Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
BILLY DEMONG, US olympic gold medalist, addresses area youth Wednesday at GCC. Demong was brought to the area by the Entrepreneurial Center for Innovation and Development, started by Beth Steiger at GCC seven years ago. Demong is motivating kids, local businesses and is also promoting Copper Peak.
By IAN MINIELLY
Ironwood - Billy Demong, olympic gold medalist in Nordic Combined, CMO for Reynolds Cycling in Utah, and executive director of the USA Nordic Sports team, visited Gogebic Community College and spoke to local area high school students Wednesday morning. Demong is the classic determined, over-achieving, pull yourself up by the bootstraps kind of guy most Americans love, because he not only talks the talk, he walks the walk.
Demong, by all appearances an unassuming fellow, does not look the part of a world beating gold medalist, which is part of his charm. Demong looks like he could be your neighbor or your sisters husband, except how many people have neighbors and brothers-in-law that have blazed trails where no American had gone before, multiple times over? Demong is the kind of man that to look at and listen to, has done too much in too little time, and everyone else that has achieved a quarter of what he has done in their entire lifetime, should hate him with a passion, except he seems so doggone likable.
The United States was the whipping boy for Nordic Combined for decades. Having medaled in 1924 and 1976, no one would say the US was the place to go for Nordic Combined, which is a combination event of downhill ski jumping and cross country skiing. As weird a pairing as there ever was in sports, according to Demong.
Instead of awing the students from Bessemer, Ironwood, and Hurley, with his personal achievements and gold medal, Demong gave them a road map to success at the highest levels. Demong started out by telling the area kids the team developed an idea back in 1997 to bring skiers together in one place, beat them down before building them up while developing a sense of selflessness amongst the group over a period of four years. The plan achieved all of the above, except medaling. Demong and his teammates took fourth, it was heartbreaking to listen to Demong's description.
At this point the team realized having a goal was not enough, they needed a road map to get there. So the team looked at how to get stronger and how to get faster through the development of innovative training plans. They would not mimic the Norwegians any longer but develop new protocols. The team would tackle both elements of the sport in a novel manner with smaller, measurable achievements, built on strategies to achieve minor goals, which were mile posts to their singular goal of a gold medal. Throughout the process they would check their progress and make adjustments as necessary.
In 2010 the US swept the medals. Then the US swept the world cup and the world took notice that the US Nordic Team was not the whipping boy it had been. The US team was now a power on the world stage. Other country's teams wanted to train with the US and glean their secrets and now how would they stay on top? That is Demongs goal and job now, to inspire, develop, lead, and train the US team and he used his experience to motivate and impart wisdom on the children of the Range, time will tell how many listened.
