4 NH athletes competing in XXIII Winter Olympics Games

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12 01 2018 Torch Relay 01
A Torch bearer with the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics torch during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games torch relay on January 12, 2018 in Icheon, South Korea.

The countdown is on for XXIII Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. On Friday the games begin, with 17 days of Olympic competition set to take place from Feb. 9-25. More than 2,800 athletes from more than 85 nations are expected to participate in 15 sport disciplines.

Did you know there are four New Hampshire Olympians competing this year – Patrick Caldwell of Lyme, a cross-country skier; Sean Doherty, of Center Conway, a biathlete; Broc Little, originally from Rindge, on the U.S. ice hockey team; and Eric Loughran of Pelham, a freestyle skier? Following the “hometown” athletes is always fun. There’s more information on them below, as well as all our New England Olympians.

History buffs will appreciate a primer on how the Olympic tradition all began including Olympic trivia, like the fact that three summer and two winter editions of the Games were scheduled to take place but later cancelled due to war: Berlin (summer) in 1916; Tokyo/Helsinki (summer) and Sapporo/Garmisch-Partenkirchen (winter) in 1940; and London (summer) and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy (winter) in 1944.

There is of course a bit of international intrigue this year, with the tension between North and South Korea, and the suspension of Russian athletes. Opening ceremony tickets cost about 1,500,000 South Korean won (that’s about 1,400 U.S. dollars).

Five things you should know about the XXIII Olympics

These will be South Korea’s second Olympic Games and its first Winter GamesSeoul hosted the Summer Games in 1988.

  1. The 2018 Winter Olympics will feature 102 events in 15 sports, making it the first Winter Olympics to surpass 100 medal events. Four new disciplines in existing sports were introduced to the Winter Olympic including big air snowboarding, mixed doubles curling, mass start speed skating, and mixed team alpine skiing.
  2. A total of 95 teams have qualified at least one athlete so far, with 92 of them expected to compete.
  3. Under an agreement with North Korea, its qualified athletes will be allowed to cross the Korean Demilitarized Zone into South Korea and compete in the games.The two nations will march together under the Korean Unification Flag during the opening ceremony. A Unified Korea women’s ice hockey team will also compete under a separate IOC country code designation (COR); in all other sports, there will be a separate North Korea team and a separate South Korea team
  4. On December 5, 2017, the IOC announced that the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended due to the Russian doping controversy. Individual athletes who qualified and can demonstrate they have complied with the IOC’s doping regulations will instead compete as “Olympic Athletes from Russia,” (OAR) under a neutral flag and with the Olympic anthem played in any ceremony.
  5. Six nations are scheduled to make their Winter Olympics debut: Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore.

Anyway, it’s all about the athletes, right? So, in the spirit of New England sports team unity, we’ve included the names of all the Olympic athletes from around New England who are competing below – New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut. No Rhode Island athletes this time around. More information is available on members of Team USA here.

Find the Olympics viewers guide here.


New Hampshire

Patrick Caldwell, Cross-Country Skiing, Lyme

Sean Doherty, Biathlon, Center Conway

Broc Little, Ice Hockey, Rindge

Eric Loughran, Freestyle Skiing, Pelham

Maine 

Russell Currier, Biathlon,  Stockholm

Clare Egan, Biathlon, Cape Elizabeth

Troy Murphy, Freestyle Skiing, Bethel

Emily Sweeney, Luge, Suffield

Massachusetts

Kacey Bellamy, Ice Hockey, Westfield

Chris Bourque Ice Hockey North Reading

Bobby Butler Ice Hockey Marlborough

Jonathan Cheever Snowboarding Saugus

Ryan Donato Ice Hockey  Scituate

Annalisa Drew Freestyle Skiing Andover

Meghan Duggan Ice Hockey Danvers

Kali Flanagan Ice Hockey Burlington

Steven Langton  Bobsled Melrose Four-Man/Push

John McCarthy Ice Hockey  Boston

Sidney Morin  Ice Hockey Minnetonka

Mike Trapp Snowboarding Marstons Mills

Noah Welch  Ice Hockey Brighton

Connecticut

Mark Arcobello  Ice Hockey Milford

Mac Bohonnon Freestyle Skiing Madison

Zachary Donohue Figure Skating Madison

Lindsey Jacobellis Snowboarding Roxbury

Julia Marino Snowboarding Westport

Kiley McKinnon  Freestyle Skiing Madison

Tucker West Luge  Ridgefield

Vermont

Sophie Caldwell, Cross-Country Skiing, Peru

Caroline Claire, Freestyle Skiing, Manchester Center

Ryan Cochran-Siegle,  Alpine Skiing, Starksboro

Emily Dreissigacker, Biathlon, Morrisville

Susan Dunklee, Biathlon, Barton

Nolan Kasper, Alpine Skiing, Warren

Devin Logan, Freestyle Skiing, West Dover

Kaitlynn Miller, Cross-Country Skiing, Elmore

Andy Newell, Cross-Country Skiing, Shaftsbury

Amanda Pelkey, Ice Hockey, Montpelier

Ida Sargent, Cross-Country Skiing, Craftsbury

Emerson Smith, Freestyle Skiing, Dover

Liz Stephen, Cross-Country Skiing, East Montpelier

About this Author

Carol Robidoux

PublisherManchester Ink Link

Longtime NH journalist and publisher of ManchesterInkLink.com. Loves R&B, German beer, and the Queen City!