2002 Winner Takes a Back Seat

Like the moonlight casting its glow upon the snow-covered Alps, the media spotlight has fixed its beam upon Gretchen Bleiler.

She’s one of the magnets of these Turin Games, complete with the familiar dramatic arc of an Olympic story:

... Falls just short of qualifying for 2002 Games, then suffers a career-threatening injury, recovers, refocuses and dominates qualifying for what might be her last chance at Olympic glory ...

Bleiler, 24, of Aspen, Colo., is favored by many to win the gold medal in today’s women’s halfpipe competition, with 19-year-old rising star Hannah Teter considered another top challenger.

But there’s a problem with such a lead-in: Kelly Clark, who won the Olympic gold medal as an 18-year-old in 2002 at Salt Lake City, has become an afterthought, almost obscure by comparison. Clark wasn’t a threat in the first two Grand Prix qualifiers. But that was a result in large part of serious arm injuries she suffered in practice, causing her to miss them.

She needed a second-place finish in the fifth and final qualifier just to make the Olympic team. But she got just that and made the team, despite missing the first two events and despite her nagging injuries.

“I think having to work so hard to get in was pretty tough, but at the same time it was very rewarding, getting to go, for all the stuff I went through,” said Clark, of Mammoth Lakes. “And this Olympics is very different for me, having won the last time.”

This Olympics is different for everyone in snowboarding, since the sport has become a marquee event, thanks to the sweep by the men’s halfpipe team, and to Clark’s performance, at Salt Lake City.

The pressure on the athletes will be enormous, and who knows what effect all this attention might have on her when it comes time to perform?

A few nights ago, a wild windstorm was knocking things around outside her room and her initial reaction was that someone was breaking in.

“My first thought was terrorists,” she said. “I was peeking through the curtains, making sure they didn’t see me.”

Clark, meanwhile, has flown under the radar, the way she prefers it.

“The less attention when you head into the Olympics, the better, because you just get to focus on your own thing and you don’t have to deal with any outside pressure,” she said. “The last time was a bit of a whirlwind and everything was happening really quick, and I’m really looking forward to enjoying this one without any outside pressure.”

That said, she can’t help but be a little envious of Bleiler, just as Bleiler wishes the spotlight would shine more equally upon Clark and the rest of the team.

“All of the U.S. riders are such good riders that all I care about is doing a sweep, a podium sweep,” she said after taking a team photo near the base of the halfpipe. “Because we all have the potential to do it.”