Here is the final installment of the USA Sports Factsheets, with information for the two team sports on the Winter Olympic Program – curling and ice hockey.
All posts by bmallon
USA Sports Factsheets – the Nordic Sports
And here is the next-to-last set of USA related sports factsheets, this time for the four Nordic sports of cross-country skiing, biathlon, Nordic combined, and ski jumping. Tomorrow, we’ll finish up the USA sports factsheets with the team sports of curling and ice hockey. Later this week, now that the sports quotas have closed (19 Jan), we will start giving National Factsheets for the competing nations at Sochi.
USA Extreme Sports
Shorter post today but in keeping with the last few days of publishing the USA Sports Factsheets, here are the Factsheets for the Extreme Sports – freestyle, snowboarding, and short-track. Tomorrow the Nordic Sports, and we will finish on Wednesday with the Team Sports (curling and ice hockey).
Multiple Siblings at the Winter Olympics
The Canadian Dufour-Lapointe sisters – Chloé, Justine, and Maxime – have qualified for the Canadian 2014 Olympic team in freestyle skiing, specifically in moguls. It appears, barring some unforeseen circumstance, that all three sisters will compete together in freestyle moguls. Has this ever happened before – three siblings competing together in the same Winter Olympic event?
Sorry to disappoint the Dufour-Lapointes, but yes, it has happened before – 5 times, to be precise, but only twice before in individual events.
The first time it happened in an individual event was 1960 in women’s slalom Alpine skiing when the French Leduc sisters (Anne-Marie, Marguerite, Thérèse) all competed together. The next time was in 1976 in men’s 15 km cross-country skiing, when Argentina’s Jerman brothers all competed (Marcos Luis, Martín Tomás, Matías José). But the Dufour-Lapointes can realize that it has been 38 years since this occurred at the Winter Olympics.
The three times it has happened in team events were in 1980 ice hockey when the Šťastný brothers (Anton, Marián, Peter) competed for Czechoslovakia; in the 1988 2-man bobsled when Mexican bobsledders Jorge Tamés and José Tamés made up one Mexican team, and their brothers, Luis Adrián Tamés and Roberto Tamés made up the other Mexican team; and in the 2010 ice dancing event with Chris, Cathy, and Allison Reed, with Chris and Cathy competing for Japan, and Allison for Georgia.
In all, we can trace 19 families who have had 3 or more siblings compete at the Winter Olympics, although in most cases, not in the same event. This group is led by Spain’s Fernández Ochoa siblings (3 brothers, 2 sisters), with 5 siblings. There have been 5 cases of 4 siblings competing at the Winter Olympics, and 13 cases of 3 siblings from the same family.
Below is what we think is the entire list. Now, if you know of others, let us know, because we will admit that this is a difficult query that challenges even our extensive databases. But we think this is complete.
Winter Games – 5 Siblings (1)
Francisco Fernández Ochoa (M/ESP-ASK)
Juan Manuel Fernández Ochoa (M/ESP-ASK)
Luis Fernández Ochoa (M/ESP-ASK)
Blanca Fernández Ochoa (F/ESP-ASK)
Dolores Fernández Ochoa (F/ESP-ASK)
Winter Games – 4 Siblings (5)
Carolina Birkner (F/ARG-ASK)
Ignacio Birkner (F/ARG-ASK)
Magdalena Birkner (F/ARG-ASK)
Jorge Birkner (M/ARG-ASK)
Barbara Cochran (F/USA-ASK)
Lindy Cochran (F/USA-ASK)
Marilyn Cochran (F/USA-ASK)
Bob Cochran (M/USA-ASK)
Arnold Huber (M/ITA-LUG)
Günther Huber (M/ITA-BOB)
Norbert Huber (M/ITA-LUG)
Wilfried Huber (M/ITA-LUG)
Jorge Tamés (M/MEX-BOB)
José Tamés (M/MEX-BOB)
Luis Adrián Tamés (M/MEX-BOB)
Roberto Tamés (M/MEX-BOB)
Józef Pawlusiak (M/POL-NCO)
Stanisław Pawlusiak (M/POL-SKJ)
Tadeusz Pawlusiak (M/POL-SKJ)
