Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn know they are a long, long, long shot for an Olympic medal. So why the thousand-megawatt smiles?
Call it realism . . . or perhaps Olympianism. America's second-ranked pairs figure skating team is determined to live their Olympic experience, medal or no.
"We're not here just to win an Olympic medal," Dulebohn said, "but to do the best we can for our country."
And they're not taking anything for granted. The three-time national silver medalists have trodden a painful path to Salt Lake City — they had to withdraw from the entire 2001-2002 Grand Prix season after Dulebohn suffered a lower back/hip fracture. The injury kept Dulebohn off the ice for four months, and the recovery has been difficult.
"Missing the Grand Prix events was very difficult for us," Dulebohn said. "It was disappointing. But at that time, the injury was very serious, and recovery took much longer than we had anticipated."
The 2002 U.S. Championships was their first competition of the season, and it showed. Their performances were less than perfect, making the news that they had made the Olympic team that much more exciting.
"I never really lost sight of where I wanted to be," Scott said. "I knew that if we were determined, we could do it."
Flash forward a few weeks, and the likable team from Delaware beamed as they began their first Olympic press conference Friday. Dulebohn proudly proclaimed himself "fully-functional," that his hip is 100 percent. Scott talked about how she would not miss the chance to march in the opening ceremonies, how everyone in the Olympic Village is "famous," and the lengths she and Dulebohn went to to buy camcorders so they could make a record of their time in Salt Lake City.
But when asked about their medal hopes, the team is realistic.
"Our hope for this Olympics is to move up from our placement at the last Worlds, which was 11th," Scott said. "Our hope here is for a top-seven finish."
The pairs competition begins Saturday at the Salt Lake Ice Center. Among the teams to watch: Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia, who are trying to improve upon their 1998 Olympic silver medal; Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier; Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China; and Americans Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman.
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com