Steven Holcomb
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Full name | Steven Paul Holcomb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | Holky, Holcomb, Steve | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Park City, Utah,U.S. | April 14, 1980||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | May 6, 2017 Lake Placid, New York,U.S. | (aged 37)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | Team Holcomb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Bobsleigh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | U.S. National Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turned pro | 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coached by | Brian Shimer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Olympic finals | 2006 – 6th place 4-man 2006 – 14th 2-man 2010 – Gold Medal 4-man 2010 – 6th place 2-man 2014 – Silver Medal 4-man 2014 – Silver Medal 2-man | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World finals | 2009 FIBT World Champion 4-Man 2012 FIBT World Champion 4-Man 2012 FIBT World Champion 2-Man 2012 FIBT World Champion Team Event | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Steven Paul Holcomb(April 14, 1980 – May 6, 2017) was an Americanbobsledderwho competed from 1998 until his death in 2017.[1][2]At the2010 Winter OlympicsinVancouver,he won the four-man bobsled event for the United States, its first gold medal in that event since 1948.[3]At the2014 Winter OlympicsinSochi,he finished second in both the four-man and two-man event.
Early career
[edit]Holcomb learned to ski when he was 2 years old. He was born inPark City, Utah,where his mother would take him skiing at every opportunity. He began ski racing when he was six at the main resort of Park City, and began ski racing for the Park City Ski Team for the following twelve years. During this time he was also an athlete in local sports, playing soccer, football, basketball, baseball, and running track. In 1998 he participated in a local USA bobsled team try-out and scored enough points to be invited to the National Team Camp, which included the National Push Championships. He finished in eighth place and was invited to stay for an additional week to train with the National Team. Despite his eighth-place finish, which qualified him for the national team, he was not selected because of his small stature and young age.
After placing 5th at the National Team Trials in early October 1998 at theUtah Olympic Park,he chose to attend theUniversity of Utah.Shortly following the naming of the American 1998IBSFBobsleigh World Cupteam, an injury caused the withdrawal of one member. On November 3, 1998, he was asked to join the World Cup team inCalgary,Alberta,for the first World Cup race, where he pushed for driverBrian Shimer.He then went on to have an above average career as a pusher for drivers Jim Herberich, Mike Dionne,Todd Hays,and Brian Shimer. Shortly before the2002 Winter Olympics,Holcomb was cut from Brian Shimer's team, and replaced with Dan Steele, a veteran from the1998 Winter Olympics.At the Utah Olympic Park for the 2002 Winter Olympics, he served as a bobsled forerunner, who tests the bobsled course prior to competition.
Starting with the 2004–2005 season, he achieved second and third ranked American driver. Holcomb left the military with an honorable discharge in June 2006, and focused on competition on the World Cup circuit. This led to immediate results in the2006–07 season,where Holcomb (with team members Jovanovic and Kreitzburg) won the two-man World Cup Championship, while he finished second in the four-man competition (with Jovanovic, Kreitzburg, and Mesler), which earned Holcomb the overall Combined Championship.
As Holcomb rose through the ranks of American bobsledders, the degenerative eye diseaseKeratoconus,initially diagnosed in 2002, began to affect his daily life and competitive skills, which led to depression.[4]In 2007, a non-invasive surgical procedure,corneal collagen cross-linking(C3-R), was performed to stabilize the disease,[5]and in 2008 implantable corrective lenses were inserted,[6]providing a measure of correction during the2007–08 Bobsleigh World Cupseason; he led his teams to three gold, three silver, and one bronze medals over that season. After Holcomb won gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Brian Boxer Wachler renamed the procedure C3-R to Holcomb C3-R, marking the first time a medical procedure was named after an Olympic athlete.[7][8]
Career
[edit]Over the course of his career, Holcomb piloted his two-man ( "Night Hawk" ) and four-man ( "Night Train" ) US teams to a total of 12 gold medals, 6 silver medals and 9 bronze medals acrossBobsleigh at the Winter Olympics,IBSF World Championshipsand season-longIBSFBobsleigh World Cupfinal standings. His results in individual Bobsleigh World Cup races, contributing to each season's final standings, include 29 gold, 23 silver and 9 bronze medals. As of the completion of his final (2016–17) season of all international competitions – and still true as of the completion of the 2021–22 sliding season – Steven Holcomb is the winningest American bobsled athlete in history.
Included in his success was the first US Four-man Olympic Championship title in 62 years, and the first US Four-man World Championship title in 50 years.
Olympics
[edit]It was announced on 17 January 2010 that Holcomb made the United States team in both the two-man and four-man events for the2010 Winter Olympics.On February 17, Holcomb led thefour-man US bobsled team to a gold-medal victory,ending a 62-year gold medal drought in United States Olympic four-man bobsled competition.
Holcomb qualified for the2014 Winter OlympicsinSochi,in both the two-man and four-man bobsled. On February 16, Holcomb and brakemanSteve Langtonwon the bronze medal in the two-man competition, ending yet another 62-year medal drought in US Olympic two-man competition.[9]These medals were upgraded to Silver Medals on March 27, 2019, when the IOC vacated the golds that Russian pilot Alexander Zubkov won in both the two- and four-man events due to doping.[10]That means Holcomb, who crossed the line third in both of those races, now is a two-time silver winner in addition to the four-man gold he won at Vancouver in 2010.[11]
World Championships, World Cup
[edit]At season-endingIBSF World Championships,Holcomb won four medals: a gold (2009 Four-man) and three bronzes (2008 Mixed team,2009 Two-man,2009 Mixed team).
Holcomb's successes at races during season-longIBSFBobsleigh World Cuptournaments have resulted in numerous World Cup season titles. For the2006–07 Bobsleigh World Cup,Holcomb won the overall2006–07 Two-man,[12]and2006–07 CombinedWorld Cup titles;[13]the Combined title combines the results from both two-man and four-man competition, with Holcomb's second place in the2006–07 Four-manstandings contributing to his title win in the Combined standings.[14]The 2006–07 result also made him the first American man to win theTwo-man World Cup title.With strong performances throughout the2009–10 Bobsleigh World Cupand2013–14 Bobsleigh World Cupseasons, Holcomb won the2009–10 Combined(his second),2009–10 Four-man(his first),2013–14 Combined(his third) and2013–14 Two-man(his second) World Cup season titles.
After his success on the 2013–14 World Cup circuit and at the 2014 Olympics, Holcomb fell back in the results for the World Cup and World Championship competitions of the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons. He roared back in the2016–17 Bobsleigh World Cupseason, which ended on 19 March 2017, just seven weeks before Holcomb's death. During that season, Holcomb piloted his sleds to second place in the year-end2016–17 Two-man,and third place in the year-end2016–17 Four-manand2016–17 Overall CombinedWorld Cup standings.
Military service
[edit]Holcomb served as a soldier in theUtah Army National Guardfor seven years,[15]from March 1999 until July 2006. During his Army National Guard service, he served as acombat engineerin the 1457th Engineering Battalion. He took part in theU.S. Army World Class Athlete Program(WCAP) for seven years. At the end of 2006, he received anHonorable Dischargefrom service. While in the National Guard, he earned anArmy Achievement Medal,Army Commendation Medal,Good Conduct Medal,Army Presidential Unit Citation,Army Superior Unit AwardandArmy Service Ribbon.
Education
[edit]Holcomb attendedThe Winter Sports School in Park City,graduating in 1997.
Boy Scouts
[edit]As a youth, Holcomb attained the rank ofEagle Scoutin theBoy Scouts of America.[16]
Death
[edit]Holcomb was found dead in room 202 at theUS Olympic Training CenterinLake Placid, New York,on May 6, 2017. He was 37.[17]The initial autopsy cited fluid in Holcomb's lungs as a significant factor, while a subsequent toxicology report indicated that Holcomb had ablood-alcohol levelof 0.188, along with a level of the sleeping aidLunesta.[18]
Holcomb had been found in his room byKatie Uhlaender,his close friend and US Olympicskeletonathlete.[19]Holcomb and Uhlaender were featured inThe Weight of Gold(2020), anHBO Sports Documentarywhich "explor(es) the mental health challenges that Olympic athletes often face."[20][21]
References
[edit]- ^"Steven Holcomb"(PDF).Men's Bobsled Biographies.U.S. Bobsled & Skeleton Federation. 2006. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on September 28, 2007.RetrievedOctober 12,2007.
- ^"Holcomb, Steven (USA)".Results Database.WIGE MEDIA AG. 2006. Archived fromthe originalon February 11, 2012.RetrievedOctober 12,2007.
- ^"U.S. claims first four-man gold medal since 1948".Winter Olympic Games 2010 Results.February 27, 2010. Archived fromthe originalon March 2, 2010.RetrievedFebruary 27,2010.
- ^Stump, Scott (January 17, 2014)."Olympic bobsledder overcomes depression, eye disorder to create lasting legacy".Today.RetrievedJune 10,2022.