Anna Pawlusiak (F/POL-CCS)
Winter Games – 3 Siblings (13)
Anne-Marie Leduc (F/FRA-ASK)
Marguerite Leduc (F/FRA-ASK)
Thérèse Leduc (F/FRA-ASK)
Evi Mittermaier (F/FRG-ASK)
Heidi Mittermaier (F/GER-ASK)
Rosi Mittermaier (F/FRG-ASK)
Gordy Christian (M/USA-ICH)
Rog Christian (M/USA-ICH)
Billy Christian (M/USA-ICH)
Denis Couttet (M/FRA-CCS)
Henri Couttet (M/FRA-ICH)
Marcel Couttet (M/FRA-ICH)
Dieter Delle Karth (M/AUT-BOB)
Walter Delle Karth (M/AUT-BOB)
Werner Delle Karth (M/AUT-BOB)
Jim Holland (M/USA-SKJ)
Joe Holland (M/USA-NCO)
Mike Holland (M/USA-SKJ)
Marcos Luis Jerman (M/ARG-CCS)
Martín Tomás Jerman (M/ARG-CCS)
Matías José Jerman (M/ARG-CCS)
Asbjørn Ruud (M/NOR-SKJ)
Birger Ruud (M/NOR-ASK/SKJ)
Sigmund Ruud (M/NOR-ASK/SKJ)
Cristian Simari Birkner (M/ARG-ASK)
Macarena Simari Birkner (F/ARG-ASK)
María Belén Simari Birkner (F/ARG-ASK)
Anton Šťastný (M/TCH-ICH)
Marián Šťastný (M/TCH-ICH)
Peter Šťastný (M/SVK/TCH-ICH)
Curtis Stevens (M/USA-BOB)
Paul Stevens (M/USA-BOB)
Hubert Stevens (M/USA-BOB)
Jukka Ylipulli (M/FIN-NCO)
Raimo Ylipulli (M/FIN-SKJ)
Tuomo Ylipulli (M/FIN-SKJ)
Cathy Reed (F-JPN-FSK)
Chris Reed (M-JPN-FSK)
Allison Reed (F-GEO-FSK)
USA Factsheets – the Sliding Sports
Yesterday we started putting on USA-oriented Factsheets, giving the factsheets for the “Big Medal” sports of speedskating, figure skating, and Alpine skiing. Today we give you 3 more Factsheets – in this case it is for the “Sliding Sports” – bobsledding, luge, and skeleton. More to come in the next few days.
US Winter / Summer Olympians
We think that Lolo Jones and Lauryn Williams will be chosen for the Sochi 2014 US Olympic bobsled team tonite. We had a post the other day about Winter / Summer Olympians (see here), in which we noted that this has occurred 128 times in the past – 23 women and 105 men.
So how often has it occurred for United States Olympians? Previously 8 times, as follows:
USA Winter / Summer Olympians
Athlete Gdr Summer Winter
Connie Carpenter-Phinney F CYC-1984 SSK-1972
Connie Paraskevin-Young F CYC-1988/92/96 SSK-1984
Chris Witty F CYC-2000 SSK-1994-06
Eddie Eagan M BOX-1920/24 BOB-1932
Art Longsjo, Jr. M CYC-1956 SSK-1956
Arnold Uhrlass M CYC-1964 SSK-1960
Willie Davenport M ATH-1964/68/72/76 BOB-1980
David Gilman M CAN-1976/84 LUG-1984
Could it be 10 after tonite? Well, not technically – they actually have to compete first for it to count as a Summer / Winter Olympian, so that will be a few weeks away. But Lolo Jones competed in track & field athletics (high hurdles) at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, and Lauryn Williams competed in athletics (100 metres and 4×100 relay) at London in 2012, so its likely they will soon be added to the above list.
USA Sports Factsheets
We’ll now deviate a bit for a few days. To date, all of our posts have been somewhat “general,” giving information about athletes or interesting facts from all nations. The Factsheets by sports that were posted were also general, with data for all nations and all athletes.
For the next few days, I will include USA-oriented Factsheets by sports, for our US Media. After we finish this (hopefully by Wednesday, 22 January), we will return to more general information.
Entries close for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games tomorrow, the 19th January. Thus the next set of information to be sent out will be Factsheets by nations. We will be publishing information for every NOC competing in Sochi, as well as those who have previously competed at the Olympic Winter Games, but will not be attending.
Today, the USA Factsheets will be for the “Big Medal Sports” – Alpine Skiing, Figure Skating, and Speed Skating – the sports in which US Winter Olympic teams have won the most medals, by far.
