Sports

Winter stars set to shine at Sochi

From terrorism to gay rights issues, the news from Sochi has been sobering, but this week’s Winter Olympics still have a chance to be one of the most-watched Winter Games in recent memory.

Tears likely flowed at NBC when glamorous skier Lindsey Vonn — Tiger Woods’ high-profile girlfriend — got hurt, but there are still plenty of stars left to dazzle.

Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan ensured the 1994 Lillehammer Games were watched by 204 million people, with 190 million viewing Vancouver four years ago. With NBC and its online offerings showing 1,539 hours of programming — more than Vancouver and Torino (2006) combined — Sochi may come in sandwiched between the two.

Here is The Post’s primer to help you keep up with whom and what to look for.

Superstars of Sochi

SHANI DAVIS, Men’s Speedskating

He and Shaun White are trying to become the first U.S. men to win gold medals in the same event in three different Winter Olympics. At 31 it won’t be easy, but Davis — the veteran leader of the American speedskating team — still has plenty left. He has won back-to-back titles at 1,000 meters, and four medals combined at Turin and Vancouver.

“Those guys are getting stronger and stronger every day. Now I know what it feels like to be the old man on the hill,’’ Davis told the Chicago Tribune. “It’s pushing us to another level. We know we can’t necessarily do it alone the way we used to do it in the past.’’

KIM YU-NA, Figure Skating

The 23-year-old South Korean will be a favorite in Sochi, and not just a sentimental one because of her impending retirement. She won gold in Vancouver, and became one of the top 10 highest-paid female athletes according to Forbes. And even though her world ranking slipped to 15 due to missing time from a September foot injury, she’s never missed the podium in a championship event and is favored to become the first ladies singles repeat winner since East Germany’s Katarina Witt in 1984 and ’88.

PETTER NORTHUG, Cross-Country Skiing

The Winter Olympics can always use some heat, especially with Vonn sidelined, and Northug can provide it. With four Olympic medals — two of them gold — he’s not only versatile but a Richard Sherman-caliber trash-talker. At the 2011 World Championships in Sweden, he anchored Norway to relay gold, mocking the crowd on the home stretch and slowing down to taunt his rivals at the line.

After a Swedish commentator called him “a wolf in the ski tracks and a pig at the finish line,’’ Northug shrugged. “If they get sour, that’s just a double victory for me.’’

ALEX OVECHKIN, Ice Hockey

The Russian plays as hard as he parties, but the NHL’s leading goal-scorer will be under more pressure than any athlete in Sochi. He’s never won a Stanley Cup, his Caps crashing out of the playoffs six straight years. And since the Soviet breakup, Russia hasn’t won hockey gold, Ovechkin finishing fourth and sixth. Russia are pre-tourney favorites and their people expect victory. Can he deliver?

MIKAELA SHIFFRIN, Alpine Skiing 

She’s already the world’s top slalom skier at just 18; now the telegenic teen from Vail, Colo., is poised to become the breakout star of these Winter Games. The reigning world champ is so technical, so effortless even on the toughest courses, she’s been called the Mozart of Alpine skiing. She won this season’s opening World Cup race in Levi, Finland, where she was given a reindeer as a prize and named it Rudolph.

SHAUN WHITE, Men’s Snowboarding

He pulled out of the Winter X Games to focus on Sochi. Now that he’s there — and fellow Red Bull athlete Lindsey Vonn isn’t — the Flying Tomato with his rock band Bad Things may well be the most recognizable athlete of the Winter Games, even without his trademark flowing hair. The 27-year-old won Olympic gold in the halfpipe at both Vancouver and Turin, and a third straight would cement his place in history. He’ll also challenge favorite Mark McMorris of Canada in the slopestyle, which he has won five times at the X Games.

Others to watch

MAO ASADA, Figure Skating

People love seeing champions pushed to the edge, and attempt the impossible, and Asada fits the bill. A two-time world champ in 2008 and 2010, she got relegated to silver in Vancouver by Kim. But Asada — the only woman to regularly try to triple axel, and the first to ever land three — won Skate America and is looking to reclaim her place as the world’s best.

MARIT BJORGEN, Cross Country Skiing

Even after winning a dozen world championships, Bjoergen won’t be resting on her laurels. She earned five medals in 2010, but her performance in Vancouver was tainted by allegations of cheating; now she’d love nothing more than to prove a point and put all those allegations to rest in Sochi.

