Several friends have asked me when the 2010 U.S. Olympic team will be announced. But there is no single date when the full team will be named. Each sport’s national governing body has set a different date on which athletes will be named, starting with curling last February.

To date, only curling, speedskating, ice hockey, and biathlon have named 2010 Olympic athletes (and the biathlon roster is not yet complete). Listed below — by sport — are the names of these athletes.

Check back later this week for “Making the Olympic Team — Part II” for information on when biathlon will fill out its roster, and when U.S. bobsledders, figure skaters, skeleton athletes, skiers of all disciplines (alpine, cross-country,  freestyle, jumping, and Nordic combined), and snowboarders will know if they are heading to Vancouver.

Curling

The 2010 Curling Olympic Trials were held in February 2009. Debbie McCormick will skip the women’s team of Allison Pottinger, Nicole Joraanstad, and Natalie Nicholson, with Tracy Sachtjen as alternate. John Shuster is the skip of the men’s team, which might be called the Team of Js — Jason Smith, Jeff Isaacson, and John Benton. Chris Plys is the alternate.

In early November, McCormick’s team won the OVCA Women’s Fall Classic, a World Curling Tour event in Ontario. Shuster’s team also won a World Curling Tour event, taking the 2009 Curl Mesabi Classic in Minnesota in mid-December.

Speedskating

Olympic Trials for short-track speedskating were held earlier this fall, and the team, consisting of five men and five women, was nominated on September 12. Five-time Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno is returning for his third Olympics. Joining him are J.R. Celski, who is still recovering from a severe cut to his leg during Trials, Jordan Malone, Travis Jayner, and Simon Cho.

The women’s short-track team includes three-time Olympian Allison Baver, Katherine Reutter, Alyson Dudek, Kimberly Derrick, and Lana Gehring.

The Olympic long-track speed skating roster was finalized on December 30 after the 2010 U.S. Speedskating Championships. Below is a list of athletes who qualified to skate in Vancouver, along with the events in which they will compete:

 

Men

Shani Davis: 500, 1000, 1500, 5000, 10,000

Chad Hedrick: 1000, 1500, 5000, Team Pursuit

Trevor Marsicano: 1000, 1500, 5000, Team Pursuit

Nick Pearson: 500, 1000

Brian Hansen: 1500, Team Pursuit

Tucker Fredricks: 500

Mitchell Whitmore: 500

Ryan Bedford: 10,000

Jonathan Kuck: Team Pursuit

 

Women

Jilleanne Rookard: 1500, 3000, 5000, Team Pursuit

Jen Rodriguez: 500, 1000, 1500, Team Pursuit

Heather Richardson: 500, 1000, 1500

Elli Ochowicz: 500, 1000

Catherine Raney Norman: 3000, Team Pursuit

Nancy Swider-Peltz, Jr.: 3000, Team Pursuit

Lauren Cholewinski: 500

Rebekah Bradford: 1000

Maria Lamb: 5000

Luge

Three women, three men, and two doubles teams will represent the U.S. in luge at the 2010 Olympics. The team was announced on December 18.

Reigning world champion Erin Hamlin will lead the women. Hamlin started off 2010 with a fifth place finish at the Koenigsee World Cup on January 2. She is currently ranked fourth overall on the World Cup circuit. Julia Clukey, who finished seventh at the Koenigssee World Cup, and Megan Sweeney round out the women’s team.

Despite re-injuring his back earlier this season, Tony Benshoof hopes to improve on his fourth-place finish at the 2006 Olympics. Benshoof is currently ranked eighth in the World Cup standings. Bengt Walden, who raced for Sweden in the 2002 Olympics, and Chris Mazdzer will also compete in luge for the U.S.

Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin are back for their fourth Olympics sliding together (fifth for Grimmette who competed at the 1994 Olympics with Jonathan Edwards). They have overcome early-season problems with their sled and technique. Christian Niccum and Dan Joye will also slide as a U.S. doubles team. They finished fourth at the Lillihammer World Cup before the Holidays and took sixth at the Koenigssee World Cup.

Hockey

Four-time Olympians Angela Ruggiero and Jenny Potter lead the 21-member U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team, which was named December 17. Click here for a link to the complete roster.

The women started off 2010 with a shootout against the rival Canadian team on Sunday, January 3, with the U.S. falling short, 3-2. The American and Canadian women faced off a total of 10 times throughout the 2009-10 season, with three wins going to the Americans and seven to the Canadians. They next play the Canadians at the 2010 Olympics.

Women’s hockey debuted as an Olympic sport in 1998. The U.S. women won gold that year, followed by silver in 2002 and a bronze medal at the 2006 Olympics.

The men’s team was unveiled on New Year’s Day. Three players with past Olympic experience — Chris Drury (New York Rangers), Brian Rafalski (Detroit Red Wings), and Jamie Langenbrunner (New Jersey Devils) — highlight the 23-member team. For a complete roster, click here.

Biathlon

Tim Burke, Jeremy Teela, and Jay Hakkinen have already been named to the U.S. men’s Olympic biathlon team based on World Cup and World Championship results last season. Haley Johnson was named to the women’s team based on the same criteria.

Hakkinen met the U.S. Biathlon Association’s Olympic qualifying criteria by finishing 11^th in a World Cup pursuit during the 2008/09 season. He also scored 17^th in a World Cup sprint and helped the U.S. men take fifth in a World Cup relay in Ruhpolding, Germany, last January.

Teela finished third in the 20-kilometer individual race at the World Cup in Vancouver last March.

After two podium finishes in the 2009/10 season’s first World Cup event, Burke currently leads the World Cup biathlon standings — an unprecedented result for an American biathlete.

On Thursday, January 7, other U.S. biathletes like Lowell Bailey, Laura Spector, Tracey Colliander, and Lanny Barnes will vie for the remaining two spots on the men’s team and three spots on the women’s team.

Check back tomorrow for “Making the Olympic Team — Part II.”