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Jen Davidson deserves gold just for showing up
By Brad Rock
Deseret News sports columnist
BEAR HOLLOW — It was exactly as she had pictured — the familiar track, a large American crowd, cheers as she crossed the finish line. The sort of day she had imagined 10,000 times.
Not a flaw in her push-start, not a hitch in the ride.
There was just one annoying detail: Jen Davidson wasn't in the Olympics. She was only working as a forerunner, prior to Tuesday's bobsled competition. A warm-up act, designed to test the track and work the crowd.
Nevertheless, she climbed from the sled, looking for all the world like a gold medal winner. Waves to the crowd, handshakes and a hint of tears.
A moment to remember, a day to cherish.
Just not the way she had envisioned.
It seemed a cruel twist of fate that Davidson would be here, on this day. In the preceding months she would choke up at the mere mention of competing. Why show up now? Better to lose herself in her work, miles from the venue. Walk away as though she had never been close to her goal.
Truth is, she had been very close. Close enough that each night she had visualized the run she and driver Jean Racine would make on Feb. 19, 2002. She had made a paper clip chain in her home that began with over 700 clips, removing a clip each day, counting down the days. That ended the December afternoon in which Racine told her she was changing brakemen.
Together they had become a dominant pair, the world's top-ranked team for two seasons. What's more, they were best friends. They had shared travel, food, dreams and secrets. Davidson assumed they would be best friends forever, that they would also share the pain and tears, as well as the culminating moment.
It would be them, together, to the end.
But as the Olympics neared, something went wrong. The old track times were no longer coming in, and other teams began moving past. Doubts arose over whether they would be able to win a medal in the Olympics.
Davidson said she didn't know exactly why Racine dumped her at the doorstep of the Olympics. Racine said it was a business decision, one she pondered for weeks, but hadn't the nerve to execute. Davidson said she was kept in the dark and surprised, with no chance to secure her position.
Others said the break-up occurred because Davidson might have been happy just competing in the Olympics; Racine was obsessed with winning gold.
In any case, on a darkening December day, Davidson's dream died. She left the paper clip chain untouched in her room with just over 60 clips remaining. An appeal to an arbitrator was dropped when it became clear the decision was Racine's to make. That should have been the end of the story.
Yet when the case was closed, Davidson did an unexpected thing. She hugged Racine.
On Tuesday, the long-awaited day, Davidson came to the track nonetheless. She wished all her teammates well. "I'm just going to take it all in. I'll be cheering for everybody," she said.
She spoke of a fifth-grade class in Utah that she had adopted, prior to the split. And how she had to go back and tell the students she was no longer an Olympian.
"I tried to explain to them that I would still be here, and we talked about the true spirit of Olympians, and they know that I put the hard work into it to be here," said Davidson. "So I think it's a good lesson for them to learn, that dreams are still worth chasing and they don't always come true. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try."
Her fifth grade class probably won't remember that Racine didn't win a medal with her new partner. It might not even remember that the USA-2 team of Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers won a gold medal.
But what it will remember is that Davidson showed up on a day she couldn't have been blamed for skipping. And that she crossed the finish line.
A champion in every sense.
E-mail: rock@desnews.com
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February 20, 2002
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