Steve Mesler shared a four-man bobsled with Steven Holcomb for Olympic and world titles. Their friendship was about much more than medals, as Mesler illustrated in a moving Facebook post Sunday, one day after Holcomb’s death.
“The privilege of having Holcy in my life and climbing the podium with him is an honor I’ll keep close for the rest of my days,” Mesler wrote. “He shaped the kind of person, and leader, I am today. Without him in my life, so much of who I am and what I’ve become would be incredibly different for more reasons than I’m able to list, for more reasons than I can say.”
Like Holcomb, Mesler was a 2002 Olympic alternate. They both made the 2006 Olympic team, Holcomb as a driver and Mesler as a push athlete for Todd Hays.
Mesler joined Holcomb’s crew after Torino and experienced incredible success. Multiple World Cup wins in four straight seasons, a world title in 2009 and an Olympic title in 2010.
“What we did together is something the child in me never would have imagined,” Mesler wrote. “All of us who were lucky enough to compete with him understand what an incredible soul, quiet leader, complicated person and unimaginably talented driver of sleighs he was.”
Mesler also posted his video compliation from 2010 of Holcomb performing his “Holcy Dance” around the world leading up to the Vancouver Olympics.
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!
MORE: Coroner: Cause of Holcomb’s death unclear