Kennedy Loses Gamble

“Fly or die!” was his motto for the Winter Olympics.

In a sense, Duncan Kennedy did a little of both Monday.

While generating a record pace at an estimated 75 m.p.h., the U.S. luger crashed in the third heat of the four-heat event won by defending Olympic champion Georg Hackl of Germany.

“I’m . . . as hell,” Kennedy said. “I just crashed in the Olympics. What can I say?”

Kennedy lost it coming out of Turn 13 and was disqualified for not finishing. Hackl beat Markus Prock of Austria by 13/100ths of a second as they repeated their 1-2 finish of the 1992 Olympics.

Armin Zoggler of Italy was third.

Wendel Suckow went from ninth to fifth, the best Olympic finish ever for a U.S. man.

Kennedy, fourth after Sunday’s two heats, seemed on his way to passing Zoggler in the third heat, meaning he would have been third with the final heat to go.

“He was in the medals, no doubt about it,” U.S. luge official Bob Hughes said.

Said Ron Rossi, executive director of the U.S. Luge Assn.: “I’m disappointed for him but proud that he went out there trying to win. His attitude was he wasn’t going to leave anything on the track. Isn’t that what you try to instill in every athlete?”

A cautious Kennedy finished 10th and 14th in his two previous Olympics.

He came to Norway determined to be aggressive, so amid Monday’s frustration there was a sense of satisfaction.

“That wasn’t me,” he said of the 1988 and ’92 Games. “That wasn’t sliding the way I can.

“This is a huge disappointment, but I can accept it because I did my best. My attitude was to really attack. I knew there was some risk there, but I wouldn’t have been happy hanging back and finishing in the teens.

“I mean, I was going for it. That was my goal, but I apparently crossed the line. I brought a little too much pressure out of 13. I carried a little too much edge. When the ice is as hard and fast as this, you pay a price.”

How fast was it?

Hackl, first out, heated up the sub-zero morning by breaking the track record he had set Sunday. Prock, sliding next, promptly broke Hackl’s record.

Kennedy then was only 4/100ths off Prock’s pace as he picked up speed on the lower part of the course.

“I knew it would be tough beating Hackl and Prock, but I was confident I could finish third, and I wanted that record,” he said. “I felt the record would be satisfaction in itself.”

Kennedy’s mistake, Rossi said, was a subtle one on uncompromising ice.

“He was in the sweet spot of the curve, but he carried the line a little too long,” Rossi said.

Instead of coming out in the middle of the straightaway, Kennedy was cutting across the straightaway and tried to compensate by raising his head and dropping his left foot.

He promptly cut back the other way, bouncing first off the right wall, then off the left before he began to lose the sled in Turn 14.

“By that time I was trying to relax and not fight it,” he said.

Kennedy’s suit was torn, but he was not injured.

“Hard to believe at 75 m.p.h.,” he said.

His mother, Betsy, was near tears.

Ironically, Kennedy had advised her to watch from Turn 13 “because that’s where the action is.”

“It’s part of a mother’s prerogative to be heartbroken,” she said. “It kills me. I can’t tell you how much it hurts.”

Kennedy said he generally crashes once or twice a season, but he couldn’t remember when it last happened in a race and not practice.

What was his initial thought?

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh, no. Not now. This can’t be happening.’ ”

When the disconsolate Kennedy returned to the starter’s house at the top of the hill, teammate Suckow wasn’t sure how to react.

“I didn’t know what to say or what’s right to say,” he said. “I just patted him on the shoulder.

“That’s what he did to me when I crashed in Oberhof (Germany, during a World Cup race). It’s part of racing, but it’s hard to accept.”

Suckow said he was generally satisfied with his finish.

“It’s also a disappointment to think about what I might have had,” he said. “My starts are consistently terrible, and yet I can still slide with these guys. It’s something I have to continue to work on. I think it’s natural to wonder what I’d be doing if my starts were better.”

Suckow, 26, said he would take it a year at a time now, unsure if he will still be sliding in ‘98, when the Winter Games are held in Nagano, Japan.

Kennedy, also 26, voiced similar thoughts.

“The disappointment is going to be there for a while, but life goes on,” he said. “Hopefully, there’ll be other chances. If not, I’ve had a lot of good races and a lot of good years. I can’t complain--only a little bit.”