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Brian Martin and Mark Grimmette take silver and Chris Thorpe and Clay Ives bronze behind German duo.
Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 16, 2002
PARK CITY, Utah -- Even Chris Thorpe was amazed.
He wasn't surprised teammates Brian Martin and Mark Grimmette won silver Friday in luge doubles or the German team of Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch won gold. He was astonished he and Clay Ives took the bronze.
"It's crazy to me," Thorpe said. "This is my 32nd international medal and only Clay's second. To be able to get on the podium at the Olympic Games with a two-year team, I still can't believe it."
Thorpe is only the second slider to win Olympic medals with different partners. He won silver at Nagano with Gordie Sheer and missed becoming the first to win two silvers in doubles by .004 seconds.
Competing in his fourth and final Olympics, Thorpe said he felt like a rookie.
"I've never been so nervous in my life," he said. "I don't think I can be more nervous."
Maybe it was the crowd of 15,000 screaming and waving American flags.
"On the first run, the crowd gave us a big cheer and then settled down and were quiet so we could focus," Thorpe said. "On the second run, it was just chaos.
"In 17 years of sliding, I've never felt such emotion on a sled. It felt like we were going to break apart into pieces."
Instead, the breakdown happened at the finish line, when Thorpe's wife, Kriste, eight months pregnant, gave him a hug.
"She was crying," the 31-year-old Thorpe said. "She said she was proud of me. That was real special to have her there."
The Americans, who finished 2-3 for the second straight Olympics, were nearly a match for Leitner and Resch. In their first three years of sliding together, the German duo won two world championships but also crashed 50 times.
They felt the pressure, too.
"We were under a lot, but before the competition, I didn't think gold," Leitner said.
"I just treated it like the last run of the season, concentrated and brought it down."
Grimmette and Martin seemed destined for their second straight bronze but had the fastest second run among the 17 sleds that finished the race -- two crashed and were disqualified -- and edged their teammates.
"Having the experience of Nagano helped us to tune out the crowd and concentrate," said Martin, who took bronze with Grimmette in 1998.
It was a sweet moment, too, for Ives, who also is retiring. He quit the Canadian team because of a lack of funding after Nagano and hooked up with Thorpe after Sheer retired in 2000.
The two had struggled, and Thorpe had not found the chemistry he had with Sheer.
The only other time Ives had stood on a podium was in the World Cup finale three weeks ago, when he and Thorpe took silver.
"It feels great. I feel proud to be an American athlete," said Ives, who grew up in Bancroft, Ontario, and has dual citizenship.
"Thank God the U.S. took a chance on me. I can't express how happy I am to be here and win a medal for the United States."
Leitner and Resch carried on the rich legacy of the German luge team. Since luge was added in 1964, the Germans have won nine of the 11 doubles gold medals. But the Americans have at least made a dent.
"It's continued success," said Sheer, who is still involved with the team and was there cheering at the end. "It shows that (1998) wasn't a fluke."