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Show \Al4 TheSalt Lake Tribune’ OLYMPICS Sunday, November4, 2001 Olympic Host Watches Bobsled Duo Getting Plenty Of Attention Before Games From GamesSidelines @ Continued from A-1 Butstroke doesn’t stop —_ Visitors Bureau head passenger, and in Park City last month Racine made Davidsonrace off (in a pushing contest) with other top U.S. brakewomento be in Racine’ssled.It is the brakewoman’s BY LORI BUTTARS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE critical job to blast the sled off the starting line, as well as hitthe brakes. Davidson raced off, won, and pushed Racinefaster then ever before bya tenth of a second. Still, Racine lost the Rick Davis knows something of peaksandvalleys. Since 1984, Davis has kepta diary of everyski run he has ever made, logging close to 1 million vertical feet each year. “Tt sounds like a lot,” Davis says. “But you can do it if you make about 20 USA 1 position to teammateJill Bakken, the U.S. team’s most experienced pilot, whois shining brilliantlythis year with Orem native and brakewoman Shauna Rohbock (a BYU heptathlete). Racine and Davidsonlost the USA1 title but aim to reclaim it in time for the Olympics. “I messed up, my confidence was shaken, a situation I never allowmyselfto get into,” Racine says. “I came out of [turn] 2 skiddingand hit the wall and that run was done.” runs downthe mountainover about 50 Davidson did not damage Racine’s SUV. Instead, she bought a nice greeting card, wrote “let’s never do this again”andput it on the seat. ays been one of my mostimportantfriends,” ski days each season.” Not bad for someone who had never skied before coming to Utah 17 years ago to becomethe executive director of. the Salt Lake Visitors and Convention In getting back onthe ice this yearI forgot Bureau. “Theytold me atthe job interview how muchthat translatesto the ice. We go fast because we believe in eachother.” that ifI learned to ski, it would be good Suddenly, everyonebelieves in them. Davidson, 29, was born in Ogden, grewup in Idaho Falls and lives in Layton, while the 23-year-old Racine comes from Waterford, Mich., andlives in ParkCity. Bigger andfaster than many men, Davidson embodies power, strength and speed. Racine personifies mental poise. Theice princess. Stéel-eyed and tight-jawed, Racine shuts downher faceonrace dayandlooks straight through all who standbeforeher. It is intimidating, andit is real. Racine is utterly inca: pable of seeing howthis grit under pressuresets her apart from so manyothers.Pointthis outto her and she does not giggle self-consciously, she doesnot blush. “T don’t see it,” she says. “If you’re confident, why would you be nervous?” TrentNelson/TheSalt Lake Tribune Jen Davidson, rear, and Jean Racine warm up for the Oct. 19 competition at Utah Olympic Park. ‘The womenarefavoritesto thefirst U.S. bobsled medals in more than 40 years. Along with veteran Bakken, they havebattled resentment and sexism from a lumbering In- ternational Olympic Committee and the top male athletes in their sport. An unshakable belief in each other is the duo’s biggest strength, Racine says, and that is common on the women’sside of the sport. “The mensee it as the pilots competing,” Racine says, “and the womenseeit as whole teams.” Just days before the team headed to Europe to compete in World Cups, Davidson pulls up in her ownloaded black Tahoe outside a Marie Callender’s in Layton and unfolds herlong frame from behind the wheel. Walking across the parkinglot, she radiates an elite athlete’s bearing and confidence. She is a seven-time high school and college hurdles champion and about to become an Olympian. It is 8a.m., andshe hasalready had oneinterview witha magazine. “I wasso looking forward to this week,” Davidsonsays, - sitting down in a booth. “Thenit just filled up and I don’t have a minuteto go to the bathroom.” Atage5, Davidsontold her kindergartenclass she would be an Olympian, and they laughed. Whenhertrack career ended aftercollege she jumpedon the Internet, founda site for bobsled tryouts and applied her size and speed to breaking records in the sport. She is more excited about being a torch bearer than anything. “T cherish that. WhenI holdit, I will be the only one in the worldwith that opportunity at that moment.” While one magazine editor has already dubbed the womenthe “bobsled hotties,” Davidson shrugsitoff. “It’s flattering but I don’t see myself that way,” she says. Davidson wants young