Perfect Ski Jumping Scores
In 1998 at Nagano, Japanese ski jumper Kazuyoshi Funaki took off on his second jump on the large hill, and did something that had never been done before at the Olympics. Funaki was given a set of five marks of 20.0 for style points. This had only been achieved once before in international competition, by Austrian Toni Innauer in a ski flying meet at Oberstdorf, Germany in March 1976.
Since Funaki’s jump, only three other jumpers have been given a perfect set of 20.0 style points in any international event – Sven Hannawald (GER) and Hideharu Miyahira (JPN) in the same World Cup large hill event at Willingen in February 2003, and Austrian Wolfgang Loitzl in the Four Hills tournament at Bischofen in January 2009.
At the Olympics, two others jumpers have been awarded three scores of 20.0 for a single jump, both achieving a style score of 59.5 – Norwegian Espen Bredesen in 1994 on the normal hill, and Austrian Andreas Kofler on the large hill in 2006.
Funaki actually was given perfect 20s a total of 9 times at the Winter Olympics – his perfect jump in 1998, with 5 20s, his first jump on the normal hill also in 1998, and his first jump on the large hill in 1998, both with 2 20s and style scores of 59.0. Bredesen was the recipient of perfect scores 6 times – with two 20s given to him in the 1994 team event, and a single 20 on his second jump on the large hill in 1994.
Other jumpers who were awarded perfect 20s multiple times include Finland’s Janne Ahonen with 3 20s, Japan’s Noriaki Kasai with 3 20s, and Kofler, who was given a 4th 20 in the 2006 large hill qualifying round. Kasai, incidentally, has competed at 6 Winter Olympics in ski jumping, and is still competing and having his best season, winning a ski flying event in January 2014. He will be in Sochi, barring some unforeseen problem, and will set a record by appearing in his 7th Winter Olympics. This mark will also probably be achieved by Russian luger Albert Demchenko.
The entire list of perfect 20.0 style scores given at the Winter Olympics follows. This has been done 21 times, with 34 perfect 20.0 scores awarded.
5-20.0 Kazuyoshi Funaki (JPN,98LHJ2) (60.0/20,20,20,20,20)
3-20.0 Espen Bredesen (NOR,94NHJ1) (59.5/19.5,19.5,20,20,20)
3-20.0 Andreas Kofler (AUT,06LHJ1) (59.5/20,19.5,20,20,19.5)
2-20.0 Espen Bredesen (NOR,94TmJ2) (59.0/19.5,19.5,20,19.5,20)
2-20.0 Kazuyoshi Funaki (JPN,98NHJ1) (59.0/20,20,19.5,19.5,19.5)
2-20.0 Noriaki Kasai (JPN,98NHJ2) (59.0/19.5,20,19.5,20,19)
2-20.0 Andreas Widhölzl (AUT,98LHJ1) (59.0/20,19.5,19.5,20,19.5)
2-20.0 Kazuyoshi Funaki (JPN,98LHJ1) (59.0/19.5,20,19.5,19.5,20)
1-20.0 Noriaki Kasai (JPN,94NHJ1) (58.5/19,19.5,19.5,20,19.5)
1-20.0 Esp. Bredesen (NOR,94LHJ2) (58.5/19.5,19.5,19.5,19.5,20)
1-20.0 Andi Goldberger (AUT,94TmJ2) (58.5/19,19.5,19.5,20,19.5)
1-20.0 Janne Ahonen (FIN,98NHJ2) (58.5/19.5,20,19.5,19.5,19.5)
1-20.0 Masahiko Harada (JPN,98NHJ2) (58.5/19,19.5,19.5,20,19.5)
1-20.0 Andre. Widhölzl (AUT,98LHJ2) (58.5/19.5,20,19.5,19.5,19.5)
1-20.0 Janne Ahonen (FIN,98TmJ2) (58.5/19.5,19.5,19.5,20,19.5)
1-20.0 Simon Ammann (SUI,02TmJ2) (58.5/19.5,19.5,20,19,19.5)
1-20.0 Ths. Morgenstern (AUT,06LHJ2) (58.5/19.5,19.5,20,19,19.5)
1-20.0 Janne Ahonen (FIN,02NHJ2) (57.5/19.5,19,19,20,19)
1-20.0 Adam Małysz (POL,02NHJ2) (57.5/19,19,19,20,19.5)
1-20.0 Andreas Kofler (AUT,06LHQR) (58.5/19.5,19,19.5,19.5,20)
1-20.0 Roar Ljøkelsøy (NOR,06TmJ2) (58.5/19.5,19.5,20,19.5,19.5)
Note that most of these scores were given in 1994 and 1998 – the judges seem to have tightened up a bit, and no scores of 20.0 were given at Vancouver in 2010.
