The Olympics bring out the sports fan in me

     Every two years I take it upon myself to write a sport-related column. Why the significance, you ask? Because that’s when the Summer and Winter Olympics take place.

     My last sports-related column was two years ago in 2016 just before the Rio Summer Games. Now, as the 2018 Winter Olympics have begun in PyeongChang, South Korea, I am back at it.

     The Opening Ceremony was held last Friday night, Feb. 9. I love watching the Opening Ceremony because of the pomp and circumstance of it all, the history shared on the host country, and seeing the Parade of Athletes from all of the various nations taking part in the Games.

     This year, Team USA brought the largest contingency of medal winners with the largest team: 244 athletes (134 men and 109 women).

     There are 92 countries from around the world competing in the 2018 Olympics. Six of those countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Kosovo, Ecuador, Eritrea, Nigeria) are first-time Winter Olympic competitors.

     Here are some fun facts about Team USA competing in the 2018 Winter Games:

     • Team USA makes up31 out of the 50 states, with Colorado and California taking the lead with 31 and 22 athletes respectively.

     • The single U.S. city sending the most athletes is Park City, Utah, with eight.

     • Women’s ice hockey players Hannah and Marissa Brandt are both playing for different countries at the Winter Games. Hannah serves on Team USA. Marissa, who was adopted as a baby from South Korea, is playing for her home country.

     • The oldest Team USA member is men’s ice hockey player Brian Gionta at 39 years old. The youngest Olympian is figure skater Vincent Zhou at 17 years old. The average U.S. Olympic athlete is 26.5 years.

     • This Olympics is the first time we’re seeing athletes compete who were born in the year 2000. There are six 17-year-old Olympians on Team USA.

     • There is only one set of twins on Team USA: women’s ice hockey players Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando. There are seven sets of siblings competing for Team USA.

     • There is only one married couple on Team USA this year: pairs figure skaters Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim. The last time a married couple competed together was at the 2006 Winter Games in Italy.

     • Twenty-one members of Team USA are parents. I found this statistic fascinating… 20 are fathers, and only one is a mother, cross-country skier Kikkan Randall.

     • Seven Team USA members have parents who previously competed in the Olympics in some fashion.

     • There are seven members of Team USA who served their country outside of the Olympics, in the military. They include men’s bobsledders Nick Cunningham, Chris Fogt, Justin Olsen, and Nathan Weber; and luge athletes Taylor Morris, Matt Mortensen, and Emily Sweeney.

     Aside from fun facts about Team USA, this is the first time at any Olympic Games to have a combined North and South Korean team. Women’s ice hockey, coached by an America, is the only sport at this year’s Games with a combined team of athletes from two different, and quite polar countries.

     The Russian athletes at these Games are also competing, but not for Russia necessarily. Due to the doping scandal that has plagued many Russian athletes, they are competing this year under OAR (Olympic Athletes from Russia). Team Russia has been banned from the Games, so any time a member of OAR wins a gold medal in PyeongChang, the Olympic anthem will be played along the raising of the Olympic flag, not the Russian national anthem or flag.

     When they marched into the stadium during the Opening Ceremony, the Russian athletes wore Olympic gear WITHOUT the Russian flag across the front.

Random sports-related useless facts

     Do any of you remember the TV show “Coach” that aired from 1989-97 on ABC? It starred Craig T. Nelson as head football coach Hayden Fox and the recently deceased Jerry Van Dyke as Assistant Coach Luther Van Dam.

     Well, I used to love this show. I found it absolutely hilarious, though I was never and am still not a huge sports fan.

     I recently started binge watching it again, the entire series. I found a few tidbits about the TV show rather interesting for an Iowan…

     The show is set in Minnesota, Minnesota State to be more precise.

     The theme song throughout the show’s nine seasons was performed by the Iowa State University Football Varsity Marching Band. ISU won a national contest that landed them the coveted spot.

     The exterior shots of Minnesota State were filed at the University of Iowa campus, not in Minnesota.

     The coach’s name “Hayden Fox” is an homage to longtime U of I football coach Hayden Fry.