There’s nothing like the Olympics to spur you into obsessive enthusiasm about sports you’ve never heard of before. Turn on the TV, and just a few minutes later, you’ll be yelling at people with 15 times your athletic ability to get it together. Also, you’ll be obsessed with them after the the NBC-produced vignettes about their journeys. Also, you’ll maybe be trying to figure out if it’s possible to marry them. Anyway, in order to spur your senseless nationalist jingoism-slash-thirst, we’ve compiled a list of the best U.S. athletes to follow on Instagram throughout the Olympic games. Let the combination of fitspiration, awe, and quiet despair at the athletic skill on display sweep over you.
Adam Rippon
Sport: Figure skating
Reasons to follow: Rippon’s a big fan of clever captions and lots of sass, an enthusiastic Instagram story poster (expect a lot of gym photos), and a big fan of his fellow teammates. Expect some solid RDPR content as well.
The Shibutani Siblings
Sport: Ice dancing
Reasons to follow: The so-called “Shib-Sibs†are (a) adorable humans and (b) enthusiastic vloggers — the good kind of vloggers who post lots of cute videos with dogs and haven’t done anything to embarrass humanity.
Nathan Chen
Sport: Figure skating
Reasons to follow: He’s both one of the best in the world at his sport and kind of a total dork. Plus, like seemingly everyone on this list, he loves dogs.
Mikaela Shiffrin
Sport: Alpine skiing
Reasons to follow: America’s hot-shot alpine skier both races and posts with fearsome intensity. You may be inspired to start doing squats.
Ted Ligety
Sport: Alpine skiing
Reasons to Follow: Dad content, cool skiing videos, and a lot more dad content. Â
Lindsey Vonn
Sport: Alpine skiing
Reasons to follow: Dog videos, inspiring thigh content, fancy fashion spreads.
Shaun White
Sport: Snowboarding
Reasons to follow: He does lots of cool tricks, he goes on enviable vacations, he offers the calming sense of someone who has been here before, and doesn’t have much left to prove.
Chris Mazdzer
Sport: Luge
Reasons to follow: He just won America’s first-ever medal in luge! Also, he likes to post a lot of photos without his shirt.
Gus Kenworthy
Sport: Freestyle skiing
Reasons to follow: He’s a big fan of fellow out Olympian Adam Rippon, he travels a lot, and he’s also generally anti-shirt.
Chloe Kim
Sport: Snowboarding
Reasons to follow: She’s glam, she loves dogs, she’s often upside down in the air, and we as a people should respect the effort she puts into that.
Mirai Nagasu
Sport: Figure skating
Reasons to follow: She’s the first American woman to land a triple axel in the Olympics. That takes a lot of effort!
Aja Evans
Sport: Bobsledding
Reasons to follow: Fitspiration, inspiration, great music selections.
Elana Meyers Taylor
Sport: Bobsledding
Reasons to follow: Great gym videos, and she’s a passionate fan of penguin stuffed animals.
Alexa and Chris Knierim
Sport: Figure skating
Reasons to follow: The married couple is America’s most smiley, most couple-y athletic duo — and they love their dogs.
Erin Jackson
Sport: Speed skating
Reasons to follow: I mean, primarily because she goes by Speedy J, but also because she does roller derby, too.