Not that long ago, Steven Holcomb‘s Olympic dreams were challenged by failing vision and depression, but a surgery to correct his keratoconus — a disorder that had him seeing with 20/500 vision — helped make him one of the United States’ most-successful bobsledders in years.
His successes included three Olympic medals and it was was one that had been documented in a book — his autobiography, But Now I See: My Journey from Blindness to Olympic Gold — but there won’t be new chapters. He was found dead Saturday in Lake Placid, N.Y., at age 37.
“The entire Olympic family is shocked and saddened by the incredibly tragic loss today of Steven Holcomb,” U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun told The Associated Press. “Steve was a tremendous athlete and even better person, and his perseverance and achievements were an inspiration to us all. Our thoughts and prayers are with Steve’s family and the entire bobsledding community.”
Holcomb won Olympic gold in 2010 and added two more in the 2014 games and was expected to continue his run in next year’s games.
With his high-profile status, he was included in Topps’ 2014 U.S. Olympic Team product and in the 2014 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions release along with an appearance in the company’s 25th Anniversary promotional set.
His autographs and memorabilia cards can be found in both brands with his Topps auto having four parallels Gold (/15) Gold Rainbow (/1), Silver (/30) and Bronze (/50). He has just one auto in Goodwin. Memorabilia cards have the same rainbow from Topps and Goodwin includes a standard memorabilia card as well as a patch parallel.
In all, he appears on just under 40 different cards.
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