Close-knit Americans take aim at U.S. nordic combined medal

WHISTLER, B.C. — With one history-making Olympic medal safely in hand, the U.S. nordic combined team goes after the one they want most — the team event Tuesday at Whistler Olympic Park.

Veterans Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane, of Steamboat Springs, Colo. and Vermonville, N.Y.'s Billy Demong have 13 Olympics among them.

They've been the stalwarts on the team, together for four straight Games. They'll team with Olympic rookie Brett Camerota in the event that pairs ski jumping in the morning with a 10-kilometer cross-country ski race in the afternoon.

With Spillane's Feb. 14 silver medal, the U.S. team won its first Olympic medal in Games history. Lodwick, in front almost the entire race, was fourth. Demong rallied from a poor jump to finish sixth.

"Nobody has to perform any miracles," Spillane said Sunday. "There's a big difference between being a medal hopeful and a medal contender. We're not just hoping for a medal, but we have to go out and do our best."

Most figured the team medal would come sooner. But when it comes to this event, the U.S. seems hexed in big moments.

At Salt Lake City in 2002, the U.S. had moderate success on the World Cup and figured the home-course advantage would be enough to put them over the top.

They were third going into the race, and had all but chalked up the program's first Olympic medal. But the wrong wax doomed them, allowing Germany to pass them, bumping them off the podium. The U.S. finished fourth. Team members cried during the postrace news conference.

"We were crushed," Demong said. "Absolutely crushed."

In 2006, the team finished a disappointing seventh, and Lodwick criticized another teammate for being the weak link. Soon after, they patched things up, but another opportunity was lost.

At last year's world championship, the Americans experienced a breakthrough, winning a total of four medals (three gold). They would've had a near-certain fifth medal in the team event, but Demong lost his racing bib before the jump and the team was disqualified.

Demong routinely stuffed the bib inside his one-piece jumping suit. Only later did Demong discover the bib had slipped down to his pants leg.

But there's a bond between the three, forged over years of sharing cramped European hotel rooms and cars, and even beds, while competing in a sport Americans know little about.

So when a cringing Demong faced his teammates. Lodwick basically told him not to sweat it. Spillane, Demong's road roommate who knows him best, just laughed. Later that week, Demong won his first individual world title.

Lodwick and Demong share a love for road cycling in the offseason. Spillane and Demong have bow-hunted together. They're the closest team an individual sport can have. That's why it would be fitting — and about time — for the U.S. to win an Olympic team medal Tuesday.

"We've got high expectations, but these expectations are realistic," Lodwick said after training Sunday. "There's nothing far-fetched. If we keep doing what we're doing and we keep grounded, we'll be just fine. I'm psyched."