Thirty members of the 224-strong US squad for the Winter Olympics hail from California.

Defending women's snowboard halfpipe champion Chloe Kim is among them, and counts Los Angeles itself as her hometown.

Reigning men's Olympic snowboard halfpipe champion Shaun White, men's singles figure skating champion Nathan Chen, back-back women's Olympic snowboard slopestyle champion Jamie Anderson and ascending women's moguls star Kai Owens are other high-profile Californians in the US Olympic party.

California's total of 30 athletes also includes Kaillie Humphries, a two-time Olympic bobsleigh champion who has switched allegiance from Canada to the US and now lives in Carlsbad, as well as Alpine skier Alix Wilkinson, who was a late call-up following Breezy Johnson's injury.

Colorado is second on the state leaderboard, with 24 athletes in the US squad.

More than 39 million people live in California and it is the most populous state in the US.

Although much of California has a climate which is not conducive to playing winter sports it also contains mountains and is a former Winter Olympic host.

The 1960 Winter Olympics were held in California at Squaw Valley, which has since been renamed Palisades Tahoe.

Los Angeles has twice before hosted the Olympics, in 1932 and 1984, and California is the only US state to have staged both the Summer and Winter Games.

The LA28 Athletes' Commission includes winter athletes, among them Pyeongchang 2018 team bronze medallist Adam Rippon, who lives in Los Angeles.