Minnesota County Has Amazing Amount of Olympic Athletes on Team USA
The state of Minnesota is well-represented on Team USA at this year's Winter Olympic Games, but one Minnesota county specifically is home to a LOT of athletes!
The fact that the Land of 10,000 (Snow-Covered) Lakes is home to a LOT of winter Olympic athletes shouldn't be a surprise, given how much we LOVE our outdoor winter sports here in Minnesota, right?
In fact, Axios reports that Minnesota is tied for second place along with Colorado when it comes to sending the most amount of athletes to Beijing to compete on Team USA for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Both the North Star State (that's us) and the Rocky Mountain State (that's Colorado) sent 23 athletes to China this year. (In case you're curious, only California has more, with 29.)
But one Minnesota county itself has sent a good share of those 23 Olympic athletes to Team USA. And it's a county you've probably been through many times, see as it's only one away from Olmsted County.
That county would be Dakota County. Check out what Dakota County Commissioner Joe Atkins recently posted on his Facebook page:
Minnesota's Dakota County has more Winter Olympians than 38 of the 91 nations participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics!
That's pretty impressive when you think about it. Of course, that's still just a fraction of the total athletes on Team USA. NPR says that the USA has the largest amount of athletes at the Winter Olympics this year:
"The U.S. brings a total of 224 athletes. Canada follows with the second-largest delegation at 217 athletes. The Russian Olympic Committee, known as the 'ROC,' rounds at the top three largest delegations, with 214 athletes," NPR noted.
Historically, those Minnesota Olympians have been pretty successful, too, because the Bold North has won more medals (92) at the Winter Olympics than any other state. (Though New York and Massachusetts weren't far behind us though.)
And, of course, it was a proud Minnesotan Jessie Diggins who won the FIRST medal for Team USA at the Winter Olympics this year too. And, a Rochester resident and Mayo Clinic physician is the official team doctor for the Men's Hockey Team. Keep scrolling to check out the massive Minnesota connection to the Team USA Women's Olympic Hockey team too.
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