GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — They can't blame the suits. Or their training methods.
No more excuses.
It's time for America's most decorated Winter Olympics program to step up in South Korea.
"I don't think there's a more motivated bunch of athletes here," Brittany Bowe said. "We definitely have everything in the toolbox to be successful."
Speedskating has long been a bellwether for the ice-and-snow crowd, producing some of the biggest U.S. stars despite a persistent lack of funding and pretty much zero recognition beyond those two weeks every four years.
From Eric Heiden to Bonnie Blair, from Dan Jansen to Apolo Anton Ohno, from Shani Davis to Chad Hedrick, the Americans could usually count on their speedskaters — whether it was short track or the big oval — to bring home plenty of hardware.