FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Tom Kelly, tkelly@ussa.org

Author of Story: Matthew Piper

3 U.S. Athletes Collect Medals

WHISTLER and VANCOUVER, BC (Feb. 14) – Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT), Shannon Bahrke (Tahoe City, CA) and Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, CO) were the first to collect their hardware for the U.S. Ski Team in Sunday evening's medal ceremonies at Whistler Medals Plaza and BC Place.

"It is everything I ever dreamed it would be," said Spillane from Whistler, after scoring the first Olympic nordic combined medal in U.S. history when he finished second in the normal hill competition earlier Sunday. "It took a lot of hard work from a lot of people and I can't than them enough."

Kearney, the first U.S. athlete to win a gold medal at these Games, felt strong emotions when the Star Spangled Banner began to play at BC Place in Vancouver.

"When the flag started to rise, it was wonderful," Kearney said. "This is the culmination of everything I have been working for. I have been watching other people getting the medal and thinking it would be really cool.

"I'm going to wear it around my neck until my neck starts to hurt."

Her teammate was similarly moved, with the entrepreneurial Bahrke suggesting she might add a "bronze line" of coffee products.

"This is just the coolest thing in the world," she said.