The Hometowns of the U.S. Winter Olympic Team

Richard Florida provides a geographic analysis of the athlete representing the United States at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

1 minute read

February 23, 2018, 6:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Sochi Olympics

The U.S. Winter Olympic Team in 2014. | U.S. Army / Flickr

"Two hundred and forty-four American Olympians made their way from the United States to Pyeongchang, South Korea, for this year’s Olympics," writes Richard Florida. "Given that these are the Winter Games, you might expect a majority of America’s Olympians to hail from cold, snowy mountaintop places and winter sports locales. But that’s not exactly the case."

In fact, Florida notes that the U.S. Winter Olympic team "is actually far less unequal, spatially, than most other aspects of American society."

Florida breaks down the representation by metropolitan areas, also controlling for population. There's plenty of unsurprising revelations here, but a few surprises still, and plenty to celebrate in the name of athletics and international goodwill.

Thursday, February 22, 2018 in CityLab

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