Canada's Pan Am Games teams has strength in numbers

From A to Z, i.e., swimmer Alyson Ackman to tennis player Carol Zhao, Canada's Pan Am Games roster is vast as this country itself.

At a typical Summer Olympics, Canada might send about 240-250 athletes. With a home-soil Pan Ams that include a bigger roster of sports and more berths, the lineup is much bigger, with 719 competitors (346 female, 373 male) wearing the Maple Leaf over the next two weeks. Poring over the roster is brain candy for someone predisposed to going Johnny Five on a media guide:

Podium pasts: All told, the team accounts 28 Olympic medals, including 15-of-18 from London 2012. With Adam van Koeverden (gold and bronze) still going strongly, the medal chain extends to Athens 2004 and also to Sydney 2000, thanks to 37-year-old synchronized swimmer Reidun Tatham. The 2014 Winter Olympics medal table is represented since short-tracker Valérie Maltais is speeding up her roll at inline speed skating.

B.C. is best: On a per-capita basis, British Columbia has made the biggest contribution with 117 athletes born in the province. That works out to, using 2014 population estimates, one athlete for every 39,583 residents of the province.

Ontario has 245 athletes, or one per 55,831 people. Alberta (73 athletes) has near parity with one per 56,461. Quebec (127 athletes) has one per 64,872.

What about P.E.I.? Two Islanders, veteran LPGA golfer Lorie Kane of Charlottetown and softball player Jeff Ellsworth of Mill River, are representing Canada's small province. That is one per 73,150 people, but Prince Edward Island will have a lot to cheer about during the Parapan Am Games in August thanks to Island-raised goalballer Amy Burk.

All-ages event: Both Canada's oldest woman, shooter Susan Nattress, 64, and youngest male, 17-year-old David Mylnikov, compete in shooting.

Life began at 10: Table tennis' Alicia Côté, a 15-year-old from Drummondville, Que., is the youngest Canadian competitor and, of course, equestian Ian Millar, AKA Captain Canada, is the oldest at age 68. According to their official bios, both began competing in their disciplines at the age of 10.

Millar, of course, has competed in a record 10 Olympics.

Seeing double: The team includes three sets of twins, which isn't surprising since individual sports where practice and training partners are few and far between often appeal to siblings. The medal-hopeful multiples basketball's Katherine and Michelle Plouffe (the latter of whom was a 2012 Olympian), karate brothers Leirick and Leivin Chung and Kazakhstan-born gymnasts Anjelika and Victoria Reznik.

Do I know you? Two team sport entries have near-namesakes: baseball player Chris Robinson of London, Ont.., and water polo player Christine Robinson.

Shortest name: That would be badminton veteran Toby Ng, who is part of the defending champion mixed doubles pair.

Longest name: In the first big upset of the Pan Ams, the longest surname does not belong to a Quebecer. Ottawa-born Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson, a 20-year-old who swims at the University of British Columbia, gets this gold. At 18 letters, the swimmer just edged fellow hyphenates: wrestler Braxton Stone-Papadopoulos and canoeist Gabriel Beauchesne-Sévigny shared the silver with 17.

That probably doesn't make up for Seltenreich-Hodgson finishing a half-second off the podium at the Commonwealth Games last year, but it's still a nice distinction. 

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @naitSAYger.