Locals working behind the scenes at Vancouver Olympics

From Chris Knight - Adirondack Daily Enterprise
Photo Credit of Gordy Sheer and Mark Grimmette: AP

While North Country athletes competing at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver have been grabbing the headlines, and rightfully so, another group of local residents have quietly been making a contribution to the games.

More than a dozen people from the Tri-Lakes area have been working at the Olympics, helping to run bobsled, luge and skeleton races, setting up interviews and photo shoots for athletes, organizing sponsor events and taking on a host of other behind-the-scenes roles.

They've been at the center of some of the high and low points of these games - from the historic medal streak of the U.S. alpine skiing team to the tragic death of a luge athlete just as the games were getting started.

"It's been a fantastic games," said Doug Haney of Saranac Lake, alpine press officer for the U.S. Ski Team. "I don't think anyone going into these Olympics thought we would have captured eight medals in alpine skiing."

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Our Local Olympians

From the Adirondack Daily Enterprise



A dozen full-time residents of the Adirondacks (Lake Placid and the Saranac Lake area, really) will compete in the Winter Olympics next month. The two final hopefuls, Andrew Weibrecht and Ashley Caldwell, found out Tuesday they made the cut.

Six of those 12 were born and raised here, three have lived here since their early teens (one is still just 16), and three more settled here as adults after living here part-time for years while training.

On top of that dozen, an Olympic luger from Connecticut has family from Saranac Lake, and northern New York can also boast of a world champion luger from Remsen, just south of the Adirondack Park border, and a speed skater from the Capital District. And then there are the entire U.S. luge, bobsled and skeleton teams, who are based in Lake Placid and live here for several months a year while training.

The games start two weeks from Friday and will end on Feb. 28 in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. The Adirondack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News will publish a comprehensive Olympic preview section, full of local athlete profiles and much more, on the opening day, Feb. 12.

The Enterprise and News are also sending two of their staff to cover the games: Senior Sports Writer Lou Reuter and Managing Editor Peter Crowley. The list of local athletes they'll be following is below:

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BORN AND RAISED HERE

* Lowell Bailey, 28, Lake Placid, biathlon (skiing and target shooting)

* Tim Burke, 27 (28 on Feb. 3), Paul Smiths, biathlon

* Bill Demong, 29, Vermontville, nordic combined (ski jumping and cross-country skiing)

* Peter Frenette, 17 (18 on Feb. 24), Saranac Lake, ski jumping

* Haley Johnson, 28, Lake Placid, biathlon

* Andrew Weibrecht, 23 (24 on Feb. 10), Lake Placid, alpine skiing

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HERE SINCE EARLY TEENS

* Chris Mazdzer, 21, Saranac Lake, luge

* Ashley Caldwell, 16, Lake Placid (formerly South Carolina and Virginia), aerial freestyle ski jumping

* John Napier, 23, Lake Placid (formerly Schenectady), bobsled

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LOCAL RESIDENTS

* Mark Grimmette, 39, Lake Placid (formerly Muskegon, Mich.), doubles luge

* Brian Martin, 36, Lake Placid (formerly Palo Alto, Calif.), doubles luge

* Bengt Walden, 36, Lake Placid (formerly Sweden), luge

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HAS FAMILY HERE

* Megan Sweeney, 22 (23 on Feb. 17), Suffield, Conn. (father's family from Saranac Lake), luge

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ALSO FROM NORTHERN NEW YORK

* Erin Hamlin, 23, Remsen (lives in Lake Placid while training), luge

* Trevor Marsicano, 20, Ballston Spa, speed skating


http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/510970.html?nav=5154

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