Grandpa rides up above as Shea grabs gold in skeleton

Jimmy Shea tucks his grandfather's funeral card in his helmet.

Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 21, 2002

PARK CITY, Utah -- Grandpa went along for the ride. And what a ride it was. Dad was there too.

With his grandfather's funeral card tucked inside his helmet, American Jimmy Shea won the gold medal in skeleton Wednesday. Together they traveled the 4,380 feet of icy twists and turns, the G forces building as they reached speeds close to 80 mph.

The victory was the culmination of an emotional two months for Shea, whose grandfather, Jack, died Jan. 22 of injuries in a car crash in Lake Placid, N.Y. He was 91. Jack Shea was the first double gold medalist in the Winter Olympics, winning two speed-skating events at the 1932 Lake Placid Games, and was America's oldest living Winter Olympian.

"My grandpa was with me the whole way," Shea said.

"I think he had some unfinished business before he went up to heaven. I think now he can go."

Shea's father, Jim Sr., watched with tears in his eyes as his son beat defending world champion Martin Rettl of Austria. World Cup champion Gregor Staehli of Switzerland, the 1994 world champion who came out of retirement to compete, won the bronze.

Jim Sr. competed in three cross-country events at the 1964 Innsbruck Games, making the Sheas the first three-generation family of Winter Olympians.

"Are you happy, Dad?" Shea asked as he rushed to his family after winning the gold.

"Yes, Son, I am," Jim Sr. answered.

That was the short answer. The truth is that his emotions ran the gamut -- joy, anger, sadness.

"Yeah, I'm angry," Jim Sr. admitted later when asked about his father, whose life ended in a wreck in which the other driver was charged with drunken driving.

"But when your number is called, you don't have an option. You have to understand, Dad lived 91 years and he was sharp right up to the end. I think Jimmy had a little extra oomph behind him because of what happened to his grandfather."

The final moments of Shea's second run were breathtaking. He trailed Rettl by .01 of a second and seemed destined for silver as he neared the finish. Somehow, on the final turn he gained time.

His sled, airbrushed with the American flag, slowed, but Shea couldn't wait. He was so excited he fell off. He then pulled out his grandfather's card and waved it as fans chanted, "U-S-Shea! U-S-Shea!" He stared at the clock just to make sure as Rettl and Ireland's Clifton Wrottesley hugged him.

"I told him, 'Live the dream,' " said Wrottesley, who finished fourth. "I think it's a fitting tribute to Jack. I'm sure he's up there with my dad doing cartwheels in the sky."

In addition to the photo, Shea carried a small speed-skating pin that his grandpa won in 1921. Several other athletes also went down the skeleton course with Jack Shea funeral cards under their suits.

Back home in Lake Placid, the crowd at the Great Adirondack Steak and Seafood restaurant shouted with joy, waved American flags and chanted, "Go, Jimmy! Go, Jimmy!"

Shea's triumph seemed predestined. A steady snow was falling, which meant those sliding later in the first run would be slower.

Staehli, who won all but one of the five races in the recent World Cup season, slid first. But when he finished in 51.16 seconds, the opportunity for Shea was there.

Rettl was next, and he zoomed into first place in 51.02.

As Shea came to the line for the first time, the track had slowed.

"I just tried to concentrate on the basics," he said. "There's so much going on. There were 15,000 screaming people. I was just having a blast."

He finished the first run in 50.89, holding a lead over Rettl he wouldn't relinquish. His two-run time was 1 minute, 41.96 seconds. Rettl finished in 1:42.01; Staehli in 1:42.15.

Another American, Lincoln Dewitt of Park City, rallied for fifth in 1:42.83 after a bad first run. Chris Soule of Trumbull, Conn., was seventh in 1:42.08.

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