Holcomb helps U.S. set Winter Olympics record
Last Updated: Saturday, February 27, 2010 | 10:24 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
The sports switch did not worry Steve Holcomb. When his son, Steven, changed winter sports allegiances from alpine skiing to bobsleigh, he knew both were inherently dangerous and vastly time consuming and offered little return.
The driver Steven Holcomb, right, coolly navigated a treacherous curve he nicknamed 50-50 and emerged with the U.S.'s first men's bobsleigh gold since 1948.
It was the timing that irked Steve Holcomb.
Holcomb had just sent a tuition check to the University of Utah shortly before Steven made the decision. With a shrug, Steven told his father he was leaving for Europe the next day to fuel a passion and chase a dream.
Then, Steve Holcomb fumed. Now?
“Probably a good investment,” Holcomb said, watching his son compete from near the finish line at the Whistler Sliding Centre. “It was money well spent, poorly.”
On Saturday, long after bequeathing what turned out to be a friendly donation to the college, Steven Holcomb can offer a refund in gold. Holcomb piloted USA-1 to the first gold medal for the United States in the four-man competition in 62 years.
Patrick Henry Martin last won gold for the United States, at the St. Moritz Games in 1948. Martin’s win capped an Americana run of three gold medals in four Olympics, a feat unmatched until USA-1 revitalized itself and reappeared on Saturday.
The gold medal was 37th for the United States at the Vancouver Games, the most by a country at a single Winter Olympics.
USA-1’s four-man crew made it appear easy, if there is such a thing while piling into a bobsleigh and reaching speeds of 95 miles an hour. With shoves and ducks, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curtis Tomasevicz hopped behind Holcomb inside the Night Train, the sleek, black-plastered sled designed by the former NASCAR racer Geoff Bodine, for runs through the course’s white-coated chute of 16, twisting curves.
They blistered through the course. Each time, Holcomb calmly cruised past Curve 13, the treacherous turn where medal dreams were dashed with six crashes on Friday. Holcomb nicknamed the turn 50-50 after watching half the bobsleighs crash the first time he trained here last year.
“Unfortunately, I’ve had my problems there as well,” Holcomb said. “In the two-man, I had to have a little talk with the 50-50 and made sure we had everything worked out.”
USA-1 performed a limbo dance on the course’s track record in its first two heats. In the first run, the Americans set the record at 50.89 seconds. They lowered it to 50.86 in their second run. In warmer temperatures on Saturday, they propped their lead to .45 seconds after a third-run time of 51.19. They finished their victory slide in 51.52 seconds for a four-run total of 3:4246.
“I’m not an expert on the ice, but I know that its warmer today and I know when it’s warmer, the sled digs in a little bit more,” Olsen said. “So it can make the sled a little bit slower.”
Germany’s Andre Lange won silver and slipped in front of the Canadian bobsleigh piloted by Lyndon Rush by one one-hundredth of a second in his final run for a final time of 3:24.84. John Napier, the USA-2 pilot, did not participate in the final heat after experiencing soreness from his crash on Friday.
All week long, Holcomb deflected attention on the odds of ending the United States medal drought in the event. Instead, he claimed Lange would feel more pressure because he won the four-man competition in 2006 and the two most recent two-man events. As a group, though, USA-1 knew it was the team to beat. The Americans were confident enough to broach being cocky.
And they came through.
“No more 62 years,” Holcomb said. “We’ll start the clock over. Now it’s going to be four years.”
Holcomb, who nearly went blind after battling keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease, could be one of the most unlikely gold medalists. He was flanked by Olsen, Mesler and Tomasevicz, who carry football pedigrees and still look as if they could play four quarters. Holcomb is shaped more like a drinking buddy — compact and rounded — than an Olympian.
He has fooled people, but he started earning recognition after finishing sixth at the 2006 Olympics in the four-man event and capturing last year’s world championship.
“All of his life he’s been kind of a freak,” Steve Holcomb said. “He can run really fast, he can jump really high. He can play foosball with two balls against two people. He really has some interesting reaction times.”
He also has an interesting celebratory dance that helped cultivate his following. It is called the Holcy Dance, and consists of a two step and a wobble from side to side. Now he can dance to his content, his gold medal around his neck.
“I guess it’s the end of the Hokey Pokey,” Steve Holcomb said. “Now it’s the Holcy Dance.”
