Metro Detroit could be well represented in 2 Winter Olympic sports

From Canton to Bloomfield Hills, Metro Detroiters training for chance to compete in Sochi Russia

Metro Detroit could be well represented in two winter Olympic sports in Sochi, Russia.

There are several athletes in figure skating and hockey that could be competing in the winter games next February.

Ice Dancing

In ice dance, there are five metro Detroit couples vying to win one of the three spots on Team USA.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White are metro Detroit natives and have skated together for 16 years. They train at the Arctic Edge of Canton.

This will be a return to the winter games for this duo who won the silver medal for ice dance at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.  They are also five time US Champions and in 2011 they became the first American team to win the World Ice Dancing Championships.   

"Overall I think we're just in a better place, you know, in terms of experience, otherwise we were just as excited as we ever were," said Charlie White. "We're training just as hard as ever, in fact, probably harder than 2010, our expectations are a bit higher."

Davis and White are very focused on not only returning to a second Olympics but on winning a gold medal.  

"We're training just as hard as ever, in fact probably harder than in 2010, our expectations are a bit higher, you know , we'll be shooting for gold instead of just trying to get on the podium," said White.

There are four other ice dance teams training in metro Detroit that would like to make the US Olympic team alongside Davis and White.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates train at the Skating Club of Novi. The duo has skated together since 2011.  They won silver at nationals this year.

Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani are a brother sister team that has skated together for 10 years.   They also train at the Arctic Edge of Canton.   The team won bronze at Skate America.

Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue began skating together in 2011 and are also making their first run for the Olympics.  They just won bronze at Skate Canada and were U.S. bronze medalists in 2012.

Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti -Schmitt have been an ice dance team since 2006 and are another team to watch.

These ice dance teams are competing at international events all over the world  and will all compete at the national championships in Boston, MA in January.  The three ice dance teams competing in Sochi Russia will be announced at this event.

Men's Figure Skating

Jeremy Abbott, who trains at the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills, is also hoping to make a return to the Olympics.   He is a three time U.S. champion winning in 2009, 2010 and 2012.   This year he was the bronze medalist.

Abbott placed ninth in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.   

He is focusing all his energy on skating and making the Olympic team again.

"It's worth the effort, it's worth the sacrifice, it's worth the effort, absolutely," said Abbott.

Hockey Teams

Several Detroit Red Wings could be playing in the Olympics but for several different countries.   Coach Mike Babcock will be the head coach for the Canadian team.  Steve Yzerman will be the executive director for the Canadian hockey team.

For Sweden, players Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Daniel Alfredsson, Jonathan Ericsson and Niklas Kronwall could be tapped to play.

Pavel Datsyuk is expected to play for Russia.

Jimmy Howard, Dan Dekeyser and Justin Abdelkader could be named to Team USA.   That announcement will be made at the Winter Classic on January 1, 2014.   The Winter Classic can be seen live on Local 4.

The Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia begin on February 7, 2014.