Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

MAINE SPORTS HALL OF FAME: Wescott, winner of 2 gold medals, set for induction

By Bill Stewart bstewart@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

Seth Wescott never dreamed of the Olympics and certainly not standing on a podium with a gold medal hung around his neck.

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HONORED: Seth Wescott, a two-time snowboardcross Olympian, will be inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday at the Augusta Civic Center.

Portland Press Herald photo by John Patriquin

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MAINE SPORTS HALL OF FAME

What: Maine Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet and Scholarship Awards Ceremony
Who: Athletes/coaches — Pete Cooper, Art Dyer, Dick McGee, Harold Violette, Doug Roberts, Seth Wescott. High school scholar athletes — Kaitlyn Hall, (Thornton), Mike McCann (Winslow) Evan Nadeau (Brewer), Taylor Seeley (Washington Academy), Caroline Summa (Cheverus).
When: Noon, Sunday
Where: Augusta Civic Center

"The Olympics was never even a goal," says Wescott, 34, who will be inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday. "People in my generation never thought snowboarding would be accepted as an Olympic sport in time for us to get there. I'm part of the generation that grew up with the sport. I don't think any of us ever thought it was going to happen.

"I can still remember going into local Hallmark stores to go get skateboard magazines and seeing the first issues of snowboarding magazines. The sport was so small when I started that you never contemplated the Olympics. But then it happened."

And Wescott made the most of it.

In 2006, Wescott won Olympic gold in snowboardcross in Turino, Italy. He became the first Olympic champion in that event and quickly became the face of a sport often referred to as "boardercross."

Four years later, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wescott successfully defended his gold.

The experience?

"Above and beyond," Wescott, a Farmington native, says.

Wescott will join five other inductees Sunday, including Pete Cooper, Harold Violette, Arthur Dyer, Dick McGee and Doug Roberts.

The ceremony begins at noon at the Augusta Civic Center.

"It's an awesome honor," Wescott says. "I think it's cool. After Turino, people joked that I was definitely going to get in. It's just cool to be recognized from a body outside of the sport. Hopefully, though, there'll be a list of accomplishments after that induction."

Adds his mother, Margaret Gould Wescott, who teaches a dance class at the University of Maine at Farmington: "He's amazing. His vision, it's incredible. I respect him the most for his discipline and his training. He's also kept his values. He's tenacious as hell but he has a very gentle spirit."

Wescott needed two hair-raising victories to win his golds.

In 2006, Wescott started out slow and trailed Radoslav Zidek, of Slovakia, for much of the race. However, Wescott caught Zidek on a turn late in the course and won gold by half a snowboard's length.

The 2010 snowboardcross provided a similar result.

Wescott again started slow in the finals and found himself chasing three competitors in a race for the gold.

One by one, Wescott caught them, including Canadian crowd favorite Mike Robertson at the finish.

Wescott caught Robertson over a small jump near the final big turn before winning the race by, again, about half the length of his board.

"I've always loved the big days in the sport," Wescott says. "It was just an extra boost of emotion, representing your country. In Vancouver I felt it more. Turino, the sport was an unknown. But the second time you get so much positive energy in the leadup. I was able to feed off that. I was able to motivate myself to get to another level. There was absolutely more pressure the second time around. I was the world champ going in. It was harder."

Wescott was born in Durham, N.C., but moved to East Vassalboro in 1978, when his father, Jim, took a job at Colby College. The Wescotts also lived in Rangeley for a year, when Seth was in fourth grade. It was then he first tried downhill skiing.

"Rangeley for years had a ski Tuesday program, where kids got out of school early and went to Saddleback," Gould Wescott says. "So he did. He had never down-hilled skied, but he loved it from the moment he tried it."

A few years later, Wescott turned to snowboarding.

"I had grown up riding old 1970s skateboards," Wescott says. "When I was in sixth grade I saw some older skateboarders trying it. I decided it looked dangerous so I bought one and just kind of jumped on it and never turned."

Wescott attended Carrabassett Valley Academy, graduating in 1994. He is a member of the school's Board of Trustees.

Headmaster John Ritzo recalls Wescott as a motivated and energetic student.

"He was a great student," he says. "He was very athletic, and he was a good citizen. He was well-behaved and polite. I don't know if we would've predicted he'd go on to win two gold medals, but he was talented."

Wescott says preparing for the Olympics is a grind, physically and mentally. He plans to defend his gold at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.

"I've always had a great belief in myself and in my skills," Wescott said. " I feel like I keep getting better. I'm looking forward to the next three years. It's a weird waiting game. You have one major opportunity every four years. You have to pace yourself in between. The skills keep getting better and better. It's just a matter of when to apply yourself. The time between 2006 and 2010 went like a blink of an eye, and these four years will be the same. But I'll be ready."

Bill Stewart -- 621-5640

bstewart@centralmaine.com