The U.S. Nordic Ski Team, which for decades lagged far behind Nordic skiing's world powers, won its first ever medal in Olympic team competition with the silver in the combined team event in Vancouver Feb. 22. The Nordic combined event includes both ski jumping and a cross-country relay race.
The team includes two Utah athletes, Bret Camerota (birthplace: Salt Lake City; hometown: Park City; current residence: Park City; school: Salt Lake Community College) and Bill Demong (birthplace: Saranac Lake, New York; hometown: Vermontville, New York; current residence: Park City) as well as five-time Olympian Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane, who had already won a silver medal in the individual Nordic combined.
Camerota, the first native Utahn to win a medal in Vancouver, was the only Olympic rookie on a team that includes three world champions. Camerota's ski jump had helped the U.S. team gain a good starting position for the relay, only two seconds behind the leading Finnish team. Camerota's performance in the first relay leg was good enough to give the U.S. a small lead over the Finns going into the second leg. At the end of the race after several lead changes, Austrian skier Mario Stecher passed Bill Demong to win the gold, leaving the U.S. with a historic and ultimately satisfying silver.
Photo: Team USA (L-R) Bill Demong, Johnny Spillane, Todd Lodwick, and Brett Camerota celebrate after winning Olympic Silver in the Nordic Combined on day twelve of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Feb. 22, 2010. (Clive Mason, Getty Images)
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