Neb. Olympic hero comes home

It was two days since Curt Tomasevicz pushed a “Night Train” to a gold-medal finish.

Two days since the Shelby, Neb., native became the first born-and-raised Nebraskan to medal at the Winter Olympics and two days since he caught a decent amount of sleep.

There was no time to relax Monday, not after United Flight 160 brought the former Husker walk-on home from Vancouver to a life of newfound fame.

“Wow,” he said when he saw the crowd of cameras waiting with his aunt and cousin in the Eppley Airfield terminal. “I'm definitely not used to this.”

It was 1948 when the United States last captured gold in the four-man bobsled. On Monday, it was time for Tomasevicz to grin for local cameras and oblige a reporter's request to put on that enormous, rippled medal.

Tomasevicz said he had some idea of what it might be like to win the gold, especially after his team grabbed the lead.

“But when it actually happened, it's not what you expect,” he told The World-Herald after winning. “This is different. This is real life. This is crazy.”

Back in Shelby, fans crammed the A&B Lounge and screamed while they watched the tape-delayed broadcast.

Curt's cousin, Mike, checked for the results online. He couldn't wait to watch the broadcast.

“I've just been nerves.”

In Canada, Tomasevicz whooped immediately after crossing the finish line.

He said he's tried to relive each moment of his Olympic run in his mind. He said he's afraid he'll forget everything.

His sled mates set track records as they compiled four fantastic runs last weekend. The four-man U.S. team eventually won the gold medal with a cumulative time of 3 minutes, 24.46 seconds — nearly four-tenths of a second faster than second place.

By Monday, Tomasevicz said, he hadn't had time to consider the accomplishment.

“I really hope to take about five, ten minutes to just kind of sit and think and kind of realize that this heavy thing around my neck really means something,” the former linebacker said.

For now, there'll be more strangers to meet and more autographs to sign. Soon, he'll return to Shelby to say hello.

There's even a chance the Late Show will call, he said.

There'll be more questions, more people wondering what it feels like to stand on the top of an Olympic podium while the “Star Spangled Banner” plays.

“I think there's very few things in this world that can make a grown man cry,” he said. “I would say that an Olympic gold medal is one of them.”