Congrats to all the Michigan Olympians

Feb 28, 2010 | Share this | Leave a comment

Tonight after someone mentioned all of the guys named Ryan (six of them total) on the USA Olympic hockey team it reminded me of when the team was announced and I was impressed that there were five guys on the roster that were born in Michigan.

So it inspired me tonight to do some research on all the Olympians with Michigan connections. There are a lot of them! It’s great to see so many from Michigan and who have came to Michigan to train, thanks in part to the United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette. We’re fortunate to see some of the best speedskaters come to Marquette to train, many others like Apolo Ohno and J.R. Celski have come through Marquette to train.

Congratulations to all the Michigan Olympians who participated at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and pretty cool to see so many with medals around their neck.

If you know of some others that aren’t on this list please leave a comment and I’ll add them.

Born in Michigan

Name	Medal	Home	Sport	Bio
Nick Baumgartner		Iron River, MI	Snowboard cross	Yooper, attended school at NMU where he played football
Mickie Rzepka		Novi, MI	Bobsleigh	Pole vaulted on Michigan State’s track and field team 2002-04
Ryan Miller		East Lansing, MI	Hockey	Played hockey at Michigan State 1999-2002
Tim Thomas		Davison, MI	Hockey	Played hockey at University of Vermont 1993-97
Tim Gleason		Clawson, MI	Hockey	Played for the Ontario Hockey League starting at age 16
Brian Rafalski		Dearborn, MI	Hockey	Played for University of Wisconsin hockey team where he was the WCHA defenseman of the year in 1995
Ryan Kesler		Livonia, MI	Hockey	Played for Detroit Honeybaked in 1999 then played for the Under 18 U.S. National Team
Charlie White		Bloomfield Hills, MI	Figure skating	Graduated from Roeper School and attends the University of Michigan
Meryl Davis		West Bloomfield, MI	Figure skating	Graduated from Wylie Groves High School and attends the University of Michigan
Evan Bates		Ann Arbor, MI	Figure skating	Graduated from Huron High School and attends the University of Michigan
Emily Samuelson		Novi, MI	Figure skating	Graduated from Novi High School and attends the University of Michigan

Northern Michigan University Connections

Name	Medal	Home	Sport	Bio
Allison Baver		Reading, PA	Speedskating	Attended NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Kimberly Derrick		Blytheville, AR	Speedskating	Attended NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Katherine Reutter		Champagne, IL	Speedskating	Attended NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Ryan Bedford		Yuma, AZ	Speedskating	Attended NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Shani Davis		Chicago, IL	Speedskating	Attended NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Travis Jayner		USA	Speedskating	Attended United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Simon Cho		VA, USA	Speedskating	Attended Marquette Senior High, NMU and United States Olympic Education Center in Marquette
Caitlin Compton		NY, USA	Cross country skiing	Former All-American nordic skiier at NMU

Michigan Tech University connections

Name	Medal	Home	Sport	Bio
Jarkko Ruutu		Vantaa, FIN	Hockey	Played hockey for Michigan Tech 1995-96

Michigan State University connections

Name	Medal	Home	Sport	Bio
Duncan Keith		Winnipeg, CAN	Hockey	Played hockey at Michigan State 2001-03

University of Michigan connections

Name	Medal	Home	Sport	Bio
Jack Johnson		Indianapolis, IN	Hockey	Played hockey at Michigan 2005-07

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6 Comments

Rosie | February 28th, 2010 10:04 pm | Permalink

Good job in compiling this info Yooper Steez! Thanks for taking the time to acknowledge these great Olympic athletes!
Debbie | March 1st, 2010 1:45 am | Permalink

Mark Grimmette, luger from Muskegon: http://bit.ly/dmZcta
Kayleen | March 1st, 2010 12:44 pm | Permalink

Look at all those medals!!! Michigan does good with raising kids to be top sports competitors!!
Kay Christman-Eichet | March 1st, 2010 1:05 pm | Permalink

I was very proud of all the Michigan Olympians. Having broken my arm and being home from work I was happily able to watch everything day after day. One question burned in my brain: why are the Michigan Olympiads NOT wearing Yooper Steez shirts, at least at the parties????? God knows they had enough clothing changes
Yooper Steez | March 1st, 2010 5:51 pm | Permalink

I’m working on it Kay! I agree they should be wearing some Yooper Steez shirts. Maybe I should conveniently break my arm for the next Winter Olympics.

Hope you are healing fast, thanks for the comment.
Kayleen | March 3rd, 2010 3:45 pm | Permalink

I just wanted to add Jilleanne Rookard from Woodhaven, MI. She may not have gotten a medal but was still an amazing sight to see!!

Event: Speed Skating Long Track
•2010 Olympic Winter Games
- 4th place in Ladies Team Pursuit with a time of 3:05.30
- 12th place in the Women’s 3000m with a time of 4:13.05
- 24th place in the Women’s 1500m with a time of 2:01.95