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=Seth Wescott Brings Home Gold=

By: Robert Nesbitt robbie_nesbitt@hotmail.com

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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -The 2010 Olympic Games have ended, and Maine was represented in a big way. Sugarloaf Native Seth Wescott went into this years games with big expectations and made everyone back home proud. Wescott won his first gold medal during the 2006 winter games in Torino when the snowboard cross category was first created.=====

Wescott made it on the 2010 U.S. team despite not having a World Cup finish higher than second this past season. He ended up 17th out of the 32 riders in qualifying runs and was one of few to admit that the conditions of Cypress Mountain, where the snowboard cross runs would be held, were slushy, flat light, and crummy.

“You’re pretty much riding blind out there,” said Wescott between qualifying and the finals to NBC reporters.

But despite several obstacles, history did repeat itself. During the last half of the Feb. 15 final, the 33-year-old was barely within shouting distance of Canadian Mike Robertson. During a last jump Wescott flew forward to close the gap, overtook Robertson, and held him off at the finish to win the Gold.

After his finish Seth Wescott described his run to the News Chronicle. -“I knew if I came back and executed it correctly, I could do it. It wasn’t a situation of looking for a miracle at all.”

After that moment Seth made all Mainers very proud. Gov. John Baldacci described Wescott to the Bangor Daily news the evening after his gold medal finish. “All of Maine is proud of Seth. But we’re proud of Seth for more than his gold-medal performance. He’s active in his community and sets a high standard for the way he conducts his life.” That couldn’t be more true of anyone else. Wescott is a strong believer in community and has an active part at his home turf, Sugarloaf Mountain. There he co-owns a bar and restaurant called The Rack, which caters to both snowboarders and skiers. He was a big part of snowboarding at Sugarloaf as well, finding the means to get a the first snowboarding course built there. Wescott even chose to spend the last few weeks before the games held in Vancouver at his home mountain while most other competitors were already at the games preparing.

Wescott’s love of the sport from both a local and international level is clear, and at this years winter games he took a big piece of home with him. Before the games Wescott and his father discussed bringing the military service flag from his grandfathers funeral. He was a World War II veteran who had died when Wescott was in the sixth grade. The hope was that if Wescott was able to do well he would be able to celebrate with his grandfather’s flag. But after the gold medal finish, Seth’s father had a hard time convincing security to let him near the race area. After a moment of determination his father raced past security, jumped barricades, and plowed through fans to get his son the flag that meant so much. “I know that for him, it was maybe the proudest moment that he’ll have in his life,” Wescott said to NBC. “And he’s expressed that to me. So I think that for him that I could honor his father in that way, at that moment. It was a really powerful thing for the both of us.”