One stirring anthem that composer John Williams wrote for the Olympics is titled “Summon the Heroes.” Well, the trumpet ought to be sounded here in Colorado, which, according to the U.S. Olympic Committee’s official tally, has sent 20 residents to this winter’s games. Only Minnesota, with 23 residents in the hunt, surpassed our bumper crop. Moreover, another 17 Olympians train or work in our state, bringing Colorado’s real total to 37.
We wish our home-state Olympians well, and we’ll certainly be rooting them on. NBC (KUSA-Channel 9 in the metro area) will offer three hours of coverage tonight starting at 7 p.m., and four hours Sunday evening starting at 6 p.m. – the network says it’s the most TV coverage of the winter Olympics in history. There’s even additional coverage offered by its cable partners, CNBC, MSNBC and USA, starting at 5 a.m. today in some cases.
Steamboat Springs is the epicenter of Colorado’s Olympic participation. Over many years, the town (population 9,800) has produced 69 Olympians for five countries, this year including Canada and Australia. But Steamboat so dominates one event, ski jumping, that the sport could be called “Steamboating.”
The town’s 2006 U.S. contingent has 16 skiers or snowboarders who at least train there and six who claim it as their hometown or primary residence: In freestyle moguls, Travis Mayer; in freestyle aerials, Ryan St. Onge (who grew up in Winter Park); in alpine skiing, Caroline Lalive; in Nordic combined, Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane; and in ski jumping (er, Steamboating), Clint Jones and Tommy Schwall.
Loveland honors mogul of the freestyle moguls Jeremy Bloom. Vail boasts Toby Dawson in freestyle moguls and Lindsey Kildrow and Sarah Schleper in alpine skiing. Durango salutes Lanny and Tracy Barnes in the biathlon. Gunnison cheers Rebecca Dussault in cross-country skiing, Breckenridge screams for hometown skeleton heroine Katie Uhlaender, Aspen hoots for local high school grad and snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, and Basalt hollers for snowboarder Jason Smith.
A roar will be heard in the metro area for Courtney Zablocki of Highlands Ranch on luge, Denver resident (and Colorado School of Mines student) Michelle Roark in freestyle moguls and John Grahame and John Michael Liles of Denver on the U.S. hockey team.
The Colorado Avalanche could be its own mini-United Nations, as it’s sent members to Turin to play for eight different countries, including team captain Joe Sakic for Canada.
The short track must lead through Colorado Springs: Six U.S. skaters train there, including Palmer High School grad Caroline Hallisey and University of Colorado-Colorado Springs student JP Kepka. Another big name seen in the Springs: Apolo Anton Ohno.
It must be something in the water – or our snow.