NICK GOEPPER, Slopestyle Skier

He didn’t grow up in Colorado or Vermont, so since he couldn’t go to the slopes he brought the slopes to him, a homemade snow park in his Lawrenceburg, Ind., backyard. Now, after twice winning gold in the Winter X Games, he’s aiming to do the same in Sochi where slopestyle skiing is one of a dozen debut events.

GRACIE GOLD, Figure Skating

The teenager won the U.S. Championships in Boston, with no less an authority than skating legend Scott Hamilton proclaiming her “complete” and saying the sport needs her. No pressure to live up to her metallic namesake.

KAILLIE HUMPHRIES, Bobsled

You think Rocky had a tough training routine punching slabs of meat? The reigning Olympic and world champ puts herself through a regimen that includes pushing cars.

LINDSEY JACOBELLIS, Snowboarding

Looking for redemption in the snowboard cross after crashing at the 2006 Winter Games.

LOLO JONES, Bobsled

The model looks and virginal backstory made her the U.S. track team’s most recognizable athlete, if not its most successful or well-liked. But the hurdler has been embraced by her new teammates and earned the third and last brakeman spot, joining three-time Olympic sprinter Lauryn Williams as the ninth and 10th Americans to reach both the summer and winter Games.

It has been inferred NBC influenced the selection because of Jones’ Q rating and popularity (377,000 Twitter followers as of Monday), accusations NBC Olympics Executive Producer Jim Bell called “utterly ridiculous” and NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel called “preposterous.”

JOCELYNE and MONIQUE LAMOUREUX, Ice hockey

These twins have done almost nothing but win, leading Shattuck-St. Mary’s High in Faribault, Minn., to four state titles and three national championships (2005, 2006 and 2007). But after a silver-medal finish in Vancouver — the first twins to play women’s hockey in the Olympics — they’re aiming for gold in Sochi.

BODE MILLER, Alpine Skier

A five-time Olympic medalist, he needs just three more medals to tie short track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno as the most highly decorated U.S. Winter Olympian ever.

SARA TAKANASHI, Ski Jumping 

The youngster is still in school, but will be the favorite to win the first-ever ski jumping gold medal when the women’s event makes its Olympic debut in Sochi. She’ll vie with rising star Sarah Hendrickson, the 19-year-old reigning world champion who crashed during a training run in Germany last August. Despite tearing her ACL, MCL and meniscus, she got back on the hill in mid-January and looks to contend for a medal along with Olympic trials champ Jessica Jerome and Lindsey Vonn.

ASHLEY WAGNER, Figure Skating

After barely missing the 2010 Olympic team, Wagner fell twice in last month’s U.S. Championships in Boston and finished fourth. Her selection to the team was controversial, but the Virginian has motivation and the talent to excel in Sochi and prove she belongs.

Don’t forget that DVR

SUNDAY

Men’s Downhill: It can be watched live online at 2 a.m., but for those of you who actually sleep, it will be aired on tape-delay from 7-11 p.m. on NBC. Bode Miller is the most successful American male skier ever, but missed last season with a knee injury. Now he’s back for his fifth Olympic games.

FEB. 15

Men’s Hockey, U.S. vs. Russia, 7:30 a.m., NBCSN: The United States has come far enough that it no longer needs a miracle to beat Russia, or even medal. Russia hasn’t medaled since a bronze in Salt Lake in 2002, and finished sixth in 2010. But the Russians have home ice and Alex Ovechkin, who leads the NHL in goals.

FEB. 17

Ice dancing free skate, 10 a.m., NBCSN: World champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White will vie with reigning Olympic champs Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, Canadians who won gold on home ice in Vancouver.

FEB. 20

Figure skating, ladies singles free, 10 a.m., NBCSN: Can Gracie Gold vie with Mao Asada and Kim Yu-Na? Asada was world champ in 2008 and 2010, but Kim relegated her to silver in Vancouver and is the reigning world champ. Kim started the season injured and is looking to end her career at 23 by defending her gold medal.

FEB. 20

Women’s Hockey Gold Medal Game, noon, NBC: Three-time Olympian Julie Chu is a veteran leader on a U.S. squad trying to win gold for the first time since the sport debuted at the 1998 Winter Games.

FEB. 23

Men’s Hockey Gold Medal Game, 6:30 a.m, NBC: Canada has won gold in two of the last three Olympics (2002 Salt Lake City and 2010 Vancouver), but hasn’t won outside of North America since 1952. With NHL points leader Sidney Crosby the Canadians will be a likely favorite, but Russia has the home-ice advantage, Ovechkin and a potent offense. Sweden has team speed and the U.S. won silver in Vancouver, losing on a wrist shot by Crosby in overtime.