Finals, but no medal for Korean bobsleigh team
The Korea-1 team piloted by Kang Kwang-Bae (front) start heat 3 of the four-man bobsleigh event at the Whistler Sliding Center during the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Feb. 27. [AFP/YONHAP]
Led by Kang Kwang-bae, the Korean four-man squad qualified for the finals with the 19th best overall record. The Korean team clocked in at 52.92 seconds in the finals for a four-run time of 3 minutes 31.13 seconds.
The team had faced financial difficulties in the past and Korea still does not have an official bobsleigh course. In a congratulatory message sent to the team, President Lee Myung-bak said, “Your strong will and spirit of overcoming challenge has moved our people.”
The gold medal went to the Americans. With one more perfect run down sliding’s most treacherous track, Steven Holcomb drove USA-1 to the Olympic gold medal in four-man bobsledding Saturday, ending a 62-year drought for the Americans in the event.
It was the first gold medal for the United States in sliding’s signature race since Francis Tyler won one for the Americans at St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1948.
Holcomb’s four-run time was 3 minutes 24.46 seconds, with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz pushing for him again - just as they did in winning the world championship a year ago.
“This is bigger,” U.S. coach Brian Shimer said.
German 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 his last race. Lange finished 0.38 seconds behind Holcomb and his team.
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.
“This will take a while for it to sink in,” Holcomb said. “You work so hard, and when you finally get there it’s like, ‘Well, now what? I don’t know what to do.’ We’ve worked so hard and gone through so much in the last four years to end on a high note like this is huge. It’s overwhelming.”
USA-3 driver Mike 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.
“It’s huge,” said 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.”
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 came 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.”
It wasn’t long ago that Holcomb had 20-500 vision - “profound visual impairment” - that could have ended his bobsledding career before he managed to scrape up $15,000 to have contact lenses embedded behind his iris to correct a degenerative condition. He’s bobsled’s best now.
AP, Yonhap
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한국 봅슬레이가 첫 올림픽 무대에서 결선 레이스까지 오르는 ‘작은 기적’을 창조했다. 라이벌 일본을 제치고 아시아 국가로는 유일하게 결선에 진출한 것이다. 경기장 하나 없는 불모지에서 열정만으로 일군 대한민국 청년들의 쾌거다.
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한글 기사 보기
변변한 훈련장도 없고 실업팀도 딱 한 곳뿐 … 대표선발전도 일본서
한국 봅슬레이가 첫 올림픽 무대에서 결선 레이스까지 오르는 ‘작은 기적’을 창조했다. 라이벌 일본을 제치고 아시아 국가로는 유일하게 결선에 진출한 것이다. 경기장 하나 없는 불모지에서 열정만으로 일군 대한민국 청년들의 쾌거다.
‘한국 봅슬레이 원조’ 강광배(37·강원도청)를 중심으로 김정수(29·강원도청), 이진희(26·강릉대), 김동현(23·연세대)이 출전한 대표팀은 28일(한국시간) 휘슬러 슬라이딩센터에서 열린 밴쿠버 겨울올림픽 봅슬레이 남자 4인승에서 1∼4차전 합계 3분31초13으로 25개 팀 중 19위를 기록했다. 미국이 금메달을 차지했고, 독일과 캐나다가 그 뒤를 이었다.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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