An Olympian Task

The 2010 Winter Olympics are officially slated to get underway this afternoon with ski jump qualifying serving as the first event for competition.  The opening ceremonies take place later this evening in downtown Vancouver.

This year's Olympics takes on added meaning for those affiliated with Minnesota State University and Maverick Athletics with three former or current student-athletes suiting up for their respective countries.

Nina Tikkinen is a member of Finland's women's hockey team and Emilia Andersson will wear the blue and gold of Team Sweden.  Forward David Backes makes his debut as an Olympian with the United States men's hockey team.

The women's competition is scheduled to start tomorrow (Feb. 13) with Andersson getting the first taste of competition with the Swedish women taking on Switzerland.  Tikkinen and Team Finland start off with a tilt against Russia Sunday.  Backes and his American compatriots are in a pool with Canada, Switzerland and Norway and start with a game vs. Switzerland Tuesday, Feb. 16. 

The schedule for the men's and women's hockey competition is located here.

MSU Reporter Tyler Buckentine profiled Backes here as did the Minneapolis Star Tribune's Michael Russo and his story appears here.  Stl.com has a story on Backes here along with WCCO.com.