Source: USA TODAY
American bobsled pilot Steven Holcomb has made history.
He wants more.
Holcomb, 33, wants to be one of the best who ever drove a bobsled, his name mentioned with legendary Germans, Italians, Swiss and Austrians.
At the Sochi Olympics, which open in eight days, he can become the first American since Billy Fiske in 1928 and 1932 to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in four-man bobsled, the first American in 78 years to win two-man gold and the first American in history to sweep both Olympic bobsled golds in the same year.
“He’ll be coming into these Olympics looking to accomplish goals, and one is to be the best ever,” U.S. bobsled coach Brian Shimer said. “We’re going to set our sights high, and our goal is to come out of there as double-gold medalists.”
Five others in Olympic history — Germany’s Andreas Ostler (1952), Meinhard Nehmer (1976), Wolfgang Hoppe (1984) and Andre Lange (2006) and Italian Eugenio Monti (1968) — have pulled off the double. Holcomb is well-positioned to join them.
Winning combination
A native of Park City, Utah, who joined the World Cup circuit as a brakeman in 1998, Holcomb is an outstanding pilot. He also has one of the world’s best push crews, and his new high-tech sleds are second to none.
“When you have all that coming together, we’re hard to beat,” Holcomb said.
Holcomb has had a fantastic season heading into Sochi. He and his crew won nine of 16 four-man and two-man World Cup races, including the first seven races of the season in North America.
A hiccup in the early portion of the European leg halted the momentum, but he finished strong in the final two World Cup races. He won gold in the two-man and silver in the four-man in Igls, Austria, and gold in the four-man in Konigssee, Germany, on Sunday.
Holcomb won the World Cup overall title in two-man, ahead of Switzerland’s Beat Hefti and Russia’s Alexander Zubkov, and finished second in the four-man standings, behind Germany’s Maximilian Arndt.
The World Cup standings determine the start order for Olympic races, meaning Holcomb will be the first sled down the hill in two-man and the second sled in four-man.
“You want to be one of the first sleds off the hill at the Games. The ice is cleaner, smoother. You’re going to have better conditions,” Holcomb said.
He is a bobsledder’s bobsledder. He loves talking shop. A computer science major, Holcomb wants to talk about his teammates, sled design and mechanics and the ins and outs of a particular track.
He calls the bond with his push athletes a brotherhood, and without Steve Langton, Curt Tomasevicz and Chris Fogt, Holcomb wouldn’t be in this position. He knows that, and they wouldn’t be in position for more gold if not for his ability to navigate.
In the clandestine world of bobsled technology, Holcomb doesn’t like to give specifics and constantly says designers and mechanics are tweaking the sleds.
“What’s kind of scary is that we still haven’t dialed in these sleds,” he said. “We’re still trying to figure out how to make these things faster.”
This year, Holcomb is driving new machines — a two-man sled designed by BMW and a four-man sled designed by Bo-Dyn Bobsled Projects, founded by NASCAR’s Geoff Bodine and Bob Cuneo. They also designed the four-man sled Holcomb drove to gold in 2010.
The steering mechanisms are slightly different, and it has been an adjustment.
“With the old steering, you were connected to the runners (blades on the bottom of the sled),” Holcomb said. “You could feel everything and put the sled anywhere you wanted. With the new steering, you lose that feeling, and we’re starting to learn how to get that back.”
Making history
In the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Holcomb and his crew became the first Americans to win gold in the four-man since 1948. It was a major achievement, and with a double-gold in the 2012 world championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., expectations for Sochi were raised.
“Holcomb has proven to be one of those who like the pressure and excels under that pressure,” Shimer said.
NBC analyst and former bobsledder John Morgan called Holcomb calm, fearless and a natural in the sled. “He was born to drive a bobsled,” Morgan said.
Holcomb has strong hand-eye coordination, which helps as he’s flying down a curved, iced chute at 80 mph. He was a competitive downhill skier before finding his home in a bobsled driver’s seat.
U.S. assistant coach Mike Kohn, who won four-man bronze in 2002, distilled Holcomb’s ability to the core. “What makes him great is his love of the sport,” Kohn said. “He loves everything about it. Just like any athlete in any sport, it derives from the love of the game.
“He also struggled to get to where he is. He’s there now and doesn’t take that for granted. The best in sports remember what got them there. He’s not afraid to get a little dirty.”
In 2008, Holcomb had experimental eye surgery to correct a disorder called keratoconus, which distorts vision and often leads to blindness. Before the corrective surgery, Holcomb battled depression, and in his 2012 book, But Now I See: My Journey From Blindness to Olympic Gold, he revealed a failed suicide attempt.
“Depression isn’t something you catch in the wind one day and get sick the next,” Holcomb wrote. “It is a gradual, degenerative process, much like my keratoconus. And just like my blindness, I chose to battle the demon on my own, without telling anyone or seeking help from others.”
Those days are behind him. It has been an ascent to bobsledding’s peak, with help from others, of course, since then.
Now, Holcomb and Shimer are focused on the track at the Sanki Sliding Center. The Americans, like everyone else except the Russians, have had limited practice time there.
There was a World Cup race last season, and Holcomb had 10 four-man and 10 two-man practice runs during a training week in November.
With the Olympic races being held on his home track, Zubkov is among the favorites. He has had more training runs on it than anyone else and skipped the final weekend of World Cup races to get in more training at Sanki.
“Russia is very, very determined to medal on their own track,” Shimer said. “They’re determined as a country to lead the medal count.
“Holcomb’s going to come into these Games having to work harder than he has on any track in the world to have a success in such a short period of time.”
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