Snowboarder Shaun White figures to dominate one of the most-watched Olympic events, the men’s halfpipe, building on his heroics in Turin four years ago. Tim Burke could win the first-ever U.S. medal in one of the more obscure Olympic sports, biathlon. Speedskaters Apolo Anton Ohno and Shani Davis are back to add to their trophy cases, while bobsledder Steve Holcomb has eyes on driving Team USA to gold. A closer look at five top Team USA athletes to watch in Vancouver.
1. Shaun White
snowboarding
It’s difficult to imagine a skinny redhead from Southern California striking fear in the hearts of men around the world with a snowboard. Yet that’s the case for those who dream of winning an Olympic gold medal in the halfpipe.
When White, the reigning gold medalist, pulls up his bandana and drops into the superpipe, he turns into nothing short of a snowboarding ninja, a ruthless competitor who uses an arsenal of flying, spinning, kicking and flipping weapons few others even try. At age 23, White has dominated the big stage long enough to become a household name in a sport not much older than he is. And when he unleashes his new “Double McTwist 1260” on the masses in Vancouver, the world will begin to understand exactly why he’s so difficult to beat.
Considered the most difficult trick ever performed in a halfpipe, the Double McTwist 1260 combines a pair of flips with a pair of blindsided spins in a singular spectacle of supercharged snowboarding. Since White perfected the trick in competition in late January, no one has threatened his position as the sport’s biggest star. It’s impossible to imagine that changing in Vancouver.
Scott Willoughby, The Denver Post
2. Apolo Anton Ohno
Short-track speedskating
Ohno has been the United States’ best short-track speedskater since he won the 1996 national title at age 14. He needs one Olympic medal to become the country’s top Olympic speedskater, long or short, all time.
His five Olympic medals, including two gold, tie him with long-track speedskater Eric Heiden. After winning his 10th consecutive national title, Ohno will enter the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters and the 5,000 relay.
Sports Illustrated projects Ohno, 27, to win silver in the 1,000 and bronze in the 500. A major multiskater crash cost him the 1,000 gold in the 2006 Games in Turin. He has won the World Cup overall title three times, the last in 2005.
Though not from Vancouver, he will be somewhat of a hometown favorite. He was born and raised in Seattle, three hours south, and that’s where he fell in love with the short track after watching the 1994 Lillehammer Games.
He followed his surprise national title two years later with a disastrous 16th place at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. He nearly quit the sport afterward, feuding with his father, before reluctantly moving to Lake Placid, N.Y., to train. He has been America’s best since.
John Henderson, The Denver Post
3. Steve Holcomb
Bobsled
Only two years ago, the man destined to drive the U.S. four-man bobsled in the Olympics couldn’t see his hand, let alone an approaching curve at 90 mph. Holcomb was considered legally blind. His vision had degenerated to the point where lenses did little good and he considered retirement.
However, an experimental 10- minute procedure in which doctors implanted collamer lenses changed his vision from 2 0/500 to 2 0/20. His career was back on track. One problem. Because of his earlier poor vision, Holcomb, 29, had learned to drive by feel.With his vision returned, he had to start over.
“I actually had to kind of unlearn,” he told . “I had to take steps to really focus on not looking at the track, focus on the feel, the way the sled moves, how the guys are behind me as opposed to trying to see where I’m going.”
He proved he’s a quick learner, driving the U.S. to the 2009 world title, Team USA’s first in 50 years. The U.S. hasn’t won a gold in four-man bobsled since 1948, but has a chance in Vancouver if the favored Germans falter.
The sled is called the “Night Train” and designed after a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with the same name.
John Henderson, The Denver Post
4. Shani Davis
Long-track speedskating
In a sport known for solitary figures skating on long patches of ice, Davis is the lonest of all wolves.
He doesn’t talk to the media. He doesn’t have a coach. He cut off accepting funds from the U.S. Olympic Committee in favor of his own sponsors. Yet he’s still a favorite to win two gold medals.
Davis, 27, has been the center of the soap opera that surrounds U.S. men’s speedskating since his public squabble with teammate Chad Hedrick at the Turin Games.
The teammates do not speak to each other, and the rift may have widened since Davis reversed field and decided not to help the U.S. in the team pursuit, an event the Americans would likely medal in if Davis raced.
Instead, Davis will skate all four individual events, though he’s favored to medal only in the 1,000, in which he’s the defending Olympic champion and unbeaten this year, and the 1,500, which he has lost only once this season and won silver in 2006.
Davis made history in Turin by becoming the first African-American to win a Winter Olympic gold medal.
“I’m one of a kind,” Davis said.
John Henderson, The Denver Post
5. Tim Burke
Biathlon
An American has never medaled in this sport, but Burke appears poised to do just that. Burke, 28, skied into Olympic medal contention with three podium appearances during the World Cup season. He earned the World Cup’s yellow leader’s bib at the season’s third event — becoming the first American to hold that honor — and kept it through two more competitions.
What would it mean to win America’s first Olympic medal in biathlon, a sport that combines cross country skiing and shooting?
“A medal in biathlon would help expose our sport to the whole country and would do wonders for our program,” Burke said.
A native of Lake Placid, N.Y., he grew up knowing nordic combined skier Bill Demong, who is from the same area. Demong can relate to Burke’s emotions because the U.S. nordic combined team also seems poised to win its first Olympic medal.
“He is the real deal,” Demong said of Burke, “and I think more than anything he is feeling the burn similar to what we have in nordic combined: overcoming a history of not-so-great results, and trying to prove to the world, as well as himself, that the U.S. is good at biathlon.”
John Meyer, The Denver Post
