LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- Jim Shea did it the hard way. He won gold Sunday in men's skeleton at the Winter Goodwill Games -- without a sponsor.
But when your grandfather is the oldest living American gold medalist from the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics and the whole town is rooting for you, Shea had what money couldn't buy and easily beat his teammate, Chris Soule."The support really made a difference for me," said Shea, whose 89-year-old grandfather, Jack, won two speedskating golds nearly seven decades ago and was there at snowy Mount Van Hoevenberg to soak in the moment. "It feels real good, but it's bittersweet. We still don't have a sponsor."
Shea entered the final two runs with a lead of more than a second over Snorre Pedersen of Norway and Soule. He won with a time of 4 minutes, 1.12 seconds, nearly three seconds faster than Soule.
"I got lucky," said Shea, who won the World Championship last season. "Anything can happen in any race. It's up for grabs."
Japan's Koshi Kazuhiro slid past Pedersen for the bronze.
"We're strong sliders and it's great to have the heated competition," said Soule, who finished second this season on the World Cup tour. "We're just trying to put it together. We're looking forward to 2002. That's what we're building up to."
The building already has begun. The Americans found out after the race that two Internet companies -- Ultimate Bid and MilestonesNetwork.com -- had signed on as team sponsors.
The race for gold in the two-man bobsled was won by Latvian star Sandis Prusis, who finished in 3:49.13. That was 22 hundredths of a second faster than Germany-1, piloted by Andre Lange, the current world champion in four-man.
Brian Shimer, who crashed twice in practice earlier in the week, turned in a gutsy performance for the United States, shaking off leg and rib injuries.
"I feel in my heart if I was healthy we could have won this race," said Shimer, who was limping noticeably. "In the third heat I had a great run going, went into the big Shady curve, and then my ribs just exploded (from the pressure). It felt like somebody stuck me with a sword. I almost crashed."
He didn't, and collected bronze for the United States, which led the final medal count with 34 -- 11 gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze. Canada was second with 15 medals, eight of them gold, and Germany and Norway tied for third with nine medals.
The most exciting race of the day was staged in the 15-kilometer cross-country sprint relay. The American team of Justin Wadsworth of Bend, Ore., and Marcus Nash edged Brynjar Skjaerli and Ola Rygg of Norway for the gold.
The teletimer camera at the finish pegged the margin of victory at eight thousandths of a second -- about the tip of Nash's boot.
The final day was not without controversy. In the men's snowboard cross at Whiteface Mountain, a faulty starting gate left Ryan Neptune stuck at the top as his American teammate Seth Wescott sped to an easy win.
Neptune protested and the race jury upheld it, nullifying Wescott's win. In the rerun, Neptune accidentally took out Wescott early in the race and Scott Gaffney of Canada won gold.