It was still early in Turin. Chad Hedrick had just opened up the 2006 Winter Olympics with the first gold medal for the United States. Everything was looking up.
Hedrick was the early star out of the gate, the early-line favorite as the Olympian most likely to become a celebrity when this thing was finished. There was no reason to think he would be alone among the U.S. athletes.
A few days later, Hedrick was relaxing at the Nike House after a grand lunch one of the marketing people there had prepared by hand. He was pleased with his victory and the custom kicks he had just designed for himself on a Nike Web site.
Yes, everything was looking up. The only downside–maybe–was dealing with all the swag.
“After a while, it gets old,” Hedrick said at Nike. “You always want what you can’t have, you know?”
A week later, Hedrick would know how right he was, as would most of the rest of U.S. Olympic contingent. For a team that has won 25 medals (nine gold, nine silver, seven bronze) through Saturday–more than at any other Winter Games away from American soil–this U.S. team seems poised to be remembered as one that, more than anything, failed to meet lofty expectations.
From boom to bust
The buildup to the 20th Winter Games was mountainous. Downhill skier Bode Miller was on nearly every newsstand cover. Hedrick’s sentimental triumph in the 5,000 meters on the first day of competition, a victory he dedicated to his grandmother on the anniversary of her death, kept the momentum going.
And then the skates–and the skis–fell off.
Miller, who earns an estimated $5 million per year in endorsements and was the subject of a huge pre-Olympic Nike advertising campaign, finished fifth in the downhill the day after Hedrick won his gold. It was a prelude to Miller’s 0-for-5 Turin record that was set after he straddled a gate just a few seconds into his first run Saturday in the slalom.
Hedrick, who had hoped to medal in as many as five events, ended up taking home three–only one gold. He admittedly was disappointed.
The U.S. women’s hockey team, a virtual lock for at least a silver, settled for bronze. Its male counterpart was eliminated in the quarterfinals without even a sniff of the medal stand.
Sasha Cohen, poised to win the gold medal in women’s figure skating and take over the mantle of U.S. supremacy from departing queen Michelle Kwan, considered herself lucky to come out with the silver after falling on the first jump in her long program.
Daron Rahlves, the best American speed skier ever with 12 World Cup championships, bowed out with no medals, including a shocking 10th in the downhill.
So much for the ski team’s slogan: “Best in the World.”
The U.S. women’s curling team bombed after winning the silver medal in the world championships, going 2-7 at the Olympics.
And the women’s freestyle skiers did not feel much consolation with their bronze.
Hot heads, hot dog
Then there were the embarrassments off the ice and snow.
The Shani-vs.-Chad showdown that captivated the Games for more than a week bubbled up when Shani Davis wouldn’t skate in the team pursuit. But the feud revealed much deeper cracks in their relationship, as well as the further deterioration between Davis, his mother Cherie and the U.S. Skating Federation.
It was a fight that included accusations of racism–both implied and direct–toward almost everyone involved, media included, and ultimately stirred the debate over whether the attention was good for the sport.
They were not alone.
Three-time Olympian Mike Modano ripped his sport’s federation for dropping the puck.
“You’d think USA Hockey would be a well-oiled machine, but it’s not,” he said after Finland eliminated the United States in the quarterfinals.
Modano’s team left Turin in tatters with a 1-4-1 record.
U.S. aerials skier Jeret Peterson was sent home after he was involved in an altercation with a friend from home.
Lindsey Jacobellis celebrated too soon in snowboard cross and lost a sure gold in the process–a hot-dogging American, leaving a bad taste in the mouth of all involved.
“I do wish that there would be more Olympic spirit,” former speedskating champion Dan Jansen sighed, trying to be diplomatic.
Gold, sliver and bronze linings
Still, 25 medals don’t happen by magic. Shaun White headlined a strong U.S. snowboard team, which accounted for seven medals, three gold. The speedskaters, when not focused on team infighting, also were winning seven (again, three gold) on the long-track rink.
On a truly inspiring note, gold- and silver-medal winning speedskater Joey Cheek, the flag-bearer for the Closing Ceremony, donated all $40,000 of his USOC bonuses–matched by the USOC–to the non-profit group Right to Play, which now has taken in more than $300,000 thanks to him.
Hedrick, with his gold, silver and bronze, is only the fourth U.S. Winter Olympian to win at least three medals in a single Games after speedskaters Sheila Young and Eric Heiden. And Apolo Anton Ohno was Hedrick’s counterpart on the short track with a gold and two bronze in Turin. Between these Games and Salt Lake City in 2002, Ohno has medaled in every short-track discipline.
Throughout the Games, Hedrick was resolute.
