Will the American men's bobsled team be able to end their 62-year Olympic gold-medal drought at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics?
We won't know until next February. But a good clue will come at this year's World Championships, which begin Friday in Lake Placid, N.Y.
The top American bobsledders will compete against the world's best for medals, prestige -- and a financial boost toward Vancouver.
"I am confidant that competing at our hometown we'll have a great turnout," said Steve Holcomb, who finished sixth in the four-man bobsled and 14th in the two-man sled at the 2006 Turin Olympics. Holcomb has won five World Cup bobsled medals this season, including a silver medal at the Whistler track that will be next year's Olympic venue. He says he "is ready to compete with the big guys and win."
But he also knows a lot is riding on his performance.
"I must admit though, the games will be a little stressful since it also determines our funding for the 2010 Olympic games," Holcomb added.
The majority of the bobsledders funding comes from the United States Olympic Committee, which allocates more resources to athletes with legitimate Olympic medal hopes.
"All (the USOC) care about is what's going to happen at the next Olympics, so with world championships medals, that's a pretty good indication you're going to win an Olympic medal and more funding comes," said men's coach Brian Shimer, a five-time Olympian.
Any medal would be an improvement over 2006, when the U.S. men were shut out. But a gold medal would be historic. The last U.S. men's team to win a bobsled gold was the four-man squad piloted by Francis Tyler at the 1948 St. Moritz Games.
American Todd Hays nearly broke the streak at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 when his team won a silver medal. He retired after the Turin Games, but is now competing again with an eye on Vancouver.
"It feels good to be back," said Hays, who turns 40 in May. "I realized that I was able to hold up physically in the America's Cup Race (his first race last April after coming out of retirement). The race turned out to be great, and here I am ready to compete and give it a full effort," said Hays.
U.S. women bobsledders have had far better Olympic luck than the men since the female two-person bobsled was introduced at the 2002 Salt Lake Games.
Americans Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers won gold in Salt Lake, and Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming won silver in Turin.
Rohbock has won four medals on this season's World Cup circuit, including a gold on the Vancouver Olympics track at Whistler. She's been in Lake Placid training for the Worlds.
"Being in Lake Placid before the World Championships actually gives us time to familiarize (ourselves) with the track, and I just feel that it's going to give us that big help that we need so we can bring home those medals," said Rohbock.
(E-mail Priscilla Chavez at intern(at)shns.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Post new comment