Bobsled win elates '68 medalist

By JORGE SANCHEZ, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 25, 2002

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INVERNESS -- Former Olympic medalist Bob Huscher said this year's gold medal-winning U.S. women's bobsled team has done a lot to change the perception that the Winter Olympics is primarily a European showcase.

"They proved that America can compete with anybody in the Winter Olympics," Huscher said. "They won the gold medal the first time out. They proved you don't have to be in the sport too many years to have a good team."

Olympians Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers won the inaugural women's bobsled Tuesday night by beating the favored Germans and their U.S. counterparts in the other American sled. The victory ended a 46-year medal drought in bobsledding of any kind for the United States.

Huscher, 64, is a lifelong bobsled enthusiast. He was a member of the Olympic two-man and four-man bobsled teams. He competed in the 1968 Winter Olympics held in Grenoble, France. His team won a fifth-place medal.

"They just show the first three medalists on television, but they give out medals to the top six finishers," Huscher said.

Huscher was also a veteran member of the U.S. Navy bobsled team, which entered many national competitions.

Huscher's many awards and other memorabilia, including his Olympic medal, will be on display through mid March at the Lakes Region Library, 1511 Druid St., Inverness. Along with the impressive display are many books about Olympics and winter sports, assembled by the library staff.

"I had all my medals just packed away in boxes for years, and then a few people started asking about it and the librarian made the offer, so I took them all out. This is the first time I've had them all displayed like this," Huscher said.

Huscher said bobsled remains largely unchanged since the 1960s, unlike many sports. He still holds a speed record of 105 mph.

"The main thing that's changed are the tracks, both in number and the change from natural ice to refrigerated tracks," he said.

Huscher said that when he was training, the only bobsled course in the country was at Lake Placid, N.Y.

"That was our home field, and we always raced real well there," he said.'

He said natural ice is much faster than refrigerated courses.

"That's because the ice melts a little when the sun hits it directly and you can pick up some extra speed coming off the turns."

Huscher speaks in the microseconds parlance of speed sports. A good push at the start or hitting a patch of wet ice can decrease your time by a fraction of a second, he said. In some cases, that's enough for a win or a record.

Huscher, still trim and fit, said he got out of bobsledding in 1974.

"I got out before I got hurt. Some of the crashes have killed people," he said.

Huscher and his wife, Joan, have lived in Inverness for 13 years.

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