NEBRASKA /A.P. SPORTS
HUSKER PART OF USA BOBSLED GOLD
By John Axtell and Associated Press
Feb 27, 2010 - 11:51:44 PM

     The lone Nebraskan to compete in the Vancouver Olympics is coming home with a gold medal. 29-year old Curt Tomasevicz of Shelby...a former Husker football player...was a brakeman on the USA-1 sled that won the gold Saturday in 4-man bobsled.

      The victory by "Night Train" driven by Steven Holcomb ended a 62-year drought for the Americans in sliding's signature race.

     The streets of Shelby were virtually deserted during the tv broadcast of the final runs in the bobsled Saturday, as residents huddled together to watch the man most of them were already calling a local hero.

     George Thelen says it made everyone in Shelby feel good to just see Tomasevicz...a local football star before walking on at Nebraska...get to the Olympics, much less medal. The town supports him so much that residents raised over $20,000 two years ago to help him keep training and racing.

      Although this is the first gold for the U-S in 4-man bobsled since 1948, it wasn't a suprise. Tomasevicz, Holcomb, and their team were 6th at the 2006 games in Turin, won the World Cup last winter...the first time for the Americans in 50 years...and led the World Cup standings coming into Vancouver.

     German legend Andre Lange failed to win a gold medal for the first time in 5 Olympic events, but still had a nearly perfect final run to win the silver in what he says will be his final race...finishing 38-100ths of a second behind the Americans.

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