Going for Gold

Cheer on these athletes with Texas ties at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

Pairs skaters Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc are competing in their first Olympics.

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Texas isn't exactly a winter sports powerhouse, but there'll still be some star athletes at the 2022 Winter Olympics with big cheering sections back home in the Lone Star State.

The XXIV Olympic Winter Games (or "Beijing 2022") officially runs February 4-20, with some preliminary competitions starting as early as February 2. It will feature 15 sports and 109 medal events contested, including seven all-new events, like "women's monobob."

All coverage will be carried by NBC and its affiliate networks, websites, and apps, such as Peacock — and even with Beijing 14 hours ahead of Texas, watching much of the action live is possible. (Here's a primer on how to watch.)

Of the roughly 3,000 athletes competing, 222 will be wearing the red, white, and blue of Team USA. Here are the athletes with Texas ties — and when to cheer them on (local time) for gold.

Ashley Cain-Gribble, 26 and Timothy LeDuc, 31
Sport: Pairs figure skating
Texas tie: Ashley was born in Carrollton, and she and Timothy (who hails from Cedar Rapids, Iowa) train with their coaches — Ashley's parents, Darlene and Peter Cain — in Euless.
The road to Beijing: The pair just won their second U.S. national championship in Nashville last month, and this is their first Olympic Games.
Fun facts: Ashley's dad was an Australian pairs skater, and her mom was a Canadian ice dancer; she has an aunt and a cousin who were competitive skaters from Australia, as well. Timothy (they/them) have made headlines as the first openly nonbinary athlete to compete in an Olympic Winter Games.
When to watch: The figure skating "team event" starts at 7:55 pm Thursday, February 3 and includes the pairs short program; pairs "team event" free skate will be 7:30 pm Saturday, February 5. The pairs competition takes place February 18-19.

Mariah Bell, 25
Sport: Figure skating
Texas tie: Her parents live in the Dallas area, and her sister is a skating coach in North Richland Hills.
The road to Beijing: She just won the U.S. National Championships in Nashville last month. This is her first Olympics.
Fun fact: Mariah says her earliest memory of figure skating is watching Tara Lipinski win gold in the 1998 Nagano Olympics. During the early months of the pandemic, when ice rinks were shuttered, she lived with her family in an RV and stayed fit with outdoor activities, such as paddleboard and swimming.
When to watch: As of press time, the women's selections for team event haven't been announced, but she could be picked for the free skate February 6. The women's singles competition gets under way February 15.

Sylvia Hoffman, 32
Sport: Bobsled
Texas tie: She is an Arlington native.
The road to Beijing: She is making her Olympics debut, competing with two-time Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries as a two-woman bobsled team.
Fun fact: Sylvia played basketball for Louisiana State University, then took up weightlifting and competed internationally, but her athletic dreams "really rocketed," NBC says, after participating in reality TV show Scouting Camp: Next Olympic Hopeful.
When to watch: The two-woman event kicks off February 18.

Katie Uhlaender, 37
Sport: Skeleton
Texas tie: She was raised in Central Texas and has family in the Austin, Waco, and Hill Country areas. Her dad, Ted Uhleander, was a Major League Baseball outfielder who played for Baylor University.
The road to Beijing: She is headed to a record-breaking fifth Olympics, becoming the only U.S. woman in any sliding sport to make that many Olympic appearances, says NBC5. She placed sixth at Torino 2006 and fourth at Sochi 2014.
Fun fact: She once worked on a ranch, tagging cattle. She also worked on the reality TV show Survivor, first testing the challenges, then as a camera assistant.
When to watch: The first women's skeleton event takes place February 10.

Ashley Caldwell, 28
Sport: Freestyle skiing (Aerials)
Texas tie: While she calls Park City, Utah home, her parents reportedly live in Houston.
The road to Beijing: She's making her fourth Olympic appearance in the Aerials event.
Fun fact: Ashley started practicing gymnastics at age 4; after watching the freestyle competitions at the 2006 Olympics in Torino, her mother suggested she try combining her love of skiing with gymnastics, NBC says. She is the only woman to ever land a quadruple-twisting triple backflip in competition.
When to watch: Qualification rounds begin February 13.

Figure skater Mariah Bell's parents and sister live in DFW.

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Figure skater Mariah Bell's parents and sister live in DFW.

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Movie Review

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck team up for Netflix crime thriller The Rip

Photo by Claire Folger/Netflix

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in The Rip.

For as closely tied together as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are, it might come as a surprise how few times they’ve led a movie together. They’ve appeared alongside each other in Good Will Hunting, The Last Duel, and Air, but the only time they were on equal footing in a story was Kevin Smith’s Dogma. So the fact that they are the two true stars of the new Netflix movie The Rip makes it a rare opportunity for the longtime friends to square off against each other.

Damon and Affleck play Lt. Dane Dumars and Detective Sgt. J.D Byrne, respectively, the two highest ranking members of a Miami police department squad that specializes in drug and drug money raids. A tragedy to begin the film already has the team - which includes Detectives Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandina Moreno) - on edge, with the FBI and DEA breathing down their neck.

Going off a tip, Dumars gathers the team to raid a house in nearby Hialeah that is supposed to have a stash of a relatively small amount of money. But when they get to the house occupied only by Desiree Molina (Sasha Calle), they soon discover that there’s close to $20 million there instead. The team, required by law to count the money on site, must not only fight the urge to skim a little off the top for themselves, but also worry about the Cartel and other agencies that might want a slice of the pie.

Written and directed by Joe Carnahan, the film is a surprisingly effective crime thriller made even better by its high-quality cast, which also includes Kyle Chandler as a DEA agent. The story is designed for the audience to not know who’s trustworthy until the last possible second, and the various twists and turns it takes are well done, with barely a hint of narrative cheating.

Taking place entirely at night, the mood is set right from the start, with the only surprise being that Carnahan didn’t add in rain for extra effect. He keeps things tense with a number of subtle elements, including having the house located in a seemingly deserted cul-de-sac. This allows for the characters to remain on high alert at all times, with anything out of the ordinary - an unexpected noise, a flashing light, etc. - adding to the stress of the situation.

The only element that could have used a bit more of a punch-up is the characterization. The story is set up to cast suspicion on almost everybody, making it tougher to understand exactly what type of person each of them is. As the two leads, more time is spent with Dumars and Byrne, leaving everyone else with slightly underwhelming arcs. It’s to the credit of the actors that everyone else below Damon and Affleck is still compelling.

Damon and Affleck play their sometimes friendly, sometimes adversarial roles well, showing an ease together that’s a result of their friendship and the acting skills they’ve honed over 30+ years. Taylor, an Oscar hopeful for One Battle After Another, and Oscar nominee/Emmy winner Yeun have a pedigree that elevates their supporting roles. Chandler, Moreno, and Calle each get just enough to demonstrate why they were cast in their respective roles.

Damon and Affleck have had their individual ups and downs throughout their careers, but when they choose to work together, the results are usually good-to-great, as they are in The Rip. It’s a different take on a crime thriller that features a story that will keep viewers guessing until the very end.

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The Rip is now streaming on Netflix.

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