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Whenever the Olympic Games are played, I tend to find myself tuning in more to see how the human interest stories develop and unfold rather than seeing the actual competitions. It seems like not a single Games goes by without there being at least four or five different human interest stories to watch. It could be something like an athlete who has been trying for more than a decade to win that elusive gold medal, and this is his or her last realistic chance to do so. Will that athlete succeed?

Stories like these are the main reason that I watch, particularly when you consider that many of the events included in the Winter Games are not exactly what most of us would call "mainstream sports." For example, have you (or anyone you know) ever participated in that sport known as biathlon? This is an event that combines (somewhat inexplicably, if you ask me) cross-country skiing and rifle shooting, of all things! Or how about curling? I've never played that game either. To me, it looks like shuffleboard on ice. Let's just say I wouldn't be upset if I missed the gold medal match for either of those events.

At any rate, there's no shortage of human interest stories at these Winter Games in Turin, Italy. Here's a quick rundown of a few of the ones that I will be checking out during the next two weeks.

The Michelle Kwan Saga
You don't even have to be a fan of women's figure skating to know who Michelle Kwan is. Over the last 8 years, she has emerged as one of the most popular female athletes in the world.

Although Kwan has numerous National and World championship trophies engraved with her name, she has twice fallen short in her bid to win an Olympic gold medal. She first made an appearance at the 1998 games in Nagano, Japan when she was 17-years-old. She was the heavy favorite on the American team that year, and was expected to at least win a bronze. As I recall, Kwan skated very well in Nagano and certainly looked like she was on her way to the gold. But then she was upstaged by 15-year-old teammate Tara Lipinski. Lipinski pulled off a flawless final run on her way to becoming the youngest person to ever win the individual women's figure skating event. Kwan had to settle for second place and the silver medal.

Kwan wasn't finished in her attempt to win gold. She also made an appearance at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. At 21 years of age, this more mature and experienced version of Kwan was still a favorite to win the gold. However, she was upstaged yet again by a teammate. This time, it was 16-year-old Sarah Hughes who skated a nearly-perfect program en route to winning the gold. Kwan had to settle for third place and the bronze medal, finishing behind Irina Slutskaya of Russia who palced second.

Now Kwan is 25 years old, which means that the Turin Games are almost assuredly the last in her career. She has been battling injuries for a long time, and even had to go through a special petitioning process just to be able to participate in these Games as a member of the U.S. team since she wasn't able to skate in any of the qualifying events. However, according to several news sources, it looks like Kwan's injuries are not yet fully healed. She has been forced to cut short at least one practice session due to the pain, and the current speculation is that Kwan will pull out of the event before the judging begins.

Will Kwan finally get the gold medal that would put an exclamation point on her already impressive resume? Will she be upstaged by yet another teammate (perhaps Sasha Cohen this time)? Or will she exit the Turin Games without even putting on one final performance? This is something I will definitely tune in to see!

The Bode Miller Experience
American downhill skier Bode Miller has been a hot topic of discussion over the last several weeks ever since a television news show aired a controversial interview with him. In the interview, Miller said things to the effect that it's "not easy" to ski while being "wasted." This caused an immediate uproar across the country as people reacted strongly to Miller's comments. Some were staunch supporters of Miller who were angry that the news show chose to air that segment of the interview; others were ready to denounce Miller and demand that he be removed from the Olympic squad.

In the weeks leading up to the Games, this story just wouldn't go away. Of course since this particular athlete happens to bear a name that is the same as a famous brand of beer, we were treated to countless "Miller Time" headlines, stories, and jokes.

As it turns out, Miller is definitely still part of the Olympic squad, and has a real shot to win gold. In fact, according to some sports analysts, Miller is in a must-win situation if he hopes to salvage any respectability coming out of these Games. He is scheduled to participate in the Downhill, Slalom, Super-G, and Giant Slalom events, so he will definitely have plenty of opportunities for a medal.

This is the third Winter Olympics of Miller's career. He first competed in Nagano in 1998, but scored a DNF (Did Not Finish) in both the Slalom and Giant Slalom events. He had much better luck and results in 2002 in Salt Lake City, earning the silver medal in the Giant Slalom as well as the Combined event. Will Miller be able to put all this controversy behind him for at least two weeks while he competes in what is shaping up to be the most important Olympics of his career so far, or will he be too distracted to perform up to par? This is something I  -- and many other fans around the country -- want to find out.

The Continuing Adventures of Grandma Luge
Anne Abernathy, better known as "Grandma Luge" to fans of that sport, will turn 53 years old in April. The Turin Games will mark her 6th appearance in the Olympics as part of the athletic contingent from the U.S. Virgin Islands. I have no idea how Abernathy got started in the sport or how she trains all year long, considering that she lives on St. Thomas, an island more renowned as a sunny vacation destination than a place that churns out Olympic luge contenders.

Unlike a lot of athletes competing at the Olympics, Abernathy didn't get started in her sport at an early age. According to one profile, she didn't get involved with luge until she was 28 years old. This came after a trip to the 1981 games in Lake Placid where she first witnessed a competitive luge event. She was determined to try the sport out for herself, and then in 1988 she participated in her first Olympic Games in Calgary, where she finished in 16th place. She went on to compete in Albertville in 1992, Lillehamer in 1994, Nagano in 1998, and Salt Lake City in 1992. Though Grandma Luge has never been a serious threat to win a medal at any of these games, the fact that she posts very competitive times at her age is an inspiration to fans around the world.

It should also be noted that Grandma Luge has suffered through serious injuries and illnesses along the way. No matter what kinds of obstacles life has thrown in front of her, however, she somehow finds a way to overcome them and move on. Will Grandma Luge find a way to win a medal in Turin and cap an exciting career that most people could only dream about? I'll have to make sure I watch all the luge events to find out.

Snowboarding really is an Olympic Sport
I don't know about you, but when I think of snowboarding, I immediately envision the Winter X Games rather than the Winter Olympics.  But snowboarding was declared an official Olympic event a couple of Games back, and has been a fixture ever since. There are three separate snowboarding events for both men and women at the Turin games. First, there is the half-pipe, which is basically a freestyle event in which the boarders perform all kinds of wild tricks. Next, there is snowboard-cross, which is basically a race down the mountain over jumps and obstacles, making it similar to motocross. Finally, there is something called the parallel giant slalom. I'm not exactly sure, but I think this is a timed run down the mountain where the snowboarder has to go around flags in a similar fashion to slalom events in skiing.

Ever since snowboarding's official debut, North America has definitely had an edge as far as medal winners go. In the men's events, you can pretty much count on either a Canadian or an American appearing on the podium -- sometimes they account for all three spots, like in Salt Lake City in 2002 when Americans Ross Powers, Danny Kass, and J.J. Thomas swept the half-pipe medals.

This year, the United States is favored to win a couple more gold medals, and maybe even sweep again. On the men's side, 19-year-old Shaun White ought to do a lot of damage. White barely missed qualifying for Salt Lake City, but has greatly improved his skills and technique since then. He is no stranger to competition, having won six medals at Winter X. He also won several major tune-up events prior to arriving in Turin for the Olympics.

Along with White, Danny Klass and 18-year-old Mason Aguirre will also represent the U.S. in the snowboarding half-pipe event. All three of these young men are top-notch athletes and give the U.S. a very realistic shot at sweeping the medals podium once again. Will Shaun White win the gold medal that he's been gunning for since he failed to qualify in Salt Lake? Will the U.S. continue its dominance in snowboarding events for the second Winter Games in a row? You better believe that I will be tuning in to find out how these stories unfold!