PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (WOOD) — The Winter Games are officially underway in South Korea and Michigan is well-represented, from the anchor desk to the ice.>>Inside woodtv.com: Complete coverage of the Winter Olympics | World of Winter festival
BROADCASTERS
- WOOD TV8’s own Jack Doles is covering the events and athletes making headlines in Pyeongchang. This is the 10th Olympic Games he’s covered.
- Ahmed Fareed is anchoring NBC Sports network coverage from Connecticut. He’s a native of Sparta.
- Mike Tirico is one of the main faces you will see during NBC’s Olympics coverage. He lives in Ann Arbor.
>>Watch live: Stream the Winter Olympics live here.
COACHES
- Mark Grimmette will help lead the U.S. Olympic Luge team. This is the Muskegon native and former Olympian’s seventh Winter Games. He joined the USA Luge coaching staff in 2010.
- Jim Paek will lead the South Korean hockey team onto the ice. He left his assistant coaching position with the Grand Rapids Griffins four years ago to serve as director of hockey operations and head coach of the South Korean national hockey program. He was born in Seoul, South Korea.
- Sarah Murray, who is the daughter of Western Michigan University hockey coach Andy Murray, is the head coach of the rival Koreas’ first unified Olympic team. Her father says the South Korean team she’s been working four years with is the only female hockey team in the whole country.
- Matt Kooreman of Grand Rapids is the head coach of the U.S. longtrack speedskating team and his brother, Mike Kooreman is a team leader. The brothers’ passion for the sport was passed on by their father.
ATHLETES
- Jessica Kooreman is competing as a short track speed skater for Team USA. The Melvindale, Michigan native is married to Mike Kooreman.
- Madison Hubbell will try to take home gold in ice dancing with the help of her partner, Zach Donahue. Hubbell is a Lansing native with a Mattawan native mother who makes her outfits for competition.
- Evan Bates and Madison Chock will also represent Team USA in ice dancing. The pair, which trains in Novi, Michigan, is a couple on and now off the ice.
- Alex and Maia Shibutani is the most decorated pair of ice dancers to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics. The brother-sister duo started as a dance team in 2004 and trains in Canton, Michigan.
- Kyle Mack hopes to capture big air and the gold for Team USA in snowboarding. Mack grew up in West Bloomfield and attended Brother Rice High School.
- Sam McGuffie is a former football player for the University of Michigan. He hopes to bring back gold for the U.S. in bobsledding.
- Chad Billins hopes to recreate the Miracle on Ice at Pyeongchang as part of the USA hockey team. Billins played for the Grand Rapids Griffins and Ferris State University.
- Nick Baumgartner will compete for Team USA in snowboardcross. A native of Iron River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Baumgartner is taking part in his fourth Olympic Games.
- Megan Keller of Farmington, Michigan will take to the ice as part of the U.S. women’s hockey team. This is her first Olympics.
- Both Jordan Greenway and Troy Terry played for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor and are part of the NHL-free U.S. hockey team.