Steven Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz changed that over the last two days. These four men laid down 4 nearly perfect runs over the last two days, getting the U.S. their first gold medal in the sport of bobsleigh since 1948!
This gold medal had been building for a few years now. This sled, driven by Holcomb, won the World Championships last year, and put the world on notice that they were going to be a force at these Olympics. Throwing a wrench into these plans, though, was legendary German driver Andre Lange, who had won gold in 4 man in each of the previous two Olympics. He had announced that this would be his last Olympics, and the Germans would be trying to get him a 3rd Gold Medal to go out on.
Luckily for USA-1, Holcomb was on point all week, leading the USA to the best time in each of the first three runs. By the time the 4th run came around, they had a big enough lead that basically, as long as they didn't crash, Gold would be theirs. They still put down the 3rd fastest run of round 4, and finished .38 seconds ahead of the German sled.
This gold medal was just another amazing performance by the Americans in these Olympics. The Alpine team had unprecedented success, winning 8 medals. The Nordic Combined team won the US's first ever medals in the event, including their first gold. And now the US has won Olympic gold for the first time in 62 years.
Tomorrow is the final chance for the U.S. to shock the world. The Men's Hockey team has rolled into the Gold Medal final, despite not being expected to even medal. Now, they will have to face a heavily favored Canadian team they beat just last week. If they can pull off the unthinkable and defeat the powerful Canadians again, it will cap off a record setting Olympics for the U.S. Olympic Team.
GO USA!
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