- ^Maese, Rick (February 2, 2014)."Sochi 2014: Steven Holcomb hopes to defend bobsled gold".The Washington Post.RetrievedJune 10,2022.
- ^Michaelis, Vicki (February 9, 2010)."Can Steven Holcomb and 'Night Train' reach victory lane?".USA Today.Archivedfrom the original on March 7, 2019.RetrievedJune 10,2022.
- ^Shin, Peggy (August 28, 2013)."Go for the Gold: Steve Holcomb".TeamUSA.org.Archived fromthe originalon September 14, 2013.RetrievedJune 10,2022.
- ^Steve Holcomb, "The Doctors"(Stork,Ordon,Landry,Sears, Masterson), Brian Boxer Wachler (April 26, 2010).Steve Holcomb Joins The Doctors.The Doctors(season 2)(video).Los Angeles.RetrievedJune 10,2022.
- ^Bird, Amanda (February 17, 2014)."Holcomb and Langton break two man bobsled Olympic medal drought with bronze medal finish"(Press release).TeamUSA.org.Archived fromthe originalon February 19, 2014.RetrievedMay 8,2017.
- ^"CAS upholds doping ban for Russian bobsledder Zubkov".France 24.Agence France-Presse.October 31, 2020.Archivedfrom the original on August 17, 2021.RetrievedJune 11,2022.
- ^Kamrani, Christopher (March 27, 2019)."USA Bobsled, the late Steve Holcomb awarded Olympic silver medal upgrades from 2014 Games".The Salt Lake Tribune.Archivedfrom the original on March 28, 2019.RetrievedMarch 27,2019.
- ^"Bobsleigh | World Cup | Men: 2-Man".sports123.com.Archived fromthe originalon April 27, 2011.
- ^"Bobsleigh | World Cup | Men: Combined".sports123.com.Archived fromthe originalon April 27, 2011.
- ^"Bobsleigh | World Cup | Men: 4-Man".sports123.com.Archived fromthe originalon April 27, 2011.
- ^Hipps, Tim (January 15, 2009)."Military bobsledders dominate 4-man National Championships".United States Army's Family and MWR Programs.Archived fromthe originalon December 3, 2010.RetrievedNovember 22,2009.
- ^Wendell, Bryan (February 14, 2014)."Half of Team USA's 'Night Train' bobsled team are Eagle Scouts".Scouting.Archivedfrom the original on July 2, 2019.RetrievedMay 8,2017.
- ^Wharton, David (May 6, 2017)."U.S. bobsledding star Steve Holcomb found dead in room at Olympic training center".Los Angeles Times.Archivedfrom the original on May 6, 2017.RetrievedMay 8,2017.
- ^"Steven Holcomb had pills, alcohol in system at death".NBC Sports.Associated Press.June 13, 2017.Archivedfrom the original on April 18, 2021.RetrievedJune 11,2022.
- ^Kamrani, Christopher (September 26, 2017)."Skeleton slider, Olympic veteran Katie Uhlaender opens up after losing her best friend, Steve Holcomb".The Salt Lake Tribune.Archivedfrom the original on October 5, 2017.RetrievedJune 10,2022.
- ^"The Lede: HBO | The Weight of Gold".Bell Media.Archivedfrom the original on June 10, 2022.RetrievedJune 10,2022.
exploring the mental health challenges that Olympic athletes often face.
- ^Casselberry, Ian (July 28, 2020)."HBO's 'The Weight of Gold' a must-watch documentary showing mental health issues Olympic athletes face".AwfulAnnouncing.com.Archivedfrom the original on July 30, 2020.RetrievedJune 10,2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Holcomb, Steven; Eubanks, Steve (2012).But Now I See: My Journey from Blindness to Olympic Gold.BenBella Books.ISBN978-1-93785601-4.
External links
[edit]- Steven Holcombat theInternational Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation
- Steven HolcombatTeam USA(archive June 6, 2023)
- Steven HolcombatOlympics.com
- Steven HolcombatOlympedia
- Steven HolcombatIMDb
- Official websiteat theWayback Machine(archived May 10, 2019)
- 1980 births
- 2017 deaths
- Sportspeople from Park City, Utah
- Sportspeople from Utah
- Sports deaths in New York (state)
- American male alpine skiers
- American male bobsledders
- Bobsledders at the 2006 Winter Olympics
- Bobsledders at the 2010 Winter Olympics
- Bobsledders at the 2014 Winter Olympics
- Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics
- Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States in bobsleigh
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States in bobsleigh
- United States Army soldiers
- Utah National Guard personnel
- U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program
- 21st-century American sportsmen