We're about to dazzle you with math. Of course, we writers aren't usually good at math, which is why we use calculators. We're embarrassed to say we even had problems with that. (Hey, kids - study your math. You'll need it.)
Consider this: The Adirondack Park, with its rough estimate of 130,000 full-time residents, accounts for just .0042 percent of the nation's 308,611,941 people. That's one-2,374th, if you're more of a fractions person. Syracuse has more than that.
But the Park's 12 full-time-resident Winter Olympians this time around account for 5.5 percent - one in 18 - of this country's 216-member team.
All 12 actually live in a much smaller zone than the six-million-acre Park; they're all in Lake Placid and the greater Saranac Lake area: specifically, the towns of North Elba, Harrietstown, Brighton and Franklin. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, those four towns have a combined population of 17,148. That's .00056 of the U.S. total (one-17,997th for you fractions people).
And that's just our full-on local Olympians. Add two more from the fringes of the Park in northern New York, and it becomes 6.5 percent of the U.S. team.
Add six more with local ties, and it becomes 9.3 percent.
Now add in the U.S. Olympians who live at Lake Placid's Olympic Training Center for much of the year while training - and working local jobs and socializing. That's four lugers (we were already counting six), five skeleton racers and 17 bobsledders (not counting Lake Placid's John Napier), plus three more who choose to live and train here even though their teams don't, according to the OTC. Now you're at 49 athletes - 23 percent of the U.S. total (which, as you fractionites already know, is almost one-quarter).
All here. Amazing.
We're glad to see local people celebrating them. On Sunday, Lake Placid will host a special Olympic Day, and Saranac Lake will have a pep rally during its Winter Carnival Arctic Barbecue at Mount Pisgah Ski Center. Check our calendar for details (extras.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/events/events1.asp?Plus=0).
Here's our list of Olympians of special interest to people in our area. If you have information to add or correct, by all means, let us know.
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BORN AND RAISED HERE
*Tim Burke, 28, Paul Smiths, biathlon (skiing and target shooting)
*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 YOUTH
*Lowell Bailey, 28, Lake Placid, biathlon
*Ashley Caldwell, 16, Lake Placid, freestyle ski aerials
*Chris Mazdzer, 21, Saranac Lake, luge
*John Napier, 23, Lake Placid, bobsled
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HERE SINCE ADULTHOOD
*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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LOCAL TIES
*Nick Alexander, 21, Lebanon, N.H., ski jumping - 2007 graduate of National Sports Academy in Lake Placid
*Shani Davis, 27, Chicago, long-track speed skating - attended Lake Placid High School
*Adam McLeish, 30, competes for Great Britain, snowboard parallel giant slalom - 1997 graduate of Northwood School in Lake Placid
*Apolo Anton Ohno, 27, Seattle, short-track speed skating - attended Lake Placid Central School District
*Megan Sweeney, 22 (23 on Feb. 17), Suffield, Conn., luge - father's family from Saranac Lake
*Lindsay Vonn, 25, Vail, Colo., alpine skiing - husband Thomas Vonn is a 1994 Northwood School graduate (and a 2002 Olympian in alpine skiing)
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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
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LAKE PLACID RESIDENTS WHILE TRAINING
*Matt DePeters, 22, Hamburg, freestyle ski aerials
*Hannah Kearney, 23 (24 on Feb. 26), Norwich, Vt., freestyle ski moguls
*Ryan St. Onge, 26 (27 on Feb. 7), Winter Park, Colo., freestyle ski aerials
*26 members of the U.S. luge, bobsled and skeleton teams, which are based in Lake Placid - not counting seven named above