“I left Houston, left my friends and family, everything, completely changed my life to go to speedskating [from inline skating], so I’m here to win,” Hedrick said after he finished with a bronze to Davis’ silver in the 1,500. “Anything less than a win–second, fourth, eighth, 10th, 50th–it’s all the same thing to me.”
The men’s curling team surprised with the first U.S. medal in the sport by taking home the bronze.
Julia Mancuso and Ted Ligety won gold medals in alpine skiing, some consolation after the team was projected to win eight in all. And the women’s freestyle skiers did not feel much consolation with their bronze.
Wheaties anyone?
Is the American public interested in speedskaters who bicker and skiers who brag?
Despite winning only one gold medal in five events, Hedrick is in prime position to capitalize, according to his agent. In addition to the usual run through the talk-show circuit–Leno, Letterman–Ty Klinic said his “phone is ringing” and that McDonald’s is “very interested.”
As a champion inline skater, Hedrick said he was making $150,000 annually in earnings and equipment endorsements when he came to speedskating three years ago. He hopes to improve on that.
“Chad is the all-American boy, he’s a good-looking kid,” Klinic said. “A lot of times it’s not necessarily your accomplishment in athletics that makes a lot of money in endorsements. Look at Anna Kournikova (the tennis player with millions of dollars worth of endorsements despite never having won a pro tournament singles title).
“Not to compare tennis to speedskating, but the way Chad puts himself out there, he’s a very likeable guy and that’s what America looks for, it looks for people to endorse products who are approachable and Chad is that kind of guy.”
Davis, who went home with gold and silver medals, appeared on Jay Leno on Thursday night from Turin and also was on with Jim Lampley and on another late-night Olympic show on MSNBC. This came after Davis received criticism for a sullen and largely non-responsive post-race interview with an NBC reporter following his gold-medal victory.
While Davis’ agent would not discuss any pending endorsement deals, Toon Gerbrands, director of speedskating teams for the Dutch bank DSB (a major sponsor of sports in the Netherlands), said he hopes to negotiate a new contract with Davis after the Olympics now that his old one has expired.
In his country, Gerbrands compares Davis to “a little bit like Michael Jordan, a very famous guy.” But more than famous, Gerbrands said, he is beloved.
“We have never had a problem with him or his mother,” he said. “On the contrary, we have always had a good relationship. Everybody in Holland is very positive about him. Shani has a Dutch attitude–quiet and try to do your best.”
While Davis took a passing swipe at Hedrick’s desire to pursue acting, Hedrick said in an interview early in the Games that he soon will start improv classes and he wants to pursue acting as well as broadcasting. On Friday, he also stated his intention to stay in speedskating and compete in the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
“This three-month window that everyone keeps talking about with the Olympics is something that is not going to happen with me,” he said of the perception that there is a finite period in which to strike. “I’m going to take this experience here at the Olympics to turn it into something bigger. I’m going to be getting into acting here soon. I’m doing a lot of different things. This is just something that’s going to take me to the next level.”
That, of course, remains to be seen.
Cohen and three-time Olympic hockey player Angela Ruggiero tried to reconcile their respective disappointments.
“We’re always hoping for endorsements and sponsorships,” Cohen said. “We have to make a living. But it’s so secondary for me. I love to perform. It’s raw and it’s magical and it’s the reason I keep doing this every day.”
Ruggiero said she and her teammates learned from their loss to Sweden, which knocked them out of gold-medal contention.
“You get a lot more press and you might make more money, those so-called American ideals, when you get a gold medal,” she said. “You’re always going to shoot for gold. But there are a lot of things in life where you try your best and go for the top that don’t always work out.”
View from below
Prime-time viewership of the Winter Games through Wednesday had decreased 33 percent from Salt Lake City in 2002 and 19 percent from Nagano in ’98. And while experts blame the many choices viewers now have, the lack of a proven name (hello, Michelle Kwan) did not help.
As the face of the Games coming in, Miller’s disastrous Olympics also didn’t help NBC’s ratings. And Mancuso’s gold on Friday was an achievement considered too little, too late to recapture interest and excitement.
For Rahlves, the disappointment of retiring from Olympic competition without a medal hit him hard.
“If you get a gold medal in the Olympics, it doesn’t matter what else you have done,” he admitted. “That’s one of those things. That’s how it is.”
Then again, he and the others might be advised to listen to 20-year-old Turkish figure skater Tugba Karademir. She finished 21st in the final standings but after she skated a clean short program, a national telecast of a Turkish parliamentary session was pre-empted to show her long program live.
That Hedrick says anything less than a gold is like losing annoys Karademir.
“I just want to say to him, `You know what, just to be at the Olympics is a fortunate event for some people, so just don’t take it for granted,'” she said. “You have to be grateful to be here and not be spoiled.”
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misaacson@tribune.com
