WinterSports2002.com, Monday, March 11, 2002

Utahn wins nordic silver

By Jesse Hyde
Deseret News staff writer

SOLDIER HOLLOW — Salt Lake resident Steve Cook became the first American to win a medal in nordic skiing at the 2002 Winter Paralympics by taking silver in Sunday's standing 5K race.

Cook finished the race in 13:04, a good time for most able-bodied cross country skiers.

After the race, Cook talked about the conditions and his equipment and didn't mention his disability. It was a subtle lesson that his disability is not his identity.

Cook's medal was one of 36 awarded Sunday at Soldier Hollow. There were races for blind skiers, sit-skiers and skiers missing one or more limbs.

With 12 different races crammed into three hours, the action was sometimes hard to follow as one race would finish while another began.

Cook, who works in a Salt Lake bicycle shop, competed against athletes who had a disability in one or both legs. Cook lost his lower right leg in a 1988 farming accident.

Finishing the race was a relief to Cook, who said he felt pressure going into the Games. If his disability had been deafness, he may not have performed as well — the stadium and course were lined with about 60 friends and family members cheering for him.

Cook also had teammate Mike Crenshaw as inspiration. Crenshaw, who also lost his lower leg in a farming accident, is nearly 50 years old and has competed in two previous Winter Paralympics. He set the pace early on for Cook but finished about a minute behind him, in sixth place.

"I think everybody here has a chance to win a medal," Cook said of his team. "I hope we walk away with a bunch of medals.

Those performances, and the sixth-place finish of Robert Balk in the men's 5-kilometer sitski, were the highlights of the day for Team USA.

Rob Walsh, who is partially blind, took seventh in a 5K race that was won by a pair of Canadian brothers. Walsh and other blind skiers race with guides who warn of dips and curves coming in the course. The guide also wins a medal.

Walsh said he relies as much on his memory of practice runs around the course as he does on his guide to finish the race.

European nations like Russia, Norway and Germany dominated the podium as they did in cross country skiing during the Olympics. Norway led the pack with six medals, three gold.

Norway's Ragnhild Myklebust won her 19th Paralympic medal, taking gold in the women's sit-ski race, her second gold of these games. She is 58 years old and paralyzed from the waist down.

"I didn't win by that many seconds today, and I think it's more fun when it's more competitive," she said after the race. "So I guess this is my 19th medal, and I'm of course really happy about that."

Even those who didn't win seemed happy to compete. Beth Livingston, an artist who lives in Montana, finished last in her sit-ski race but was delighted her two children could see her compete. She said she could count on her fingers and toes how many times she had trained for cross country skiing.

"It's easy to be the girl in the back and be nice to everybody, because what do I have to lose?" she said after congratulating one of her competitors. "I always thought cross country is for crazy sickos, and it is."

E-MAIL: jhyde@desnews.com

© 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company