USA Four-Man Bobsled - GOLD

The last time this happened Truman was president.

The Americans won gold in four-man bobsledding.

The Night Train rules!

Video: NBC Analysis: Four-man bobsled.

WHISTLER, British Columbia (AP) -- Steve Holcomb never flinched.

Not when tasked with ending a 62-year drought for the United States in sliding's marquee race.

Not when trying to navigate the world's most treacherous track.

And not when Germany's Andre Lange valiantly tried to hang on to his Olympic title.

Holcomb handled it all Saturday, driving USA-1 to the gold medal in four-man bobsledding, the first American pilot to do so since Francis Tyler at St. Moritz in 1948. By winning, he cemented the status of his famed "Night Train" sled and push team of Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz as sliding's best.

"This will take a while for it to sink in," Holcomb said. "You work so hard and when you finally get there it's like, 'Well, now what? I don't know what to do.' We've worked so hard and gone through so much in the last four years. To end on a high note like this is huge. It's overwhelming."

World champions, 2009. Olympic champions, 2010.

"You can't do any better," said U.S. coach Brian Shimer, a bronze medalist in 2002, the year the Americans also got a silver in four-man with Todd Hays joining Shimer on that podium.

With that, Shimer started to cry, unable to hold back any longer.

...On the trackside podium for the flower ceremony - medals come later Saturday - Tomasevicz pulled off Holcomb's hat, planting a smooch on his pilot's bald, sweaty head. Sealed with a kiss, it was, and then the four teammates stood together and did what's known as the "Holcy Dance," the little shuffle step that Holcomb does to keep his team loose.

"It means an awful lot," said Darrin Steele, CEO of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. "This has been a long road. But all the components came together. You put a sled and a team together, and you never know how it's going to go."

Holcomb was walking around trackside about an hour before the final heat, shaking his finger, mouthing the words "one more." With a lead of 0.45 seconds over Rush, all Holcomb needed to do was get his sled down the mountain without a huge mishap, knowing his lead was such that no one could catch him.

All he had to do was not wreck before Curve 13, this track's most dangerous turn, the one Holcomb himself dubbed "50-50" after seeing roughly one out of every two sleds crash there last year.

Holcomb and his sledmates grabbed each other by the hands one last time, took one last look down the hill and prepared to push the "Night Train" - the menacing, flat-black, super-high-tech sled that is coveted by almost every bobsledder in the world - into Olympic lore.

Holcomb's final message, Olsen said, was: "One more run. Let's do it."

A mere 51.52 seconds later, they did.

This gold medal is so, so sweet.

Congratulations, Team USA: Steve Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler, and Curt Tomasevicz!


Video of medal ceremony here.