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 The U.S. team at the February 7-23 Sochi Games will be comprised
of 105 women and 125 men, including 106 returning Olympians and 99
from the contingent that topped the overall medal count at the 2010
Vancouver Games.
Alpine skier Bode Miller is one of the more popular members of the
U.S. team that also includes familiar names such as Julia Mancuso
(alpine skiing), Shani Davis (speed skating) and Shaun White
(snowboarding).
Nordic combined skier Todd Lodwick will become the first American to
compete in six Winter Olympics when he looks to go one better than
the silver medal he won in the men's team event at Vancouver.
Lodwick is competing in all three Nordic combined events in Sochi.
Miller will contest five events — the downhill, super-G, giant
slalom, slalom and super-combined — as he attempts to add to his
collection of five Olympic medals.
He finally broke through to win his first gold in 2010, in the
super-combined, eight years after collecting two silvers at Salt
Lake City.
Miller needs three more medals to match short track speedskater
Apolo Anton Ohno as the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian.
One notable absentee from the team will be Olympic downhill champion
Lindsey Vonn, one of the biggest attractions in winter sport, as she
recovers from knee surgery.
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Converted track athletes Lolo Jones and Lauryn Williams will become
the ninth and 10th Americans to compete in both the Summer and
Winter Games when they contest the bobsled.
Jones, 31, was a clear leader in the 2008 women's 100m hurdles final
until she clipped the penultimate hurdle and finished seventh. She
suffered further disappointment when she was a narrow fourth in
London four years later, before turning her attention to the
bobsled.
Williams, 30, collected the silver medal in the women's 100m in
2004.
Women's curler Ann Swishelm, 46, is the oldest team member, while
freestyle skier Maggie Voisin, 15, is the youngest on a team with an
average age of 26.
Twenty members of the team hail from California, followed by
Colorado and Minnesota (19) and New York (18).
The United States won 37 medals in 2010, although only nine were of
the most prized variety as Canada topped the gold medal count with
14.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina;
editing by Frank Pingue)
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