Lake Placid honors 12 Sochi Olympians
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) Several thousand supporters braved single-digit temperatures in Lake Placid on Sunday night as the two-time Winter Olympic village welcomed back 12 members of the Sochi Olympic Team.
The group included four medal winners, led by super-G silver medalist Andrew Weibrecht. Against the backdrop of Mirror Lake and the Adirondack Mountains, the 28 year old skier thanked his community for spurring him on when injuries since his Olympic bronze medal in Vancouver painted a bleak picture.
''There were a lot of really tough times since then with injuries,'' Weibrecht said. ''It took all the support of an amazing community like Lake Placid to get me back to that level where I was able to represent everybody in the best way that I could. I am very fortunate to have all of you as my support system.''
The most emotional speaker of the night was three-time Olympic bobsled medalist Steve Holcomb, who thanked Lake Placid for its influence on his career, one which includes a gold medal in Vancouver and two bronze medals in Sochi.
Other medalists included Steve Langton, who watched Holcomb's four man Bo-Dyn crew win gold four years ago, and then joined Holcomb in Sochi and collected two bronze medals as well. Holcomb and Langton were the sole Americans to leave Sochi with multiple medals.
Also present was Erin Hamlin, who won bronze last month to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic luge medal. Her achievement was also the first singles medal in team history.
The medalists were joined by bobsledder Justin Olsen, and lugers Kate Hansen, Summer Britcher, Chriz Mazdzer, Tucker West, Aidan Kelly, Matt Mortensen and Jayson Terdiman.
Several thousand supporters braved single-digit temperatures in Lake Placid on Sunday night as the two-time Winter Olympic village welcomed back 12 members of the Sochi Olympic Team.
In that group were four medal winners, led by super-G silver medalist Andrew Weibrecht. Against the backdrop of Mirror Lake and the Adirondack Mountains, the 28 year old thanked his community for spurring him on when injuries since his Olympic bronze medal in Vancouver painted a bleak picture.
The most emotional speaker of the night was three-time Olympic bobsled medalist Steve Holcomb, who thanked Lake Placid for its influence on his career.
Other Olympic medalists included Steve Langton, who joined Holcomb in Sochi and collected two bronze medals as well. Also present was Erin Hamlin, who won bronze last month to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic luge medal.
