OTC bobsledder anticipating Olympic challenge from German

RICHMOND, British Columbia – Ask Steven Holcomb about the bobsledder to beat at the Olympics, and he never raises an eyebrow before naming his primary competition.

“Andre Lange is the best driver in the world,” Holcomb said, dishing high praise for the German with back-to-back Olympic gold medals in four-man. Holcomb quickly added, “He’s not going to let me win, by any chance. But I’m not going to let him win either.”

The Olympic Training Center resident doesn’t mind the likelihood of some bulletin-board material heading into the Vancouver Games that begin Friday, motivated by a forgettable performance in 2006 and a history-making string of success the past year.

Holcomb, 29, joined forces this season with his OTC teammate, Curt Tomasevicz, Justin Olsen and Steve Mesler in leading the Americans to a four-man World Cup title, the first in 17 years for Team USA I. The group won five World Cup medals (three golds and two silvers) on the heels of a world championship in which Lange’s team was the runner-up.

How the times have changed for Holcomb since his Olympic debut, when he stumbled to a sixth-place finish. Then again, Holcomb has changed – literally. A 2008 surgery cured a degenerative eye disease – his vision was 20-500 – that nearly forced him into retirement.

“We’ve won more races, which just brings us together,” said Holcomb, trying to become the first American driver to claim Olympic gold since the late Francis Tyler in 1948. “We know each other better. The longer you work together, the better you get, and we’ve got a whole other year under our belt. We know we can do it. We know we can win.”

Sounds pretty confident, huh? Don’t think Holcomb hasn’t considered the Lange factor.

“It’s going to be who can drive with the least amount of mistakes,” Holcomb said. “There are going to be mistakes made. … It’s going to be just who can pick it up the quickest.”