Burden to bear

Shea shrugs off talk of winning gold for grandfather

Jim Shea AP

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- Jimmy Shea has one thing on his mind now, and it's not a gold medal in skeleton.

Grandpa would be proud.

Three years ago, maybe even three months ago, Shea might have had a different mindset. That all changed when his 91-year-old grandfather, Jack Shea, who was America's oldest living Winter Olympics gold medalist, died last month from injuries in a car accident just a few blocks from his Lake Placid, N.Y., home.

"The majority of the people come up to me, and they say, 'I'm so sorry about your grandfather,'" Shea said. "They shake my hand and they say, 'You have to win the gold medal for him now. You have to do it, Jimmy.'

"You know, my grandfather just didn't think like that," Shea said. "My grandfather is happy that I'm here. He's happy that I'm having fun and trying my best, and that's all. That's it."

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Suddenly, reaching the top of the Olympic podium isn't such a big deal for the former world champion.

"After my grandfather's passing, it's really changed my attitude on a lot of things," Shea said. "I'm going to spend a lot of time trying to enjoy life."

Nine years ago, Jimmy Shea was doing just that, living the carefree life of a 24-year-old ski bum -- snowboarder by day and cook at night. A native of Hartford, Conn., he had moved to Lake Placid in 1988 searching for his niche in sports.

His grandfather had won two gold medals in speedskating at the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, and his father competed as a cross-country skier in three events at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.

The only skating Jimmy did was on the hockey rink, and skiing took a back seat to snowboarding. He briefly tried bobsledding, and that whet his appetite for speed. But since cooks don't earn enough to afford a bobsled -- they can cost upwards of $30,000 -- he gave skeleton a try.

Skeleton, which is making its Olympic comeback after a 54-year hiatus, appealed because it's affordable and is an individual sport. No teammates to blame for a bad performance.

Those who slide skeleton are a different breed. They have to be. Hopping aboard a 90-pound steel sled and rocketing headfirst with arms swept back down an icy chute for nearly a mile at more than 80 mph is not a sport for the faint of heart.

Shea's first slide on a skeleton sled was in 1994, and the memory remains vivid.

"I flew about five feet in the air and sideways," he said. "I remember my sled leaving. I remember sitting down and everything going by real fast. And I remember, damn, what's the matter? My sled! My butt! Owwwwww!"

His skin-tight speed suit was in tatters and his arm was bleeding.

He was hooked.

"I was having a blast. All I wanted to do was get back up to the top," he said.

Determined to learn the intricacies of the sport, Shea went to Europe to compete on the World Cup tour. And he went cheap, hitchhiking to venues, sleeping in bobsled sheds and living off his credit card.

Apparently, he was a very good student. At the 1999 world championships in Altenberg, Germany, Shea stunned the field by winning the gold medal. He is the only American slider to accomplish that feat.

When he returned home, Shea presented the trophy to Salt Lake City Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney, who didn't know the first thing about the sport but soon pushed to get it included in the Winter Olympics.

More history was made in December. When Shea won silver at a World Cup race in Lake Placid, he qualified for the U.S. Olympic team. That made the Sheas the first family to produce three generations of Winter Olympians and put a permanent smile on his grandfather's face.

"The pride that's coming to me will be absolutely priceless," Jack Shea said that December day. "You're not going to find any granddads that have the opportunity to have two others in the family that are proceeding to do about the same thing I did in 1932.

"It just seems to me that I have a right to a greater pride because not only is Jimmy wanting to compete in the Olympic Games, he would really love to honor his country."

Jimmy Shea's popularity has soared in the last month. He was a guest of President Bush at the State of the Union Address and was selected by his fellow athletes to recite the Olympic oath at the opening ceremony -- just as Jack Shea had 70 years earlier.

Although his grandfather died four weeks ago, his presence remains.

"I think about him every day," Jimmy Shea said. "I have his funeral card in my helmet, and I'm concentrating with what I've got to do.

"But this is not about the gold medals. It's about competing," he said. "That's what my grandfather always used to say. It's about taking part. This is a great thing when the world comes together in a peaceful, friendly competition. That's what the Olympics are all about -- representing your country with honor and grace."

 

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