Team USA has its own Hollander and he’s heard all your ‘Heated Rivalry’ jokes
Want to watch Sean Hollander on the ice at the Winter Olympics? Turn on luge, where a USA athlete has a coincidental name. The post Team USA has its own Hollander and he’s heard all your ‘Heated Rivalry’ jokes appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
When Hudson Williams ran through the streets as a Milan 2026 torchbearer, it turned out he was actually the second Hollander to become part of the Winter Olympics.
The original? That would be an American luger competing in his second Olympic Games.
His name?
Sean Hollander.
Whatever joke is running through your head right now, there’s a 100 percent chance he’s already heard it. And he’s being a tremendously good sport about everything.
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“I think it’s hilarious. It’s all in good fun,” he told NBC News’ Rebecca Cohen.
Over the past couple months, this man has endured more terrible Russian accents than any human being since Dolph Lundgren’s vocal coach.
In and of itself, that deserves a medal.
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It’s been confirmed that Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will be part of the Olympic Torch Relay ahead of Milano Cortina 2026.
Now, Olympic Hollander does not play hockey and is, in fact, dating Olympian ski jumper Paige Jones. So after the jokes about his name die down, you’d assume there wouldn’t be anything else about his life that would result in a bunch of way too easy Hollander-and-Ilya lines.
I will now sip from this glass of water while googling “Which Olympic event is Sean Hollander competing in?” That would be…
Here is where I would make a spit take reference. But I already vowed not to write any “Heated Rivalry” jokes.
Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Yes, Sean Hollander has heard all the snide remarks about his sport too.
“I mean, the sport I participate in as well already has a lot of gay connotations and gay jokes around it, especially during the Olympics. So this, I think, is going to make that tenfold and completely ramp that up,” he predicted, “Luge always gets the gay jokes at the Olympics because it’s two guys in speed suits lying on top of each other. It’s kind of an easy one.”
Be right back. I need to hit “Clear search history.”
Outside of the sudden tongue-in-cheek notoriety his name has generated, Hollander has already had a great athletic career. He and luge partner Zack DiGregorio became the youngest doubles team to compete at the Beijing 2022 Olympics and finished in 11th. The pair then won the 2023 Luge World Cup.
So this Hollander definitely isn’t boring. But when he and DiGregorio launch themselves on the luge run in Milan, you can be forgiven for humming “All the Things She Said.”
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The post Team USA has its own Hollander and he’s heard all your ‘Heated Rivalry’ jokes appeared first on Outsports.
