updated 11:45 a.m. ET Feb. 26, 2006

CESANA, Italy - By any measure, this was not what the U.S. sliding contingent wanted entering these Olympics.

There was only one medal.

One star retired.

Two athletes were seriously injured.

Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming will head home happy; they won a silver medal in women’s bobsled, capping a breakout year for a duo almost forgotten while pre-games hoopla centered on the team of Jean Prahm and 2002 gold medalist Vonetta Flowers.

“Every athlete and Olympian wants to win a medal for their country,” said Rohbock, a National Guard member. “Being a soldier makes it mean that much more for me.”

But other than Rohbock and Fleming, every American luger, bobsledder and skeleton racer left the Turin Games wondering what might have been.

In bobsled, U.S. driver Todd Hays — the face of American bobsledding for the last two Olympics — came to Turin aiming for medals in both two- and four-man events. His chances seemed real considering he was perhaps the best overall driver throughout this past World Cup season.

But he was seventh in the two-man, seventh again in the four-man, then retired.

“It’s time for someone else to have a chance,” said Hays, who won a silver medal in four-man at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. “I had mine, and I’m thankful for it. I saw the world through my sled, but now it’s time for the next challenge.”

Hays says he’ll remain associated with bobsled, working in sled development, recruiting, fundraising — or all three. But he insists that his driving days are done. His next challenge is getting into coaching football.

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For the skeleton program, everything kept going wrong.

It was a season full of lowlights for the headfirst sliding crew. In October, reigning World Cup champion Noelle Pikus-Pace broke her leg when a bobsled crashed into her. Then, coach Tim Nardiello was suspended after he was accused of sexually harassing two members of the team, reinstated when an arbitrator found no credible evidence within those claims, then ultimately fired anyway. Top men’s racer and gold-medal contender Zach Lund was suspended for one year — hours before the opening ceremony of the Turin Games — for using a hair-restoration pill that includes a banned substance.

The Olympics didn’t offer much of a turnaround; no American skeleton racer was better than sixth.

Then, somehow, things got worse.

Days after the Olympic skeleton events ended, American racer Kevin Ellis broke his back in a friendly sledding competition at a public hill in Sestriere while racing against other skeleton Olympians and members of the U.S. luge team. He had several rods and screws inserted to stabilize his spine. He’s expected to fully recover.

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“Thank God that Kevin was in the best shape of his life,” said Nardiello, who was at the Olympics as a fan.

In luge, top American singles racers Courtney Zablocki and Tony Benshoof endured a tough fate — fourth place, narrowly missing medals. And they were the best of the U.S. bunch.

The doubles career of Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin, the most decorated duo in U.S. luge history, may have ended in dubious fashion. They wrecked in their first run of the four-heat competition, ending any chance they had of pulling off the bronze-silver-gold climb they’d dreamed of since finishing second at the Salt Lake City Games. They also were third in 1998.

“It feels like things I can’t say on TV,” Martin said shortly after the crash.

Grimmette and Martin wouldn’t say whether they plan to continue competing.

Luge accidents were common, with at least 16 racers crashing either before competition began or during medal events. Olympic rookie Samantha Retrosi lost control of her sled and was in a scary wreck; she was carried off on a stretcher and airlifted to a hospital for an overnight stay. She sustained a concussion, a cut chin and knee and short-term memory loss.

“I’m young and this was my first Olympics,” Retrosi said. “I’ll get over this.”

Zablocki felt a different sort of pain.

She missed becoming America’s first singles luge medalist by 0.392 seconds. Still, it was the best Olympic finish by a U.S. woman luger.

“I was really happy,” Zablocki said. “But it’s almost painful to be so close.”

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