Fun Facts about UVM and the 2018 Winter Olympics

Campus Life / Community Involvement / Misc

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BORED Team

6 years ago

Olympics

As we head into another brisk Winter Olympic season, Olympic fever is sweeping the nation.  With big names like Gus Kenworthy and Shaun White making national headlines, it can be easy to overlook the amazing athletes from right here at UVM – for instance did you know UVM athletes have appeared in the last sixteen Winter Olympic games? Who knew!

Let’s dive into some green and gold lined fun facts about the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics –

Factoids:

  • 10 athletes with UVM ties (a school record) will compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
  • UVM alums Mike Gratz ’05 and Whitney Heingartner ’10 were part of the Burton team that designed this year’s U.S. Snowboarding Team uniforms.
  • Johno McBride ’88 is the U.S. Ski Team downhill coach.
  • Knut Nystad ’94 is chief ski wax technician for the Norwegian cross-country team.
  • Current student – rising senior and computer science major Laurence St. Germain, a native of Quebec, will ski for Team Canada.
  • First-year student Connor Wilson, an alpine skier, is the only athlete representing South Africa in the Winter Games.
  • Former men’s hockey forward Viktor Stalberg ’09, who won the 2013 Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks, will represent Sweden in his first-ever Olympics.
  • Kevin Drury ’14, who skied on UVM’s alpine team, will compete in ski cross for Canada after closing the 2016-17 season eighth in World Cup standings.
  • Jonathan Nordbotten ’14, a UVM skiing standout, will represent Norway in alpine skiing.

Cats at the Olympics

Cats on 2018 Team USA:

  • Biathlete Lowell Bailey ’05, was the first American to win a biathlon world champion.
  • Amanda Pelkey ’15, was first Catamount to ever earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Women’s Hockey Team, the second Vermonter to play for U.S. Olympic hockey, Montpelier native, and UVM’s all-time leader in points, goals, and assists (wow!).
  • Ryan Gunderson ’07, fourth former men’s Catamount to make the Olympic roster
  • The Patterson siblings, cross-country skiers Caitlin ’12 and Scott ’14, originally from Anchorage, Alaska

But UVM’s history with the winter olympics didn’t start with the 2018 games – we’ve got a history of having some cool cats doing things during the chill games.

Notable Olympians from our history:

  • Barbara Ann Cochran ’78, gold medal in slalom at ’72 Games (her son Ryan-Cochran Siegle will compete in this year’s Olympics)
  • Beth Heiden ’83, bronze in speed skating at ’80 Games
  • The flying Holland brothers-Joe ’90, Michael ’92, and James ’95-piled up six Olympic teams among them as ski jumpers
  • Aaron Miller ’93 and John LeClair were teammates on the U.S. hockey team that won silver in Salt Lake in 2002
  • Martin St. Louis ’97 helped lead Team Canada to gold in the 2014 Winter Olympics

Brennan's Pub and BistroWhere Can I Watch?

If you’re looking to cool the contagion that is Olympic fever, be sure to swing by Brennan’s Pub + Bisto (Davis Center, first floor) to catch the Opening Ceremonies on Friday, February 9 at 8PM (tape delay – they’ll be occurring LIVE at 6am on various streams).  Brennan’s will also be airing the games throughout the duration of the Olympics.   If you’re looking for other ways to snag a peek, Times.com has a solid rundown of the olympic schedule and vulture has a great ‘How to stream the olympics‘ write-up for you to peruse.  Naturally, NBC has a complete schedule online so you can plan ahead.

May the winter games ever be in your favor – go cats! 🙂