women to know they can be powerful, strong and, yes, beautiful. Andit is a fine line, shesays, between being objectified or just being beautiful andposingin sexyoutfits, as in October's GQ spread. The role model conceptis new to Racine. “I never thought I'd be in a position where I was won- dering if a photo would affect me in a negative way,” she says. “As a kid, I tead history books on people who make America whatit is. I wanted to be one of those people. That's the biggest thing, that I’m going to have an impact.” While Racineis gifted with athleticism, looks, and a singing voice like Shania Twain’s, getting to this spot has been nofairy tale. Her mother, Cathy, died last summer after battling a rare disease. Her grandmother had died a few months earlier. With her father in mourning, Racine stepped up to care for her siblings in the middle of preOlympics preparations. Cathy Racine,“a stereotypical housewife,” Racinesays, instilled in her the attitude “do what you want and don’t worry about what people think.” “Tt’s not‘Is it fair?’ but ‘How can you deal with it?’ and onceyou're throughit, it makes you stronger,” Racine says. Steve Griffin/TheSalt Lake Tribune Rick Davis says he will enjoy the Olympics while recoveringhis health. “TJ had no warning,” he recalls. “I'd gone downstairs and was justsitting downto read the newspaperand check out the television news and suddenly felt like I was going to’ lose for business,” Davis witha laugh. This year, he is looking forward to the opening ofthe ski season. But he knows he’s not likely to make his million-foot goal. consciousness.” Last December, Davis suffered a stroke that forced him to step down the street from LDS Hospital as why he just as the world’s biggest sports assembly — the Olympics — was preparing to cometo town. One might suspectheis deeply dis- appointed. But Davis, 57, has a new goal: getting his health back to 100 percent. “| think about the Olympicsa lot,” says Davis, who had planned to retire after the 2002 Winter Games.“While I can’t change what’s happened to me, I can feel good about the fact that the plansI had for the Convention Bureau and the Games are well under way... .I will beable to enjoy more of the Games than perhaps I wouldif I were still working.” Friends and family were shocked when Davis fell ill four days before Christmas.After all, he maintained a busyschedule andexercised every day. “How manypeople do you know who workoutat the gym and keep a diary about. hiking and biking and skiing andstuff?” says Salt Lake dentist Bill Binger. “Bill is one of those people who has plan and a backupplan and a plan after that. He’s very thorough, and while I’m sure he didn’t have a plan to have stroke,I’m sure he’s got aplan to work throughit.” Davis, whoretains a role as a consultantat the convention bureau, says .the stroke that knocked him off his stride was as. much a surprise to him as anyone. When the episode subsided, Davis crawled upstairs and motioned to his wife. He credits her quick response and the fact that the couple live down survived withoutdebilitating afteref- fects. “Those few minutes[it took to get to the hospital] felt like forever,” recalls his wife, Dianne Davis. “He’s a diligent patient,” she says. “If the doctortells him to do 10 of one exercise, he does 30.” Though he was walking within a couple of weeksof his stroke and is back to working out daily at the gym, the stroke has left him without the ability to swallow. He-hasn’t eaten a meal sincethe dinnerhis wife made for him on that fateful December night, but feeds himself four times a day by injecting a liquid nutritional substitute througha tubeinto his stomach. “There are 27 muscles in the esophagusthat enable a person to. swal- low,” he says, speaking like a clinician. “I've mastered 26 of them. The last oneis the crico-pharyngeus. It re- laxes while the other 26 contract and I can’t quite getit to work.” Davis’ friends sayit’s hard to notice that much has changed. “He’s a great conversationalist.It's part of what made him so successful all these years,” says former Salt Lake County Commissioner Jim Bradley, who plays bridge with the Davises. “He asks a few well-placed questions and whenyouget done yourealize that youdid 90 percentofthe talking.” lorib@sitrib:com Samsonite Ultralite’ 4 Series Luggage Save 40-50% CY LN A. 26" Upright Suiter Orig. 170.00, now 99.99. B. Carry-on upright Orig. 150.00, now 89.99. 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