Seven U.S. military athletes are competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics, which begin today in PyeongChang, South Korea. For the first time, NBC is airing every event live and giving up on trying to create prime time suspense for events that may have taken place 12 hours ago.
That doesn't mean you won't get to settle in a watch a highly-produced package of flashy events every evening. It just means NBC will quit pretending that everyone didn't already get the results on Twitter and they're going to show the event in real time, either on one of its multitude of cable channels or streaming online.
NBC has even created an easy-to-read calendar that links each event to TV listings and the browser stream of the events. It's a whole new world for Olympic junkies this year.
American military athletes are competing in bobsled and luge events. Luge events start tomorrow, February 9th, and run through February 16th. Bobsled takes over the track on Saturday, February 17th and continues until February 25th.
All the athletes are member's of the Army MWR World Class Athlete Program, designed to allow service men and women to train for international athletic competition while serving full-time in the U.S. Army.
Here are the WCAP athletes competing in South Korea.
Nick Cunningham
Sgt. Nick Cunningham will compete in the two-man and four-man bobsled as a driver. He was a member of Team USA in 2010 and 2014 but he'll be going for his first medal in PyeongChang. Nick grew up in Monterey, CA and joined the Army in 2011.
MOS: 12W, Construction / Masonry Engineer
Chris Fogt
Cpt. Chris Fogt will compete in the two-man and four-man bobsled as a brakeman. He competed on Team USA in 2010 and won a silver medal as a member of the 4-man team at the 2014 Sochi games. Chris comes from Alpine, Utah and joined the Army in March 2009.
We first met Chris back in December when he was profiled on the Olympic Channel's series "Day Jobs." You can read more about him and watch the episode here.
MOS: 35A, Military Intelligence Officer
Taylor Morris
Sgt. Taylor Morris will participate in the men's singles luge event. This will be his first time to compete as a member of Team USA but he was an alternate in 2014. Taylor hails from South Jordan, Utah and joined the Army in July 2011.
MOS: 42A, Human Resource Specialist
Matthew Mortensen
Sgt. Matthew Mortensen will compete in the men's doubles luge event. He was a member of Team USA in 2014 and is going for his first medal in PyeongChang. Matthew comes from Huntington Station, NY and joined the Army in February 2010.
MOS: 12R, Interior Electrician
Justin Olsen
Sgt. Justin Olsen will compete in the two-man and four-man bobsled as a pushman. He was part of the 4-man team that won gold in Vancouver 2010, the first American medal in bobsled in 62 years. He also competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Justin joined the Army in June 2011 and hails from San Antonio, TX.
Justin had emergency surgery to remove his appendix just after arriving in South Korea, so there's some question whether he'll be able to compete. A February 7th story in the Denver Post says he's made remarkable progress and is aiming rejoin his teammates before competition begins on Saturday, February 17th.
MOS: 42A, Human Resource Specialist
Emily Sweeney
Sgt. Emily Sweeney will compete in the women's singles luge event. The Connecticut native joined the Army in December 2011 and will be participating in her first Olympics.
MOS: 31B, Military Police
Nathan Weber
SFC Nathan Weber will compete in the 4-man bobsled as a pushman in PyeongChang. The first-time Olympian is also an active-duty Green Beret. He joined the Army in 2005 and grew up in Denver, CO.
MOS – 18D, Special Forces Medic