So does getting perfect style points guarantee you a victory or a medal? Not necessarily but it helps. In the above list Funaki won gold on the large hill in 1998 and Bredesen won the normal hill gold in 1994. But Andreas Kofler in 2006 lost out to his teammate, Thomas Morgenstern, and won “only” a silver medal. Janne Ahonen won two team silver medals, but his perfect scores never garnered him an individual medal. Kasai likewise never won an individual medal, his best finish a 5th on normal hill in 1994, but did get a silver in the 1994 team event.
We’ll have to see if the ski jumping judges in Sochi are tight or generous with their style points.
Speed Skaters in Multiple Events
In 1980 Eric Heiden stunned the Olympic and speedskating world by winning five gold medals in the five speedskating events then on the Olympic Program – 500, 1000, 1500, 5 and 10K. With skaters becoming more and more specialized as sprinters or distance skaters, this will never occur again. In fact, it has been fairly rare for any skater to skate in all the five individual events on the program – man or woman. It has not happened since 1988 for men and 1994 for women. More recently, it is uncommon for the specialist skaters to enter 4 of the 5 individual events. Following are the skaters to have entered the 5 individual events since 1980, or 4 individual events since 1998.
Year Name #IndEvents
Men
1980 Eric Heiden (USA) 5
1980 Pertti Niittylä (FIN) 5
1980 Hilbert van der Duim (NED) 5
1984 Michael Hadschieff (AUT) 5
1984 Lee Yeong-Ha (KOR) 5
1984 Hans van Helden (FRA) 5
1988 Michael Hadschieff (AUT) 5
1988 Hans van Helden (FRA) 5
1998 KC Boutiette (USA) 4
2006 Chad Hedrick (USA) 4
2010 Shani Davis (USA) 4
2010 Håvard Bøkko (NOR) 4
Women
1988 Han Chun-Ok (PRK) 5
1988 Seiko Hashimoto (JPN) 5
1988 Ariane Loignon (CAN) 5
1988 Andrea Ehrig-Schöne-Mitscherlich (GDR) 5
1988 Erwina Ryś-Ferens (POL) 5
1992 Mihaela Dascălu (ROU) 5
1992 Seiko Hashimoto (JPN) 5
1992 Cerasela Hordobeţiu (ROU) 5
1994 Emese Dörfler-Antal (AUT) 5
1994 Cerasela Hordobeţiu (ROU) 5
1998 Emese Nemeth-Hunyady (AUT) 4
1998 Jennifer Rodriguez (USA) 4
2002 Cindy Klassen (CAN) 4
2002 Maki Tabata (JPN) 4
2002 Varvara Barysheva (RUS) 4
2002 Anni Friesinger-Postma (GER) 4
2006 Cindy Klassen (CAN) 4
2006 Kristina Groves (CAN) 4
2006 Katarzyna Wójcicka-Bachleda-Curuś (POL) 4
2006 Maki Tabata (JPN) 4
2010 Kristina Groves (CAN) 4
In the above note that Seiko Hashimoto has done this twice (as have 4 other women and 2 men). Hashimoto is interesting as she has competed in more Olympics than any other Winter Olympian, with 7, even though the record for appearances at the Winter Olympics is 6. Hashimoto competed in speed skating in 1984/88/1992/1994 and in cycling at the Summer Olympics in 1988/1992/1994.
In all these are how many skaters have competed in all available individual events at the Winter Olympics:
Men IndEvents Women IndEvents
1924 11 4 — —
1928 — (no full startlist for 10K available)
1932 8 4 — —
1936 17 4 — —
1948 12 4 — —
1952 7 4 — —
1956 10 4 — —
1960 11 4 13 4
1964 6 4 13 4
1968 8 4 11 4
1972 7 4 5 4
1976 2 5 8 4
1980 3 5 11 4
1984 3 5 8 4
1988 2 5 5 5
1992 0 5 3 5
1994 0 5 2 5
1998 0 5 0 5
2002 0 5 0 5
2006 0 5 0 5
2010 0 5 0 5
So you can see how rare this has become. Nobody will compete in all 5 individual events at Sochi. The speed skaters have become too specialized, with most of them either sprinters, such as Korean female Lee Sang-Hwa, or distance specialists, such as Dutchman Sven Kramer, or in the case of Shani Davis, a mid-distance specialist.
