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WHISTLER, British Columbia (AP) — Former Nebraska football player Curt Tomasevicz and the “Night Train” USA Team 1 won the gold medal in the four-man bobsled event on Saturday, ending a 62-year drought for the Americans in the event.
It was the first gold medal for the U.S. in sliding's signature race since Francis Tyler won one for the Americans at St. Moritz in 1948.
Tomasevicz, an ex-Husker linebacker from Shelby, Neb., along with teammates Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and driver Steve Holcomb, completed a four-run time of 3 minutes, 24.46 seconds.
German legend Andre Lange, who failed to win a gold medal for the first time in five Olympic events, had a nearly perfect final run to win the silver in what he says will be his final race. Lange finished 0.38 seconds behind USA Team 1.
Lyndon Rush drove Canada-1 to the bronze.
Holcomb and his sledmates crossed the finish line then wrapped each other in American flags. Holcomb hoisted his helmet high as family and friends craned for photographs, and a party the U.S. program waited 62 years to throw was finally getting under way.
“It's huge,” said USA-3 driver Mike Kohn, who finished 13th. “This is a great moment. It's hopefully going to change the program and bring some publicity and some funding to this sport, just like it did in ‘02 when we won silver and bronze.”
Kohn was a push athlete for Shimer's sled at those 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, when Todd Hays drove to silver and Shimer got the Americans a bronze.
Minutes after it was over, Tomasevicz pulled off Holcomb's hat, planting a smooch on his pilot's bald, sweaty head.
Sealed with a kiss, it was, and then the four men stood atop the podium for the flower ceremony at trackside — medals come later Saturday night — and did what's known as the “Holcy Dance,” the little shuffle step that Holcomb does to keep his team loose.
From there, Holcomb hugged anyone he could wrap his giant arms around, and Mesler hopped the wall of the bleachers to celebrate with his family.
“It means an awful lot,” said Darrin Steele, CEO of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. “This has been a long road. But all the components came together. You put a sled and a team together, and you never know how it's going to go.”
A slew of U.S. teammates rushed to Holcomb's sled, and one of the first to offer congratulations was Geoff Bodine, the 1986 Daytona 500 champion who was the driving force behind the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project — which funded and built the sleds Americans raced at the Vancouver Games.
“It's a great thing for the U.S.,” Canada-2 driver Pierre Lueders said. “They've been competitive in bobsled for so long, but have been shut out quite a few times. He definitely is a talent, and I can't wait to see how he's going to do four years from now.”
The “Night Train” guys were overwhelmed a few weeks ago, when they were surprised with shimmering championship rings for winning the four-man world title.
A new piece of jewelry awaits.
It was 1948 when Tyler, Patrick Martin, Edward Rimkus and William D'Amico went to St. Moritz and won the four-man bobsled gold for the United States, the second time in three Winter Olympics that Americans won sliding's marquee event.
A 50-year gap between world four-man titles for the U.S. ended last year in Lake Placid. And now, the Olympic skein is finally over.
“When they raise the flag and play 'The Star-Spangled Banner' for your son,” said Steve Holcomb, the bobsledder's father, his voice choking at the thought, “well, that's pretty cool.”
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