He finished 14th at his Olympic debut in Torino, but Nate Holland is a strong threat to reach the Olympic podium in Vancouver. The Idaho native has won four consecutive X Games titles and claimed bronze at the 2007 World Championships.
What do you consider your greatest strength as a rider?
I think my strengths are definitely - I'm a really good glider. I'm one of the fastest, like on a straight drag race, I can pretty much kill that. I'm definitely in the top 90th percentile of turners. Some days I'll have good starts and some days I'll have bad starts. I'm really focusing on having more good starts than bad starts, and I traditionally do. But I would hate to make it all the way to the Olympics and have a bad starting day. Just having that as a factor. Everything else I pretty much have on complete lock, and it definitely makes your life a lot easier when you're out in front.
But a bad start doesn't break you?
It does not break you, no. And that's another one of my strengths is the ability to pass. When I am behind and I am looking ahead and there is that line in front of you, of that guy, of winning and losing, then I really hang it out there and take big risks to make the speed up and then I'm pretty good at passing. You can see that in almost every X Games I have won. I'm never winning the race until [later], and that's fine. I'm comfortable with that. I'm comfortable with letting people space out and then all aright, now, start turning it on, and you can make cleaner moves and moves that you're not going to wreck on, where you see a more inexperienced guy trying to make it all happen at once, and sometimes it'll work, but oftentimes it results in a wreck.
You've gotten to be good friends withSeth Wescott. Can you tell us about the dynamic between you two?
Wescott and I have always been competitors. We've always raced each other and we've always been on the U.S. team. And through the years, definitely our relationship has grown. And to the point of, we're always giving each other little fist bumps, shake and bake if we're in the same heat. And when we're racing in the same heat, we're definitely conscious of each other. I mean, we want to excel and to go on to the next heat. And I always want to win, but I'd love to win the silver medal when there's Wescott or any other of my teammates.
When he won gold in Torino, you were one of the first people there celebrating with him and congratulating him. Can you recall that experience?
Yeah. I fell in Torino, I went down. I was a little hot under the collar for sure. And it took me a little bit to-to cool down and turn my focus to the race. And my teammates are still in it. I'm there, like I said, like we're a band of brothers. Hey, I was there. I mean, the security guard's trying to push me back and Wescott's coming down, and he makes the pass for first. And I'm like, yeah, Wescott! Security guard, get out of my way. I'm coming into the finish corral. And then [Slovakia's Radoslav] Zidek is coming up on Wescott. I'm like, go, Wescott, go Wescott. And he comes across first. And I'm the first guy out there to congratulate him and give him a big bear hug, and in a way, I was living vicariously through him for sure. And that's a pretty special moment and it's an honor to be a part of it.
Was there a moment in Torino where your jaw was dropping, for any reason?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, walking into the Opening Ceremony was totally crazy. They're telling us that we're supposed to walk like eight-by-eight, and we just, the whole snowboarding contingency, we just walked in like we were rock stars on a stage, like we were Van Halen. We started throwing high kicks and pointing at cameras and sticking our tongues out. Adrenaline is rolling. We were running around the stage. That, to me, was a really cool moment. I was like, "Wow, I'm totally here."
Compiled by Matt Stroup, NBCOlympics.com
