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Hubertus Von Hohenlohe will be the only skier representing Mexico in the Winter Olympics in Russia. A German prince and one of the oldest athletes to be competing in the Winter Olympics, Hohenlohe says he doesn't expect to win any medals. But he does hope people will notice his flair for fashion.

Families of athletes normally make a pilgrimage to see the Olympics, but this year is different: The trip is more costly than previous games and, for many, more nerve-wracking.

The X Games have changed the lineup and atmosphere of the Winter Olympics with the introduction of snowboarding, half-pipe and now slopestyle. But when a youth-lifestyle, punk-rock sport makes it to the Olympics, some things inevitably change.

Weeks after he turned 19, Jason Brown placed second at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships with an electrifying performance that became a YouTube sensation. "I'm so blown away and so shocked — beyond shocked. It's so surreal to me," he says.

Not that long ago, female elite athletes thought they had to retire if they wanted to have kids. Now, they're competing throughout pregnancies and getting right back to training once they deliver. In some cases, they're even making the most out of sponsorship deals they might have once lost.

Retired Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan will take part in NBC's coverage of the Winter Games in Sochi, and commentator Frank Deford hopes she will get the honor she's due.

The 23-year-old is considered one of the world's best female snowboarders, and possibly America's best shot at gold in slopestyle. Like Anderson, the sport is making its Olympic debut.

The Olympic sport is like gymnastics in the air, but in the final few rounds, aerialists can't use the same trick twice. Come go time, they have to figure out which trick to do, based on what their competitors have just done.

Three-time Olympic skier Kris Freeman has had a successful career filled with challenges; first and foremost managing diabetes while becoming an elite competitor in a physically taxing sport. But this past year, Freeman encountered another obstacle when his relationship with the national ski team abruptly ended.

Organizers of the Winter Games are preparing to serve up quite a bit of the hearty, deep-red Russian soup. Which is kind of ironic, says Russian food writer Anya von Bremzen, since borscht carries with it complicated political implications. And not all borschts are created equal, she warns.