Fourteen Associated Press Style Tips for the 2014 Winter Olympics

As Sochi, Russia steps takes center stage, writers will be vying for the glory of perfection in their content.

The Associated Press has published its editorial style guide for the Winter Games, compiling essential terms, spelling and usage for the XXII Olympic Winter Games. With Opening Ceremonies tonight, the Sochi Games will feature about 3,000 athletes from more than 80 nations participating in 98 medal events across 15 sports.

While watching U.S. skiers Bode Miller and Ted Ligety tear up the slopes or Team USA’s bedazzlement on the ice, writers can incorporate AP’s Olympic guidelines:

• bobsled: Proper style for one of the Olympic events; identify events as women’s bob; two-man bob; four-man bob.
• face off; faceoff: Use face off as a verb, and faceoff as a noun and adjective. The hockey players will face off tomorrow; the faceoff was intense.
• figure skating: Proper style for one of the favorite Olympic events; identify jumps as double axel; triple flip-triple toe loop; triple Lutz, etc.
• IOC/International Olympic Committee: Use either full term or abbreviation for first reference.
• Medals: When counting medals, use singular form:four gold, six silverand18 bronze.
• New events: There are 12 new events, including women’s ski jumping, ski halfpipe, and ski and snowboard slopestyle races.
• Olympian: Any athlete who has been to the Olympics.
• Olympics: Capitalize all references to the international athletic contests.
• record: Avoid the redundant new record.
• skiing: Proper style for the popular winter sport; identify events as men’s downhill, women’s slalom, cross-country, giant slalom, super-G, etc.
• Sochi Games, Sochi Olympics: Capitalize references. Also, 2014 Olympics or 2014 Games. Sochi Winter Olympics and Sochi Winter Games.
• speedskating: Proper style for one of the Olympic events.
• The games: Lowercase games when generally referring to them.
• The year: Always precedes the host city and Olympics: 2014 Olympics, 2014 Sochi Games.

To maintain gold-medal prose, check out hard-to-remember writing rules, updates to the 2013 AP stylebook and common blunders.