BEIJING, China — The 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics are more than one week away and 222 athletes from the United States are scheduled to compete.
Of the 222 U.S. athletes, five of them have a connection to the warm state of Florida. While that is only 11 percent of the total number of athletes competing, winter sports are not as common for Floridians as it is for our northern neighbors.
Olympic and Paralympic athletes will compete across 21 events (15 Olympic events and 6 Paralympic events).
Let's take a look at the athletes competing who have ties to Florida.
At 33, Brittany Bowe is a two-time Olympian speedskater from Ocala, Fla. She previously competed in the 2018 Pyeongchang and 2014 Sochi Olympic Games. In 2018, she was part of the women's team pursuit bronze medalists. And recently, Bowe won gold in the 1,000-meter and silver in the 1,500-meter. She attended college at Florida Atlantic University.
Declan Farmer is a Tampa native competing in sled hockey at the 2022 Winter Paralympics. The 24-year-old is a two-time gold medalist in both the 2014 Sochi and 2018 Pyeongchang Paralympics. Farmer has been playing sled hockey since he was 9-years-old, according to Team USA. He was born a bilateral amputee and was introduced to sled hockey at a clinic in Clearwater, Fla. in 2006. Declan is a member of both the Tampa Bay Lightning sled hockey team and Florida Bandits. He attended college at Princeton Unversity.
Erin Jackson made history by becoming the first Black American woman to win a world cup speedskating race back in November in the 500-meter. The 29-year-old speedskater is also from Ocala, Fla. and competed in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Initially, Jackson did not qualify for the 2022 Olympic team, but Bowe stepped down from the 500-meter speedskating race to allow Jackson a spot. She attended college at the University of Florida.
While he might not have grown up in Florida, Frank Del Duca was born in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and grew up in Bethel, Maine. The 30-year-old bobsled athlete has competed in several World Championship competitions between 2016 and 2017 and attended college at the University of Maine.
Josh Williamson, 25, is a Lake Mary, Florida native who actually went to college to play Lacrosse at Mercer University. Williamson grew an interest in bobsled by winning Team USA's "Scouting Camp: The Next Olympic Hopeful" in 2017. He has also competed in the 2019 two and four-man World Championships. Williams currently attends college at Florida State University.
The 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will begin on Feb. 2, with opening ceremonies to begin on Feb. 4.
