"I think my journey alone and what I’ve gone through just to make it to the Olympics is something special," said Bernotas. "I’m pleased with the way things have developed and I hope people see that and are inspired to follow their own dreams. I’m going to keep going – my journey will continue. I’m young in the sport and I’ve got a lot to learn."

After battling Tourette’s syndrome and depression in the early 1990’s, Bernotas decided that his only way out was through sport and completely dedicated himself as an athlete. His commitment placed him among the best in the world in Torino with times of 58.43 and 58.76 for a two run total of 1:57.19, just .39 off the podium.

"I felt good. I felt confident coming into today and I trained well. I gave it my best, those guys (the Canadians) stepped up today and they get what they deserve. I give them a lot of credit."

Bernotas also gave plenty of credit to teammates Kevin Ellis (Dallas, TX) and Chris Soule (Trumbull, CT).

"This wasn’t an easy journey for any of us, but I’m so proud of the way we’ve handled everything as a team. The adversity going on outside our group was something that we couldn’t control. We’ve gained a lot of strength as a group and I look forward to moving on and building with this team."

Ellis, a two-time collegiate All-American in hurdles, posted the two second fastest starts with times of 4.57 and 4.62 to finish with a combined time of 1:59.21 (59.46, 59.75) for 17th place overall.

"It’s the Olympic Games and I’m competing in them," said Ellis, who discovered skeleton as the team’s manager in 1999. "Overall, the experience has been great and I wouldn’t trade that for anything."

On a track that changed between heats due to falling snow, Ellis said that the Olympic track is difficult regardless of the conditions.

"I feel like I really understand this track, but it’s just one of those tracks that you can be flying in practice one day and the next day you might be way back – there’s some curves in this track that can jump up and bite you."

For Soule, the road to the Olympics was an unlikely one, flying over the night of Opening Ceremonies to replace friend and teammate Zach Lund (Salt Lake City, UT). His combined time of 2:01.23 (1:00.33, 1:00.90) placed the 2002 Olympian in 25th.

"I’m always trying to learn something from sport," said Soule, who was 7th in Salt Lake City. "I really worked to come out and do this for someone other than myself, to do this for my friends, my family and my teammates. We’ve been through so much this year, but for me it just didn’t happen. I’m glad I got the chance to compete again at the Olympics and I’m really proud of this team."

Taking the top two positions from Canada were Duff Gibson and Jeff Pain.  Gibson set a track record on his first run and never looked back on his way to the gold.  Gibson had runs of 57.80 and 58.08 for a two heat total of 1:55.88.  Gibson also became the oldest gold medallist for an individual event in the history of Winter Olympics with the victory at the age of 39.  The previous record was held by Norway's Magnar Solberg, who was 35 when he won gold in the 20-km biathlon in 1972 in Sapporo.  Taking the silver, .26 seconds behind was Jeff Pain.  Pain had runs of 57.98 and 58.16 for a combined time of 1:56.14.  The bronze went to Gregor Staehli from Switzerland.  Staehli had a combined time of 1:56.80 after runs of 1:56.80.  It was the second games in a row that Gregor took home the bronze.