A Split Decision for U.S. Bobsledders

Figure skating doesn’t have a monopoly on soap opera scenarios.

Top-ranked U.S. bobsled driver Jean Racine dumped her longtime brakeman, Jen Davidson, a week before the Olympic trials and replaced her with Gea Johnson, the former NCAA heptathlon champion who served a four-year international suspension for using anabolic steroids and posed nude for a fitness magazine.

Johnson had been paired with three-time luge Olympian Bonny Warner, who helped women’s bobsledding earn a place on the Olympic program for the first time at the Salt Lake City Games. Warner will compete with Davidson today and Bethany Hart on Sunday in World Cup races at Calgary, Canada.

Racine and Davidson had scored several coups for athletes in lesser-known sports when they were chosen to appear in advertisements for Kellogg’s cereals, Visa, General Motors, GNC and Northwest Mutual. They were featured prominently in ads for NBC’s Olympic coverage, which dubbed them the “Fastest Girls on Ice.”

They also presented President Bush a U.S. Olympic Committee blazer at a White House ceremony Nov. 27, posed for Glamour magazine, and were being packaged for a possible book deal. Usually, honors and endorsements doled out to Winter Olympic athletes go to figure skaters or skiers, who are perceived as more glamorous and marketable.

Racine and Davidson, who parlayed their good looks and medal potential into an estimated $500,000 in endorsements, were World Cup champions the last two seasons and silver medalists at the last two World Championships. However, they won only one medal in five races together this season, a bronze at Igls, Austria, on Nov. 22, and were 11th in their last race, at Igls on Nov. 23. That prompted Racine to dissolve their profitable partnership for a pairing she hopes will improve her push times and bring her a gold medal.

But if Racine thinks an Olympic medal will earn her greater riches, she could be mistaken, according to Bob Williams of Burns Celebrity Sports Service, which helps match athletes and advertisers.

“It’s a smaller version of Dan [O’Brien] and Dave [Johnson] and the Reebok debacle,” he said, referring to the massive marketing campaign that was built around two decathletes before the 1992 Olympics but fizzled when O’Brien failed to make the U.S. Olympic team.

“There’s a risk when you package athletes together. Reebok could have reaped a huge benefit, but instead, it backfired.” Williams also predicted Johnson’s blemished history would hurt their commercial prospects. Told of her drug suspension, he said, “Oh, boy, that’s not exactly music to the ears of advertisers.”

Her nude photo, Williams said, would virtually preclude any deals.

“I hear the pitter-patter of advertisers’ feet running away,” he said.

Racine and Warner were tied for third in the World Cup standings, behind Germans Sandra Prokoff and Susi Erdmann. Warner began the season with Vonetta Flowers as her brakeman but dropped her for Johnson before the sliders went to Europe last month. Warner and Johnson’s top results together were third-place finishes Nov. 17 and 18 at Konigssee, Germany.

Davidson, who described herself as devastated, said Racine had walked into her hotel room in Calgary and said, “‘Gea is my brakeman.”’

Davidson added, “I was caught completely off guard. This is not the way I consider friends treat each other.”

Racine said the decision was based strictly on competitive factors. “It’s probably, like, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” she said.

The U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation reportedly pressured Racine to switch partners to enhance her medal chances. The decision, however, was Racine’s.

Jill Bakken, who ranks sixth in the World Cup standings, also switched brakemen. She dropped Shauna Rohbock and replaced her with Flowers.

Racine and Davidson had built a high profile outside their sport. Williams said many advertisers who were squeezed by tightening budgets had to commit money to campaigns well before the Olympics. The Racine-Davidson breakup and the uncertainty over U.S. medal prospects in several sports will leave them leery of spending money again.