From February 6 to the 23, over 2,000 athletes from 94 different countries across the world will be competing in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The United States alone will be bringing 230 athletes to compete in 15 different sports and a total of 98 events.

Twelve brand new events will make their debut in Sochi thanks to the IOC’s (International Olympic Committee’s) decision to include them for a newer and fresher look to the games. The events include: snowboard slopestyle, ski slopestyle, ski halfpipe, women’s ski jump, mixed parallel snowboard slalom, team-relay luge, mixed-relay biathlon, and mixed-team figure skating.

“I’m excited to see the snowboard slopestyle event because it’s pretty rad. It’s one of my favorite events in the X-Games,” senior Conor Lamb said.

Of the 230 American athletes, 106 of them have already competed in the Olympic Games. 49 of them have won medals, and 13 have won gold. Both snowboarder Shaun White and speed skater Shani Davis are aiming to be the first American men to win gold in the same event in three straight Olympics.

“I’m looking forward to watching Shaun White because…it’s Shaun White,” avid junior snowboarder Julia Dunham said.

Nordic combined star Todd Lodwick will become the first American to compete in a total of six Winter Olympics, and is also the flag bearer for the opening ceremonies. Lodwick’s teammate Billy Demong, as well as skier Bode Miller, will each compete in their fifth Olympics.

Miller will need to earn four medals this month to beat short track speed skater Apolo Ohno for the most decorated US Winter Olympian. Ohno had earned eight medals throughout his three Olympics before retiring after the Vancouver games.

Lolo Jones and Lauryn Williams have also both been to the Olympics before, but as track stars in the Summer Olympics. This year, they will both be stars of the women’s bobsled team, becoming the ninth and 10th American athletes to compete in both the summer and winter Olympics.

Local Stars

Among these 230 athletes are Chris Creveling and Kyle Carr, two local athletes who will both be competing in short track speed skating events. Creveling and Carr have been skating with and against each other since they were around 3 years old. 24 years later, they’re headed to Sochi as teammates.

    Creveling grew up in the small town of Kintnersville, PA, and is a graduate of Palisades High School, a name that is very familiar with Southern Lehigh athletes. He started skating as soon as he could walk, as he comes from a long line of skaters in his family. His aunt owns a roller rink in Frenchtown, NJ, where both he and Carr got their start on inlines before switching to the ice.

Carr was raised just outside of Reading in the town of Shillington, PA. He attended Governor Mifflin High School through his junior year and then moved to Marquette, Michigan, to finish out high school in order to train to achieve his Olympic dreams. When he was seven, he told his mom that he was going to the Olympics, and his dreams have come true.

There are four other athletes from Pennsylvania heading to Sochi. Nathan Bartholomay (figure skating – Newtown, PA), Summer Britcher (luge – Glen Rock, PA), Jayson Terdiman (luge – Berwick, PA), and Lauryn Williams (bobsled – Rochester, PA) will also be representing the Keystone State.

Teamusa.org 2014 Olympic Team Fun Facts

• The oldest member of the US team is women’s curler Ann Swishelm who is 45, while freestyle skier Maggie Voisin is the youngest at 15.

• Men’s ice hockey player Blake Wheeler is the tallest athlete standing at 6’5”, while short track speed skater Jessica Smith and figure skater Marissa Castelli are the shortest at 5’.

• Team USA has six sets of siblings and one set of twins on this year’s team.

• 38/50 states are represented, with the most coming from California (20).

Names to Watch

• Snowboarding – Shaun White, Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter, Lindsey Jacobellis, Arielle Gold, Jamie Anderson, Chas Guldemond, Seth Wescott
• Speed Skating – Shani Davis, Brittany Bowe, Heather Richardson, Joey Mantia, Brian Hansen
• Short Track Speed Skating – JR Celski, Chris Creveling, Jessica Smith, Emily Scott
• Hockey – Jimmy Howard, Patrick Kane, Ryan Kesler, Ryan Suter, Zach Parise, Julie Chu, Amanda Kessel,
• Freestyle Skiing – Nick Geopper, Torin Yater-Wallace, David Wise, Tom Wallisch, Bobby Brown, Hannah Kearney
• Alpine Skiing – Mikaela Shiffrin, Julia Mancuso, Bode Miller, Ted Ligety
• Cross Country Skiing – Andy Newell, Jessie Diggins, Kikkan Randall
• Ski Jumping – Lindsey Van, Jessica Jerome, Sarah Hendrickson
• Nordic Combined – Billy Demong, Bryan Fletcher
• Figure Skating – Ashley Wagner, Charlie White, Meryl Davis, Max Aaron, Jeremy Abbott, Gracie Gold, John Coughlin
• Skeleton – Katie Uhlaender, John Daly, Noelle Pikus-Pace, Matt Antoine
• Bobsled – Lolo Jones, Lauryn Williams, Corey Butner, Steven Holcomb
• Biathlon – Tim Burke, Lowell Bailey, Russell Currier, Susan Dunklee
• Curling – Erika Brown, Pete Fenson, Chris Plys, Cassie Potter, Allison Pottinger, John Shuster
• Luge – Julia Clukey, Erin Hamlin, Christian Niccum, Jayson Terdiman