'A cherry on top of my career'

SANDPOINT - Sports Illustrated predicts Sandpoint native Nate Holland will win a silver medal in the snowboardcross (SBX) event during the 2010 Winter Olympics, which kicked off Friday in Vancouver, B.C.

But what do they know, especially about a sport as unpredictable as SBX?

Sandpoint's Don and Rebecca Holland, proud parents of arguably the top SBX rider in the world, beg to differ, and rightfully so.

"He's going to bring home the gold," says a confident Rebecca Holland, who owns All-Star photo in Sandpoint. "He's going to nail it."

Don Holland, acknowledging that Nate is up against the strongest field he's ever faced, is also confident in his son's abilities.

"I don't make too many predictions, but I like his chances," explains Don Holland, who moved to Sandpoint in the 1970s to build a house and raise a family of three boys. "He races with his heart and he lays it all out."

Even the Los Angeles Times weighed in with a medal prediction this week, picking Holland to bring home the gold.

But none of that will matter one bit when Holland, 31, slides into the starting gate, in hot pursuit of the one prize he has yet to add to his burgeoning collection of medals and trophies - Olympic gold.

What will matter is that an athlete in the prime of his career will step onto the grandest of stages, prepared to lay everything he's got on the line, and then be willing to live with the consequences - win or lose.

"When I step into the gate at Vancouver I'll be confident I haven't left any stone unturned," says Holland, referring to the years of training and behind-the-scenes preparation he has put in. "I'll ride my heart out and see what result I get."

Having tasted the Olympic atmosphere four years ago in Italy, where he nearly landed on a rider and fell in a quarterfinal heat en route to a 14th place finish, Holland is much more aware of what to expect the second time around.

"Olympic gold would be such a cherry on top of my career," he concedes. "If I don't get it, it's not going to dictate what my career has or hasn't been.

"However, it's the only medal I don't have and the opportunity to represent my country on a world stage, and pull it off, would be a complete honor."

Rebecca Holland has a poster of snowboarders hanging on the wall in her office and this is written on it : "To Mr. and Mrs. Holland, you two made some fast men." It's signed by 2006 Olympic Gold Medalist Seth Wescott, a fellow U.S. team rider and good friend of Nate's.

Holland is lickety-split on a snowboard, having honed his chops by shredding the ample free-ride terrain of Schweitzer as a youth. You don't win five consecutive X Games gold medals and sit atop a few World Cup podiums without being slick on a snowboard.

"Sandpoint and Schweitzer are my roots," explains Holland of the outdoor playground of his youth. "I wouldn't be where I am today without growing up in North Idaho."

Consider what it takes to win an SBX event: First you must post one of the 32 fastest timed runs just to make the finals field. From there, you race in heats of four, with the top two advancing each round until the final race, when all four riders attack with everything they can muster.

To illustrate the unpredictability of the sport one need only look at Nate's previous two races on the same Vancouver course he'll race on Monday. He wrecked on the first turn in his initial visit, then won the Canadian Nationals the next time he came to town.

Such is life in a sport where riders like to claim that "rubbing is racing." In Holland's second-to-last heat at the recent X Games, he narrowly flew over a horrific crash right in front of him that led to a fellow racer leaving on a stretcher. He kept his composure and outran Wescott in the subsequent final, affirming his domination of the popular ESPN event.

The course at Vancouver is similarly tailor-made for Holland - longer than normal and featuring a couple of long straightaways among the high, banked berms. His ability to glide as pure as the driven snow has become his secret weapon, enabling him to sit back in the pack and gather speed before making his move when the right moment presents itself. Such passes require equal parts courage, speed and skill, and of course a little luck.

"With longer courses you don't have to force a pass, you can set them up, make a move and pick the competition apart," describes Holland of the strategy on the 90 second track. "I personally like the course. The length and the amount of features plays into my strengths."

When Holland crosses the finish line, there will be nearly 50 extended family members from Idaho, Montana, Ohio and Seattle on hand to lend their support, be it in a celebration or a consoling pat on the back. Nearly as many friends will be trekking north from Sandpoint to catch an Olympic experience that's not too far from their own back yard.

"This is our Super Bowl," laughs Rebecca Holland, admitting the races are nerve-wracking. "A clan of Nate's buddies are coming to be at the finish line."

Also at the finish line will be younger brother and fellow U.S. Snowboard team member Pat Holland, fresh off a third place finish last weekend at the prestigious Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom, the granddaddy of SBX races. Pat is also racing alongside Nate on the World Cup circuit this season, with Nate calling the unique experience both amazing and fun.

"I'm so proud of him and where he's come in the past few years," says Nate, who now lives in Truckee, Calif. "It's bittersweet to see him doing so well, then the race doesn't work out."

If Vegas were to handicap the Olympic SBX field, the top three riders would most likely be Holland, Wescott and France's Pierre Vaultier. Vaultier has won four of the five World Cup races this year, an amazing feat in a sport famous for its unpredictability, with Holland winning the other.

Pat Holland has raced against everybody in the field, and offers a uniquely qualified two-cents. Blood being thicker than water, he's no doubt a little biased, but nonetheless offered up his own take on how he sees things playing out.

"Nate will have to pass Pierre in the finals to win it, and he'll have the opportunity," predicts Pat, who says putting it all on the line is what Nate does best. "He'd rather go down hard than finish second."

Now that's a prediction you can take to the bank.