2010 Winter Olympics: After suffering disappointment, injury, American Billy Demong wins gold

WHISTLER, British Columbia — It was, at the time, a devastating heartbreak.

But, as it turned out, Billy Demong's life is much fuller, much sweeter because his team didn't win an Olympic medal when they thought they should.

"If we had medaled like we planned, I would have been 21 years old, and I would have skipped town and gotten on with my life," said Demong, who won the first nordic combined gold medal Thursday in the individual large hill and 10K race at Whistler Olympic Park with a time of 24:46.9. "I think that would have been a major mistake. Having gone through all of these things has made this (success) that much sweeter."

The native of Vermontville, N.Y., who lives and trains with his nordic combined teammates in Park City, said the fourth-place finish in the team relay in the Salt Lake City Games might have haunted him, even contributed to him burning out, if he hadn't suffered a horrific injury a few months later.

"I dove into a swimming pool and hit my head on the bottom," he said. The fractured skull kept him out of nordic combined for more than a year.

"Like we said, 2002 was a tough year for us," he said. "We spent four years trying to build the belief that we could win a medal, trying to figure out how to do it, and we came up a bit short."

He said the injury actually helped him avoid burnout and dwelling on the 2002 heartbreak.

"I know I lost a lot of sleep after that," he said. "And I think part of my motivation was to get away and come back a lot more centered. I basically mentally quit. The doctors weren't going to let me do it anyway ... so basically I was working construction and going to school and trying to get a new perspective."

He never lost his love for the sport, however.

"When I came back, it took me three years before I ever even scored a World Cup top 10 again, but I had a really good time every day along the way. That was one of the changes we made. Going forward, we had the ability to get better but take ourselves less seriously."

He said he no longer feels so defined by his results.

"You take the good days with you and forget the bad," he said after winning the team silver medal, just two days before he earned a gold for himself. "Just enjoy it because this is an awesome life."