[Nfbmo] USA Bobsled driver

[Peter Donahue]

Hello Bryan and listers,

    Remember that there is lots of literature dealing with sight 
preservation and restoration and many medical and non-medical agencies and 
organizations devoted to that issue. The NFB's focus is dealing with 
nonmedical aspects of blindness and helping those who must live with it. As 
mentioned above there are scores of programs and facilities devoted to sight 
conservation and preservation. There is only one such facility, the National 
Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, and one organization, the 
National Federation of the Blind whose mission is to promote the integration 
of those with incurable blindness in to society on an equal basis with the 
sighted.

Peter Donahue
 ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bryan Schulz" <b.schulz at sbcglobal.net>
To: <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2010 10:47 PM
Subject: [Nfbmo] USA Bobsled driver


Feb 27, 2010
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100227/ap_on_sp_ol/oly_bob_four_man_bobsled
'Night Train' gives US 1st 4-man gold since 1948 ...
By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds, Ap Sports Writer - Sat Feb 
27, 6:45 pm ET
WHISTLER, British Columbia -
With one more perfect run down sliding's most difficult track, Steven 
Holcomb drove USA-1 to the Olympic gold medal in four-man bobsledding on 
Saturday, ending a 62-year drought  for the Americans in the event.
It was the first gold medal for the U.S. in sliding's signature race since 
Francis Tyler won one for the Americans at St. Moritz in 1948.

Holcomb's four-run time was 3 minutes, 24.46 seconds, with Justin Olsen, 
Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz pushing for him again - just as they did in 
winning the world championship a year ago.

"This is bigger," U.S. coach Brian Shimer said.
There might not be any comparison whatsoever.
German Andre Lange, who failed to win a gold medal for the first time in 
five Olympic events, had a nearly perfect final run to win the silver in 
what he says will be his final race. Lange finished 0.38 seconds behind 
Holcomb and his team of Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz.
Lyndon Rush drove Canada-1 to the bronze.

Holcomb and his sledmates crossed the finish line one more time and threw 
their arms in the air before wrapping each other in American flags. Holcomb 
hoisted his helmet high as family and friends craned for photographs, and a 
party that the U.S. program had been waiting 62 years for was finally 
getting started.

"It's huge," said USA-3 driver Mike Kohn, who finished 13th. "This is a 
great moment. It's hopefully going to change the program and bring some 
publicity and some funding to this sport, just like it did in '02 when we 
won silver and bronze."

Kohn was a push athlete for Brian Shimer's sled at those 2002 Salt Lake City 
Olympics, when Todd Hays drove to silver and Shimer got the Americans a 
bronze.
The U.S. had never been closer to being kings of the bobsled mountain - 
until now.

What it didn't say ...
Ex-NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine has been working on providing the U.S. team 
with competetive sleds for at least ten years and Holcomb said during a 
television interview Before the medal clinching run that his career was 
almost abruptly ended in 2008 when a degenerative cornea condition lead to 
blindness and his coach suggested a surgical procedure so new that it hadn't 
been approved by the FDA.
A type of contact lens was inserted behind the iris and the procedure 
resulted in 20/20 vision.
Unfortunately, it seems that the NFB doesn't want to discuss cures and 
research as I can't remember any medical professional speaking at our 
convention and the thought of inviting someone to speak was quickly rejected 
at the 2009 September or January board meeting!

Bryan Schulz
_______________________________________________
Nfbmo mailing list
Nfbmo at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmo_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfbmo:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmo_nfbnet.org/pdonahue1%40sbcglobal.net