MIDWAY, Utah — It took Steamboat Springs’ Todd Lodwick about a year and a half to realize he wasn’t ready for retirement.
Lodwick was the most successful U.S. skier in nordic combined history when he left the sport in 2006, a veteran of four Olympics who thought he had accomplished all he could on the snow — soaring over it and trudging through it in the skiing discipline that combines jumping and cross country.
Retirement gave Lodwick time to reflect, and there was a growing feeling that something was missing from his accomplishments: four Olympics, zero medals.
“I finished my career without finishing a goal of mine,” said Lodwick, who has come out of retirement and is focused on reaching the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
“I enjoyed the time off. Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I enjoyed being away and not doing anything, but again, some goals were left unfinished. That’s what really prompted my comeback, was to fulfill those. To hang some hardware around my neck.”
Bronze, silver, gold. It doesn’t matter. Lodwick just wants a spot on the podium during an Olympic medal ceremony, something he has seen many times but never experienced.
The more he thought about the lack of a medal, the more it bothered him and got him thinking about whether he had retired too early.
Lodwick vacillated about coming back, prompting him to joke that his wife, Sunny, encouraged him to do it only so she wouldn’t have to hear him complain.
“He would talk about it, then he wouldn’t talk about it for a few months. Then he finally said ‘OK, I’m going to do it,’ ” she said. “Hardly anybody gets that opportunity in their life to ski and compete at the level that he is, so I’m totally supportive of him to do that.”
Lodwick made up his mind last spring and approached the U.S. Ski Team about coming back this season. Lodwick, who had a reputation when he was younger for being brash and outspoken, said he wanted to be a part of the American lineup in Vancouver.
The hard way
A six-time winner on the World Cup, Lodwick could have returned immediately to the top circuit but agreed to work his way back through the Continental Cup and get the U.S. Team an extra spot.
“I wanted to earn my place back with the team and not just some gimme — some freebie,” Lodwick said. “That’s where we stood the whole time.”
Lodwick showed right away that he was serious about the comeback, winning three of the four Continental Cup events in December. He led an American sweep in the first, blowing out the rest of the field with a dominant cross country leg through blowing snow at Soldier Hollow, site of the 2002 Olympic nordic events.
Lodwick was scheduled to return to the World Cup in Germany after Christmas, joining Americans Bill Demong and Steamboat’s Johnny Spillane, giving the U.S. three contenders in a sport that is dominated by Europeans.
“He was very understanding. He said ‘I don’t want to take away, I want to add,’ ” said John Farra, the U.S. Ski Team’s nordic director. “I think the growth of the program helped him realize he’s not going to come back and be the only superstar on the team.”
Demong, who finished third overall in the World Cup last season, Lodwick and Spillane are expected to fill three of the four spots in the team competition in Vancouver, which could be America’s best chance at claiming the first U.S. medal in a nordic combined event.
Lodwick was part of the 2002 team that finished fourth in the Salt Lake City Games. He was also fifth in the sprint that year and placed seventh in the individual, both all-time bests for an American.
Then came Turin in 2006, which was supposed to be his Olympic swan song but turned into a disaster. After a disappointing seventh-place finish in the team competition, Lodwick lashed out at teammate Carl Van Loan, accusing him of being out of shape and calling him the “weakest link.”
Lodwick apologized and acknowledged that he should have kept his feelings within the team and not gone public in a moment of frustration.
He capped it all with a disappointing ninth-place finish in the sprint.
“You give your heart and soul into something like that, and you cross the finish line in ninth place and knowing that that’s it, it was pretty hard to take,” Lodwick said. “I needed to get away and really enjoyed the time off. I think I appreciate the sport more and what I’ve accomplished since I’ve been away from it. I feel like I’m in the best shape now that I’ve ever been.”
Olympic dreams
Lodwick said the U.S. has its strongest nordic combined team he has seen and wanted to be part of it for the world championship in February and again a year later for his fifth Olympics.
At 32, Lodwick has mellowed and matured from his early years. He and Sunny have a daughter, Charley, born shortly before the Turin Games, and baby boy Finn. His family life is certainly busier than ever, but Lodwick trained hard over the summer and has shown he is still able to compete with younger athletes.
“He has come back with such a great attitude and a respect for what the athletes have been accomplishing since he retired. I think that was the difference,” Farra said. “He’s wanting to be a part of it as opposed to saying ‘Hey, I’m the man. You should be celebrating that I’m back.’ “
