Steven Paul Holcomb (April 14, 1980 – May 6, 2017) was an Americanbobsledder who competed from 1998 until his death in 2017.[1][2] At the2010 Winter Olympics inVancouver, he won the four-man bobsled event for the United States, its first gold medal in that event since 1948.[3] At the2014 Winter Olympics inSochi, he finished second in both the four-man and two-man event.
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 Cup team, 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 Cup season; 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]
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 Championships and season-longIBSFBobsleigh World Cup final 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.
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 Olympics inSochi, in both the two-man and four-man bobsled. On February 16, Holcomb and brakemanSteve Langton won 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]
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 Cup season, 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-man and2016–17 Overall Combined World Cup standings.
Holcomb was found dead in room 202 at theUS Olympic Training Center inLake 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 level of 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 Olympicskeleton athlete.[19] Holcomb and Uhlaender were featured inThe Weight of Gold (2020), anHBO Sports Documentary which "explor(es) the mental health challenges that Olympic athletes often face."[20][21]
United States
Bobsleigh
