Better Know A Winter Olympics Sport: Speed Skating, It Is Fast

What It Is: Speed skating originated the same way that most sports get started: out of necessity. In the winter, when the canals would freeze in Amsterdam, the Dutch quickly discovered as early as the 13th century that the easiest way to get around was by strapping some iron skates to wooden soles. Things became competitive in the late 1600s and then early in the 19th century, the Dutch introduced the rest of Europe to the sport. (And now you know why the speed skaters clad in orange spandex are usually the ones leading the race -- there is a legitimate chance their relatives helped invent the sport.)

It joined the Olympics in 1924, with the women joining the games in 1960 at Squaw Valley. The distances are 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and the grueling 10,000 m (over six miles). In addition to the one-on-one format, there is also the team pursuit competition, which was first introduced in 2006.