This has been a German stronghold, but the U.S. is improving after a big breakthrough in 2002 and the chief competitors are back. Germans have won the men’s four-man in six of the past eight Olympics and also won the men’s two-man in Salt Lake City. Vonetta Flowers, however, broke up a German sweep by placing ahead of two German teams in the women’s bobsled debut, and Shauna Rohbock is ranked third for the U.S. Todd Hays is ranked third in two-man and fourth in four-man. Two medals are not out of the question.
Who to watch
Pierre Lueders and Canada
The 35-year-old veteran won gold in the two-man in 1998 and won 35 World Cup medals before he fell to fifth at the Salt Lake Olympics. However, he won this year’s two-man World Cup title with 510 points, just ahead of Russia’s Alexandr Zoubkov’s 489.
Todd Hays and USA I
The former Tulsa linebacker and Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor broke America’s half-century medal drought
with a silver in the four-man at the Salt Lake Olympics and just missed a bronze in two-man. This season he finished third in the World Cup twoman behind Lueders and Zoubkov with 460 points.
Alexandr Zoubkov and Russia I
The Lueders-Zoubkov rivalry will be worth watching. While Lueders may be the driver to beat in the two-man, Zoubkov, 31, is favored in four-man. He won this season’s World Cup title in the event with 500 points, successfully defending his Cup crown. Lueders finished second with 485.
Sure bet
Sandra Kiriasis and Germany I
New to the Olympic scene, Kiriasis has exploded on the sport since Salt Lake City in two-person bobsled, the women’s lone bobsled event. She just finished her fourth straight World Cup title, capturing four of the six World Cup events, three with
Anja Schneiderheinze and one with Berit Wiacker. Her team’s 570 points nearly lapped the field. Helen Upperton of Canada was a distant second at 472.
Olympic spirit
USA Women
America had a bad news-good news experience when the women debuted at Salt Lake City. Two months before the Games, USA I driver Jean Racine dumped pusher and best friend Jen Davidson. Racine took on Gea Johnson, a former
heptathlete busted for steroid use who had moved to bobsledding that summer. But Johnson hurt her hamstring three days before the competition, and they finished fifth. Winning was USA II with Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers. Flowers became only the second black athlete to win a medal in the Winter Olympics and first to win gold.
Did you know …
Rock star American bobsledder Jean Prahm released a music video called “Heat on Ice” in which she’s lead singer.
Cheesy job Switzerland’s Martin Annen, the 2002 bronze-medalist in the two-man, works as a cheese maker.
RICH HISTORY | Bobsled racing began in the 1920s largely as an activity for the rich and adventurous who gathered at alpine resorts to compete and party.
U.S. Olympic team
Men
Todd Hays, 36, Del Rio, Texas
Steve Holcomb, 25, Park City, Utah
Randy Jones, 36, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Pavle Jovanovic, 29, Toms River, N.J.
Brock Kreitzburg, 29, Akron, Ohio
Steve Mesler, 27, Buffalo, N.Y.
Bill Schuffenhauer, 32, Ogden, Utah
Lorenzo Smith III, 27, Kankakee, Ill.
Curt Tomasevicz, 25, Lincoln, Neb.
Women
Valerie Fleming, 29, Foster City, Calif.
Vonetta Flowers, 32, Birmingham, Ala.
Bethany Hart, 26, North Grafton, Mass.
Jean Prahm, 27, Waterford, Mich.
Shauna Rohbock, 28, Orem, Utah
Where are they now?
Biran Shimer, USA
Shimer’s four-man bronze medal at Salt Lake almost overshadowed Hays’ record silver as Shimer made up for a driving
error that cost the U.S. a medal in Nagano in 1998. After carrying the U.S. flag during the closing ceremony, Shimer, now 43, became the U.S. driving coach and now coaches Hays, his teammate and chief competitor in 2002.
