Hey Conn., make some noise for your Olympians

It’s OK to cheer a little louder for Connecticut’s Olympic athletes this summer. Granted, it might be difficult for even the heartiest Nutmegger to be heard 6,723 miles away in Tokyo, but both athletes and fans will welcome some noise right now. Here in Connecticut (and everywhere else on the planet) the Games arrive after a pandemic year defined by solitude and hush. Over in Tokyo, the athletes will compete in perhaps the brightest spotlight in sports before empty stands.

That’s not the way this is supposed the work. The payoff for the loneliness of training should be rich rewards of applause, shrieks and chants.

Not in 2021.

Still, there is plenty for Connecticut residents to cheer about over the next fortnight. The modern Olympics have always been about stories, and Connecticut has been the source of memorable ones over past generations.

Greenwich’s Dorothy Hamill became the bicentennial golden girl in figure skating in 1976, the same year former Newtown High School star athlete Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner won the Decathlon gold medal.

Wilton’s Kristine Lilly became an icon as well, as a member of the unforgettable 1996 gold medal women’s soccer team (a feat she repeated in 2004). Two years later, in 1998, Greenwich’s Sue Merz helped Team USA earn the first gold medal in women’s ice hockey in Japan.

The Connecticut Class of 2021 is bringing the stories even before Friday’s Opening Ceremonies.

The women’s soccer team’s 44-game win streak came to a skidding halt at the worst possible time, a 3-0 loss to Sweden in the group stage opener. Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, who grew up in Stratford and attended high school in Trumbull, summoned the ethos of New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick in trying to keep the golden dream alive in the next round of games.

“To channel, you know, my inner Bill Belichick, we’re on to New Zealand,” Naeher said.

Meanwhile, tiny Old Lyme deserves a medal for putting two rowers — Liam Corrigan and Austin Hack — in the same Olympic boat for the eight-man rowing competition, which begins Friday.

Kate Douglass isn’t from Connecticut, but did training laps here thanks to her grandfather, New Canaan’s Ed Vollmer. In search of water so Douglass could prepare for the 200-meter Individual Medley, they got permission to use Selectman Kathleen Corbet’s pool.

And Josh Zeid is from Connecticut (hailing from New Haven), but will pitch for the Team Israel baseball team.

Connecticut’s most visible athlete could be Old Saybrook native Alexis Sablone, who will help usher skateboarding into the Olympics, having won seven medals in the women’s street competition in the X Games.

There’s even a good Connecticut story at Friday’s Opening Ceremonies, as former UConn basketball star Sue Bird serves as one of the two flag bearers for Team USA. The addition of second flag-bearers is a nod from the Olympic Committee toward equity.

Ridgefield swimmer Kieran Smith, who is expected to swim in the 200 and 400 freestyle and with the 800 freestyle relay team, summed up the evergreen spirit of the Olympics well: “It means the world ... it’s kind of the end all and be all. It’s the final accomplishment.”

That’s always worth cheering about, so let’s make some noise Connecticut.