Whistler Canada
story from Canwest

Helen Upperton had been to bobsleigh purgatory. Too many times.
Fourth  at the Olympics. Fourth at world championships — twice.
“People  go through these really tough times, and they go and do something  exceptional afterwards,” she said before this season began.
Wednesday  night, with Shelley-Ann Brown on the brakes, she was exceptional. They  were exceptional. A dramatic Olympic silver medal to make it a 1-2  Canada finish at an electric Whistler Sliding Centre.
“It feels  like such a long four years,” said Upperton, a 30-yearold from Calgary  who was fourth by 5/100ths in Turin with Heather Moyse pushing. “I’ve  actually had more tough times in the sport than good times, but for some  reason you only remember the good times.”
And the good times are  rolling.
It was a gutsy, confident final run from Upperton who was  in a logjam for third through fifth coming down to the wire.
When  Cathleen Martini — fourth after three runs — crashed her Germany 2  sled in corner 13, Upperton had a sudden and relatively safe path to the  bronze medal laid out.
But she didn’t want to be safe. She wanted  to put down the run of her life and heap pressure on USA 2 pilot Erin  Pac, who was up next, the second-to-last driver with a 34/100ths edge  for silver.
Upperton said in that moment she thought not of the  German crash, but of Canadian mogulist Alex Bilodeau and skeleton’s Jon  Montgomery, who won gold.
“They went down and they weren’t the  last ones,” she said of her fellow athletes. “They did their best  performances possible and the people who came down after them couldn’t  match it. I thought, ‘That’s how I want to feel.’
“I separated  myself from that crash. I didn’t want to play it safe. I love this track  and I love going fast. I wanted to put it all out there and not regret  anything.”
They came down like a rocket, clocking the fastest time  of the final run — 53.17 seconds. With a medal assured, the  fourth-place curse lifted, they erupted in celebration. Fist pumps. High  fives. Flag waving. So much so, in fact, they missed Pac falter near  the top of her run.
“We were so happy we got bronze and by the  time we came over [to the TV screen] we saw 6/100ths [of an advantage  for Pac] and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, no way,’” said  Brown, a 29-yearold from Scarborough, Ont. “And it just kept ticking  until we were in the pluses.”
Silver. Upperton collapsed in the  leader’s area and Brown met her on the ground for an embrace. Tears  streamed.
“It was disbelief,” Upperton said.
There to greet  them in celebration was Jenny Ciochetti, who pushed Upperton for much of  the last four years. Ciochetti and Brown split the duties this season  — one devoid of podiums save for a second place in Altenberg, Germany,  in December.
Upperton and Brown wore bracelets that said “4 Jenny  Ciochetti with [heart].”
It was Ciochetti who pushed Upperton when  the pilot separated rib cartilage two seasons ago and had to start most  of the season in the sled.
“There is absolutely no way I would  have kept sliding without her,” Upperton said. “She made bobsled fun  again. I’m sure part of her heart is broken, but for me she is here  sharing it. She came and gave us a big hug. She said, ‘I’m so proud of  you.’”
(http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/wanted there regret anything/2610942/story.html#ixzz0sT9MWJnj)