In case you missed it, some great stories have appeared since Sunday about the U.S. Nordic Combined team member Johnny Spillane bringing home the team’s first-ever Olympic medal. Tom Steitz is quoted in many of them:
National Public Radio – All Things Considered host Melissa Block took some time on Monday to interview Tom Steitz. Listen to the interview, and Tom’s first hand description of the emotion and celebration at the finish line.
Mercury News – “Bill Marolt, U.S. skiing chief executive, recalled why he gave the Nordic combined team support so many years ago, “They had a coach (Tom Steitz) who had a plan and a couple young kids performing OK,” said Marolt. “He sat down with me, ‘If we do these things, we’ll have success.’ I liked his plan and his passion.”
Sports Illustrated – “Former coach Tom Steitz remembers a meet in Norway in 1989 in which he discovered that the event organizers hadn’t provided the Americans with the usual heated huts and waxing facilities to prepare them for the competition. “They said it didn’t matter because we weren’t going to come close to winning anyway,” Steitz says. “They told us to go wax in the parking lot.”
Associated Press – “After 86 years of trying, we are actually legitimate,” said former U.S. coach Tom Steitz, who maintains close ties to the American team. “How do you boil up 86 years of frustration? You don’t. Everybody starts crying. We are all going to sit around tonight and drink champagne and touch the medal.”
You can read Tom’s personal account of the moments following Johnny’s history-making win in his blog entry posted earlier today.
Congratulations Tom, Johnny, and the entire U.S. Nordic Combined team!
Tags: coach, In the News, Johnny Spillane, Nordic Combined, Olympics, Tom Steitz