Medalversary - 14 years on
Every year since my team and I broke the 62-year draught of Americans winning Gold at the Olympic Games in 4-man Bobsled, I enjoy taking a few moments on the anniversary of that day - our Medalversary - to think about what it means to me today. Last week, on our Medalversary day of February 27th, I wrote the below post that I wanted to share with you. In the P.S. section, for those with nothing better to do, I’ve also embedded my reflections since 2017 - most brief and a few I clearly had more on my mind… the first public reflection happened to take place only months before we lost Steven Holcomb.
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February 27, 2024
14 years ago my team and I delivered on the promise of 20 years of work.
Here’s what that moment looked like…
20 years of work.
It wasn’t 20 years of the same thing. It was a daily cycle of successes and failures, simultaneously requiring the biggest ego, and none whatsoever.
It took understanding what real goals are. It took learning to be humble enough to examine exactly what went wrong, exactly what my part in that was, and what my part could be to make things better. It was learning how to bond, motivate and focus a group of individuals to accomplish something extraordinary.
I mean, who was that 20-something kid who thought he could be the best in the world? Who was that 31-year-old kid that deep down was positive he didn’t know exactly what needed to be done or that he could do it?
14 years on, this day continues to be inspiring, humbling, and for the past seven years, bittersweet.
Today, Curt, Justin and I miss you a lot old, friend. Our annual text chain continues to be an absolute reminder that you’re no longer here and at least your pain is gone. #RIP Holcy
Today is also a day, more than any other day of the year - not my birthday, not Christmas, not Hanukkah, not New Year’s - that causes me to reflect, and brings me to tears. Every single year I look back on the wildest of childhood, and adulthood, dreams accomplished. It brings up a level of gratitude I’m only beginning to find words for.
And today’s reflection is the most powerful one of these 14 so far.
This past year I feel like I’ve finally figured out how to translate what it took for us to win Olympic gold into the rest of my life in a healthy, powerful, and super productive way.
Figuring out how to distill the cult-like dedication and “sickness” it took to get to the top of the podium into true functionality that onboards the nuances of life, family, and longevity is like translating a book from Chinese to English - when you don’t speak Chinese. It takes a long time and you get a lot of things wrong.
But through uncovering and really understanding the ownership and accountability I took in all things leading up to our gold medal, this past year brought doing something that I never thought I would do (run a marathon), doing something I never thought I would be able to do again (squat heavy), and doing something better than I ever have before (growing and raising capital for Classroom Champions).
I couldn’t be prouder of what the four of us did 14 years ago and I couldn’t be more proud of what I’ve found myself doing this past year on a personal and professional level. To do these things with my kids and wife at my side is this year’s reason for the same tears that find their way to my eyes each year.
Thank you to everyone who was a part of that journey and to everyone who’s a part of this one! Go @TeamUSA.
- Steve
P.S.: Past reflections…
2022 Bobsled Hall of Fame speech:
2022 reflection:
2021 reflection:
2020 reflection:
2019 reflection:
2017 reflection:
