Steve Holcomb may be gone, but he will never be forgotten. The Team USA bobsledders competing in PyeongChang, South Korea, recently spoke to Us Weekly about honoring their late teammate’s memory.
“He was a mentor to every one of us … He was the greatest of all time,” Nick Cunningham told Us of Holcomb, who unexpectedly died at the age of 37 in his Lake Placid, New York, Olympic training center suite in May 2017. “What he brought to [the sport] and the level of excellence, he created the standard and the standard is medals.”
Carlo Valdes, who competed with Holcomb for the past three years, added: “It’s gonna be weird not seeing him on the hill, but at the same time, he wouldn’t want us to stop now. He’d want us to continue to push on and he would want us to continue what we started.”
Holcomb, a three-time Olympian, won a gold medal in 2010 at the Vancouver Games and two bronze medals in Sochi in 2014. He was expected to join the team heading to PyeongChang before his sudden death.
“I don’t really know bobsledding without Steve Holcomb,” Justin Olsen, who raced alongside the fallen athlete for 10 years, told Us. “He gave hope. Everybody was trying to be on his team because of his amazing ability to drive.”
Evan Weinstock also paid tribute to the Park City, Utah, native, noting that it will “be definitely a weird feeling” not having him with the team as they go for the gold at the Winter Games 2018.
“He was kind of the heart of the program, but I think his presence will live on,” Weinstock gushed of the bobsledding champ. “He’s touched so many athletes still in the program today and I think that we’ll just do our best job to keep living up to his name.”
Watch the video above to see the athletes honor Holcomb’s legacy.
To learn more about the bobsledding team, visit teamusa.org. The Olympics air on NBC.
