PARK CITY, Utah–Jim Shea, America’s first third-generation Olympian, won the gold medal in the men’s skeleton race Wednesday with his grandfather’s funeral card tucked tightly in his helmet for inspiration. Shea, whose grandfather died in an auto accident at age 91 just four weeks ago, whipped out the card after the race and waved it as fans chanted “U-S-Shea! U-S-Shea!”
“My grandpa was with me the whole way,” he said.
Shea’s father, Jim Shea Sr., 62, who watched his son’s victory with tears in his eyes, competed in three Winter Olympic cross-country events in 1964.
His grandfather, Jack Shea, was the first double gold medalist in the Winter Olympics, winning two speedskating gold medals at the 1932 Lake Placid games. He was also America’s oldest living Winter Olympian.
The skeleton event, where competitors slide facefirst down a bobsled chute on a tiny sled at 80 mph, returned to the Olympics after a 54-year absence.
Shea finished his two runs in 1 minute, 41.96 seconds. Martin Rettl of Austria, the defending world champion, won the silver in 1:42.01.
Gregor Staehli of Switzerland, the 1994 world champion who came out of retirement to compete, won the bronze in 1:42.15.
An American won the women’s skeleton race as well: Tristan Gale, her hair streaked red, white and blue, took the gold medal in 1:45.11.
Fellow American Lea Ann Parsley won the silver in 1:45.21, and Alex Coomber of Britain won the bronze in 1:45.37
Fans roared their encouragement before Shea, 31, set out, holding up signs that read “Go Jimmy.”
He made a furious start, with his eyes wide open and his helmet briefly scraping the ice, and sped along the tricky 16-turn course in his skin-tight racing suit, an eagle painted on the front of his helmet.
In the final moments of his second run, Shea trailed Rettl by .01 of a second and seemed destined for silver. Somehow, on the final turn he gained time and slid across the winner.
Shea stunned the world of skeleton in 1999 by winning the World Championships in Germany. When he returned home, Shea presented the trophy to Mitt Romney, president of the Salt Lake City Organizing Committee. Romney did not know the first thing about the sport but soon pushed to get it included in the Winter Olympics.
Shea qualified for the U.S. team in December, and all three Sheas were featured in national TV commercials and publications.
Jim Shea was a guest of President Bush at the State of the Union Address and was selected by teammates to recite the Olympic oath at the opening ceremony–just as his grandfather had done 70 years ago.