Jewell Sparkles in Loss

One might have expected Tyler Jewell to get further along, given the trouble he went through to get here.

As the only U.S. representative in Wednesday’s parallel giant slalom at the Winter Olympics, he lost in the first round, bringing to a whimpering end the U.S. snowboard team’s remarkable four-event medal run.

Seemingly.

Jewell was defeated by Dejan Kosir of Slovenia and relegated to spectator as Philipp Schoch of Switzerland went on to win the competition in front of yet another large and boisterous crowd.

But as it turns out, even in defeat, Jewell became the latest in a string of U.S. snowboarding stories to evolve in what some are calling the Snowboarding Olympics.

Jewell, 29, did not win the seventh medal for the U.S. team, but the athlete from Sudbury, Mass., did overcome longer odds just to get here than many of the others overcame in earning their three gold medals and three silver.

“To me the coolest thing is, I followed my heart through thick and thin and everything worked out,” he said.

More gracious in defeat than some of the winners have been in triumph, Jewell smiled and occasionally gazed dreamily skyward as he told reporters how he’d traveled to Turin on the thinnest of shoestrings -- and that just competing was the realization of his “destiny” to become an Olympic athlete.

He received no funding from the U.S. team. Rather, he lived in his car at Mt. Hood in Oregon, and then in a tent at Steamboat Springs, Colo. -- just so he could be closer to other riders and the coaches who helped him train.

“Every night, I’d just watch the stars and the sunset, go to bed early, then wake up and train, and go to the public library,” he said. “I ate at the local hospital for $2.50 a meal and the food was really good.”

His resume is hardly sterling and his results this season have not been top caliber -- his best World Cup finishes have been a ninth and a 24th.

But those were good enough to earn him the U.S. berth, ahead of 2002 Olympic bronze medalist Chris Klug, who responded by dragging Jewell to a costly arbitration hearing, unsuccessfully arguing that he, not Jewell, was more deserving of the spot on the team.

“It’s been a very difficult road and that’s what makes it so special to be here right now,” Jewell said. “To me, if everything had happened so easily, it’d be just another day, but this truly is special for me.”

Losing happened easily enough on a sunny, almost spring-like Wednesday afternoon. Jewell qualified ninth and advanced to the 16-man final, then won the first of two runs against Kosir. But he was slow out of the gate on the second run and posted a slightly higher combined time.

Jewell seemed to take his elimination in stride and told reporters he was disappointed but that there was no point harping on it.

“It’s an honor just to be here,” he said. “I feel like the Olympics are something that are really special at a time where the countries are supposed to lay down arms.

“We’re sportsmen and fighting through our sport, not weapons. It’s a time of peace and if I can do that for my country, that is a total honor. It’s so cool.”

Jewell wore a red bandana as he competed, in honor of a former Boston College roommate who perished while trying to rescue people trapped in the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001.

Welles Crowther “went back in and he was known as the guy with the red bandana,” Jewell said. “He died with honor and that really hit home for me.”

Jewell’s initial response was to join the Army. Instead, he pursued an Olympic dream, which may pale in comparison, he acknowledged, but said it was no less honorable.

“In hindsight, I don’t think I made the decision then, but I look at it now and what a cool way to do it,” he said. “Instead of fighting with guns I can do it through sport. What a cool opportunity.”

*

MEN’S PARALLEL GIANT SLALOM

GOLD

* Philipp Schoch, Switzerland

SILVER

* Simon Schoch, Switzerland

BRONZE

* Siegfried Grabner, Austria