a handful of simulated games. For example, visitors can try the biathlon, a challenging skiing/shooting combo which incorporates stationary cross-country ski ergometers, a laser rifle and projection screen.
They can also speed skate (on slide-boards), ride a street luge on wheels, slide an actual curling stone along a strip of artificial ice, test their slap-shot skills or sit for a photograph in a real bobsled.
The tour will visit 12 cities around the country and Olympians will make appearances in each locale. In Atlanta, the Great Neck, N.Y., native Sara Hughes, who won a figure-skating gold in 2002, will sign autographs. YouTube singing sensation Jay Rome will also perform.
The games will set up in Atlantic Station’s outdoor area, near the Regal Atlantic Station movie theaters, and are free and open to the public. The exhibits will be in heated tents, just to keep it from getting too authentic.
Around 220,000 will visit the exhibit as it journeys from New York to Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah, Massachusetts, Nevada, Georgia, Texas, California, Colorado and Illinois and then back to New York.
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