US Olympic champion bobsledder: Who is Steven Holcomb?
Holcomb won the gold medal in the 4-way bobsled category at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The American bobsledder won bronze medals in the 2-way and 4-way bobsled categories at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
The American bobsled athlete was born on April 14, 1980. He started sports at a not-so-young age when he was 18. He served as a pusher in luge sports. He has packed countless successes into his career. The 5 World Championships he won were some of those successes. But of course, like every athlete, his most important goal was the Olympics.
He was also on the team that represented his country in the 2006-2010 and 2014 Olympics. It was 2010 when he won the first gold of his Olympic career. He completed the races with 2 bronze medals at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Everything was going pretty well until that day...
Steven Paul Holcomb (April 14, 1980 – May 6, 2017) was an American bobsledder who competed from 1998 until his death in 2017. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, he won the four-man bobsled event for the United States, its first gold medal in that event since 1948. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, he finished second in both the four-man and two-man event.
Steven Holcomb realized he had vision problems. Although he didn't pay much attention at first, the situation was getting worse day by day. He hid his problem from his family and friends. He lost his sight completely, he was devastated... He fell into depression and struggled with it for a very long time. A tiny ray of hope appeared at the end of the tunnel. Doctors said that corneal transplantation using a special method could be successful, and it was so.
Unfortunately, his struggle was not over yet. Doctors said that he could not continue sports again and that in case of a possible collision, it could damage the transplant. Steven Holcomb was determined not to give up. He shared those difficult times with his loved ones in his book titled "But Now I See My Journey from Blindness to Olympic Gold."
He was found dead at the camp in New York where he was preparing for the 2017 World Championships and 2018 Olympics. The cause of death is still unknown.