Not all the Olympic disciplines have Utahns competing. A few include Utah natives and others claim athletes who live in Utah while training or who have lived in Utah temporarily during their careers.
Alpine skiing
On the list of Park City residents are Erik Schlopy, Picabo Street, Alex Shaffer and Julia Mancuso ? all skiers to watch in the upcoming Olympics.
Street is probably the most recognized name. Her career has been filled with incredible highs and agonizing lows. She won a silver in the '94 Olympics in the downhill, world downhill title in '96 and a gold in '98 in the super-G. In between she suffered what to some would be career-ending injuries.
After a particularly bad crash after the '98 Games and nearly two years of recovery, she returned to the team last year and posted some impressive finishes. She will definitely be a threat in 2002.
Schlopy's story is quite different. Touted as one of the bright, young hopefuls, he had only modest success and left the team in 1994 to pursue a pro career. When the pro circuit folded three years ago, he asked to return to the U.S. team. He could, they said, if he proved himself . . . and he did. Last season he was America's top technical skier in the slalom and GS.
Shaffer's roots go back to high school. She came to Salt Lake City for school and training at the Rowmark Ski Academy. She made the team six years ago and has been on the rise ever since. After a good season two years ago, she injured her left knee and sat out most of the year. Now she's back, healthy and hungry for success.
Mancuso is the newest resident and one of the newest members of the team. Her rise from the development team to the C team and now to the B team has been rapid and impressive.
Biathlon
Dan Campbell moved from Minnesota to Utah to attend school, then moved back to Minnesota after a semester or so.
Men's bobsled
Bill Schuffenhaur, Ogden, a former decathlon champion from Roy High School, is an alternate in the USA 1 bobsled, that piloted by Todd Hays.
Recently Pavle Jovanovic of Toms River, N.J., was banned from competing during the Winter Games because he tested positive for trace amounts of a steroid; that vastly increased the likelihood that Schuffenhaur will compete. But he may not, as Steve Mesler, an athlete from Buffalo, N.Y., will be on the team in Jovanovic's place.
Todd Hays lives in Del Rio, Texas, but his parents have a home in Heber City. He has stayed there while competing in the past but plans to live in the Olympic Village during the Games "so I can keep my eye on the competitors."
Women's bobsled
Jill Bakken, Park City, is the pilot of the USA2 women's bobsled. Only two women pilots are competing from the United States; the other is Jean Racine of Waterford, Wis. Bakken was born Jan. 25, 1977, in Portland, Ore., and went to the University of Utah. Her brakeman was Shauna Rohback, Orem, and together they won the Verizon National Trials in October. But at the time of the big switcheroo, when Racine dumped Jen Davidson (from Layton), Bakken switched brakemen too, choosing Vonetta Flowers of Birmingham, Ala. So the two Utah women brakemen were out of the top two sleds, Davidson and Rohback. That left Bakken as the only Utah woman bobsledder in the Olympics.
Freestyle
Eric Bergoust, ranked best aerialist in the world, calls Missoula his hometown, but he makes his home in Park City. He lives and trains here year round.
Aerialist Joe Pack is a Park City native; Brian Currutt and Tracy Evans, aerialists, call Park City home.
Ice hockey
Tommy Salo won a gold medal as the goaltender for Sweden in the 1994 Games in one of the more memorable endings in Olympic hockey history. He was minding the net and withheld Team Canada in a shootout to secure the first-place finish. The following year he guided the Denver Grizzlies to the 1994-95 International Hockey League championship, and he lifted the relocated Grizzlies to a Turner Cup title the next season (1995-96) in Utah. The Swedish star was amicably referred to as "Super Salo" ? and was accompanied by theme music from Superman after good saves ? while playing for the Grizzlies before moving on to the NHL. Salo's NHL career began with the New York Islanders, and it has blossomed since he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in spring of 1999. He was among a group of 10 players chosen in March 2001 to represent Sweden in the 2002 Games.
Theo Fleury, a member of Team Canada, played for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles for about half of a season back in 1988. Since his brief tour in Utah, the lightning-fast right-winger has had a great NHL career, including a couple of 100-plus point seasons with the Calgary Flames. He currently plays for the New York Rangers.
Zigmund Palffy skated with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles for much of the 1993-94 season. The right winger has scored almost 250 goals in eight seasons with the New York Islanders and Los Angeles Kings. He is on the Slovakian national team.
Vladimir Orszagh, who played with the Utah Grizzlies between 1996-98, is having his most productive NHL season this year with the Nashville Predators. The right winger is on Team Slovakia with Palffy.
Andre Lakos is a relative newcomer to the Utah hockey scene, but he is a part of it nonetheless. He was traded to the Utah Grizzlies in mid-January and only dressed in two games at the E Center before leaving town on the Grizz's long Olympic road trip. He will be released from the Grizzlies as he tries to help Austria advance past the preliminary round of the hockey tournament.
