PinnacleSports.com Posts Odds On Every Event At Winter Olympics
WILLEMSTAD, CURACAO (February 10, 2006)—The twentieth Olympic Winter Games begin this weekend as over 2,500 athletes from 84 different countries converge on Torino, Italy. Knowing the spirit of the Olympics and passion for the games make it one of the biggest sporting events in the world, leading online sportsbook PinnacleSports.com today opened betting on every event at the Winter Olympics and lists several Canadian athletes as favorites in their disciplines.
The largest sports betting site on the Internet, PinnacleSports.com has set the over/under line on the number of gold medals won by Team Canada in the Winter Games at 7.5 and currently lists Canada at odds of 42/1 to capture the most gold medals in Torino, behind favorites Germany (11/10), Norway (8/5) and the USA (3/1). PinnacleSports.com lists several teams and competitors of Team Canada as favorites to win gold in their respective events.
Canadians can take heart that their beloved hockey and curling teams are the odds-on favorites to win gold in Torino. PinnacleSports.com currently lists the men’s hockey team as a 5/4 favorite while the women’s team is 5/9 to capture hockey gold. Team Canada is also favored to win Olympic gold in men’s and women’s curling at 11/10 and 5/2 odds, respectively.
On the Speed Skating track, the oddsmakers at PinnacleSports.com list several Canadian athletes as outright favorites to win their respective events with many more Team Canada members considered in contention for medals at the Olympic Games. On the men’s side, Jeremy Wotherspoon is a medal contender in both the 500m and 1,000m Speed Skating at 4/1 odds, while Eric Bedard is listed at 6/1 to capture gold in the 500m Short Track. The female speed skaters are in an even better position to bring gold to Team Canada. Already a medalist in both the Summer and Winter Games, PinnacleSports.com lists speed skater Clara Hughes as a 9/5 favorite to win the women’s 5,000m. Meanwhile, her teammate Cindy Klassen is a 3/2 favorite to take gold in the 3,000m and a solid contender in the 1,500m (6/5) and 1,000m (3/1).
PinnacleSports.com has made freestyle skier Jennifer Heil the odds-on favorite at 2/1 odds in the women’s Moguls, while Kyle Nissen is 5/2 favorite to capture gold in the men’s Freestyle Aerials. Jeff Pain is currently listed as a 7/4 favorite in the men’s Skeleton, while Canadian snowboarder Dominique Maltais is the bettors pick at 5/1 in the women’s Boardercross.
While the rivalry between figure skaters Jeffrey Buttle and Emmanuel Sandhu may make headlines, PinnacleSports.com considers neither a serious gold medal candidate, listing Buttle (14/1) and Sandhu (31/1) as long shots. The odds makers believe the chance for Canada to take home the gold in women’s Figure Skating is even more remote, making Joannie Rochette the largest underdog in the event at 70/1. Team Canada does have better odds in the bobsleigh, where the Pierre Lueders captained teams are medal challengers in both the 2-Man and 4-Man events at 9/2 and 5/1 odds, respectively.