Figure Skaters in Singles and Pairs
In our Figure Skating Factsheets we gave a list of the Olympic figure skaters who have competed in both singles and pairs at the same Olympic Winter Games, since World War II.
In that list we noted that it used to be much more but it has been done only 12 times since 1948, and only three times since 1972, the last by Australian Stephen Carr in 1994. It has not been done by a woman since West German Tina Riegel in 1980, and prior to that, the last women did it in 1952
But prior to World War II it did occur a bit more often. In all it has been achieved 44 times, 19 by women and 25 by men. Here is the entire list of figure skaters who have competed in singles and pairs at the same Olympic Winter Games, all-time.
Year Gdr Name NOC ###
1908 F Madge Syers GBR 1
1920 F Theresa Weld-Blanchard USA 1
1920 F Phyllis Johnson GBR 1
1924 F Theresa Weld-Blanchard USA 2
1924 F Andrée Brunet-Joly FRA 1
1924 F Ethel Muckelt GBR 1
1924 F Cecil Smith CAN 1
1928 F Elvira Barbey SUI 1
1928 F Theresa Weld-Blanchard USA 3
1928 F Melitta Brunner AUT 1
1928 F Andrée Brunet-Joly FRA 2
1928 F Beatrix Loughran USA 1
1932 F Constance Wilson-Samuel CAN 1
1936 F Maribel Vinson USA 1
1948 F Grazia Barcellona ITA 1
1948 F Suzi Morrow CAN 1
1948 F Yvonne Sherman USA 1
1952 F Sissy Schwarz AUT 1
1980 F Tina Riegel FRG 1
1920 M MacDonald Beaumont GBR 1
1920 M Nathaniel Niles USA 1
1920 M Basil Williams GBR 1
1924 M Pierre Brunet FRA 1
1924 M Nathaniel Niles USA 2
1924 M Jack Page GBR 1
1924 M Melville Rogers CAN 1
1928 M Sherwin Badger USA 1
1928 M Pierre Brunet FRA 2
1928 M Jack Eastwood CAN 1
1928 M Nathaniel Niles USA 3
1928 M Jack Page GBR 2
1928 M Robert Van Zeebroeck BEL 1
1928 M Ludwig Wrede AUT 1
1932 M Bud Wilson CAN 1
1936 M Ernst Baier GER 1
1936 M George Hill USA 1
1948 M Wallace Diestelmeyer CAN 1
1948 M Carlo Fassi ITA 1
1948 M Ede Király HUN 1
1948 M Helmut Seibt AUT 1
1952 M Kurt Oppelt AUT 1
1972 M Ken Shelley USA 1
1994 M Stephen Carr AUS 1
It has never happened that an ice dancer has competed in singles at the Winter Olympics. If we suspect the above combination of singles / pairs may never happen again, I’ll state categorically that no figure skater will ever compete in singles and dance at the Olympics – the dancers don’t do enough jumps.
In the above list two skaters did this 3 times and they were partners – Nathaniel Niles and Theresa Weld-Blanchard skated pairs at the 1920/1924/1928 Winter Olympics, and both also competed in singles at those Olympics. This was also done twice by the husband/wife team of Pierre Brunet and Andrée Brunet Joly at the 1924 and 1928 Winter Olympics.
Finally British skater Jack Page did this twice as well in 1924 and 1928, skating both times with Ethel Muckelt. Muckelt competed in singles in 1924 but not in 1928.
A most unusual scenario, however, has occurred more recently in the case of Japanese-American figure skater Rena Inoue. Born in Japan, Inoue competed in both singles and pairs in her native country. She skated pairs at the 1992 Winter Olympics alongside Tomoaki Koyama, placing 14th. Inoue then returned to the Olympics at Lillehammer in 1994, but competed in singles, finishing 18th. She moved to the United States in 1996 at her father’s urging after he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Inoue herself developed cancer in 1998 but it was cured by chemotherapy and she returned to figure skating in 2000. In 2006, by then skating with John Baldwin, Inoue competed in her third Olympics, again in pairs, and they finished 7th. Baldwin and Inoue became engaged in 2008 and later married.
Don’t look to see anything like this happening in Sochi. But hey, they gave the singles skaters a team trophy for 2014 so they’ll have something else to do.