Doug Palazzari is a name familiar to old-time Utah hockey fans and with those currently associated with USA Hockey. Palazzari played for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles from 1977-82 and is now the executive director of USA Hockey.
Luge
Venezuelan-born Iginia Boccalandro has lived in Millcreek for six years. At age 36, she was her country's first Winter Olympian during the 1998 Nagano Games. Now, thanks to her recruitment efforts, Venezuela plans to send five athletes to the Salt Lake Games, all in luge. She wasn't a contender in Nagano, finishing in next to last place. She hopes to improve her performance this year.
Men's skeleton
Lincoln DeWitt, Park City, 34-year-old computer programmer who won the World Cup in the 2000-01 season. He was born in Syracuse, N.Y., and attended the University of Pennsylvania but has lived in Park City for about 10 years. He is the hometown favorite for skeleton and one of three men on the U.S. team. (The others are Jimmy Shea of Lake Placid, N.Y., and Chris Soule of Trumbull, Conn.)
Women's skeleton
The top woman skeleton racer is Tristan Gale, Salt Lake City, the 21-year-old who blew away all competition during the Olympic trials. She will be joined in the skeleton competition by Lea Ann Parsley, a firefighter from Granville, Ohio. Gale has won the hearts of all spectators with her sprightly personality and her sheer grit. During the trials, someone ? she won't say who ? gave her a congratulatory hug when she won the first race that was so hard, it damaged the cartilage between her ribs and she had to go to the hospital. The next race she came in second, but she won the last two races.
Ski jumping
Current U.S. jumper Brenden Doran, a Colorado native, has taken correspondence courses from Brigham Young University.
Snowboarding
Lisa Kosglow is a native of Boise and attended the University of Utah. She is considered
one of the top two women snowboarders and will be competing in her second Olympics.
Speedskating
(LONG-TRACK)
Chris Witty, winner of a silver in the 1,000 meter and a bronze in the 1,500-meter events in Nagano, has made Park City her home while she trains for the 2002 Games. She recently qualified for the 500-, 1,000- and 1,500-meter distances in Salt Lake, although she may be slowed by a bad case of mononucleosis.
Elli Ochowicz, an 18-year-old native of Waukesha, Wis., now makes her home in Park City while training for the 2002 Games. She qualified for the 500-meter event.
Jennifer Rodriguez, considered by many to be the United States' best hope for a medal among female skaters, lives in Park City. Originally a native of Miami, where she was a world champion inline skater, she moved to Utah to train for the Games. She will be competing in the 1,000-, 1,500-, 3,000- and 5,000-meter distances.
Amy Sannes, a 24-year-old Minnesota native who qualified for the 2002 Olympic team in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters, lives in Park City.
Becky Sundstrom, a 25-year-old native of Glen Ellyn, Ill., lives in Park City while training for her first Olympic experience. She has qualified in the 500-, 1,000- and 1,500-meter events.
KC Boutiette, a two-time Olympic veteran who qualified this year in the 5,000 meters, lives in Park City while he trains.
Kip Carpenter is preparing for his first Olympics. The 22-year-old has moved to Park City to train for the 500- and 1,000-meter events. Originally, he is from Brookfield, Wis.
Joey Cheek, a 22-year-old from Greensboro, N.C., is living in Park City in preparation for his first Olympics. He will compete in the 500-, 1,000- and 1,500-meter events.
Jason Hedstrand will represent the United States in the 10,000 meters, speedskating's most grueling event. A native of Shoreview, Minn., he currently lives in Park City in preparation for his first Olympic experience.
Derek Parra has moved to Park City to train for his first Olympics. A former world champion inline skater from California, he will compete in the 1,500- and 5,000-meter events. He has been splitting his time between Utah and Florida, where his wife, Tiffany, recently gave birth to a girl, their first child.
Nick Pearson, a 22-year-old from Vernon, Wis., moved to Park City to train for his first Olympics. He will compete in the 1,000- and 1,500-meter events.
Marc Pelchat, who's 34, is the oldest member of the Olympic long-track speedskating team. He competed in the Nagano Olympics, then gave up skating for awhile before undertaking a mammoth training effort to qualify for the 2002 Games. He qualified for the 500-meter race. Although originally from Chelmsford, Mass., he and his wife now live in Salt Lake City.
J.P. Shilling's close relatives cried for joy in Baltimore when he qualified for the 2002 Games in the 1,500 meters. Shilling, however, makes Park City his home while training for the Games.
Jondon Trevena, a 29-year-old who competed in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, lives in Park City now, as do so many members of the U.S. speedskating team. Originally from Ft. Collins, Colo., he will be competing in the 5,000-meter event.