Bronzed, for now

Danette Goulet

It seems as unusual as a surfer from Ohio or a snowboarder from

Florida.

Rusty Smith was born and raised in sunny Southern California, but he’s

spent the past 10 years in the bitter cold of ice rinks perfecting his

skills.

Now, at 22 Smith has realized a dream: He came home from Salt Lake

City with an Olympic bronze medal for 500-meter short-track speed

skating.

“My initial reaction was ‘Wow, I almost won’ -- then I realized I did

win,” he said. “I went there to win a medal and I have one.”

But Smith’s first thoughts of this year’s Winter Olympic games are not

of his performance.

“It’s an awesome feeling to walk into the Olympic ceremonies wearing

U.S. stuff, with the American Flag in front of you,” he said, a note of

awe still in his voice weeks after the fact. “Being able to skate with my

country’s name on my leg in front of 15,000 people, it’s amazing, and to

be able to share it with millions of people in the U.S.”

The rush doesn’t stop there for Smith, who said he heard that his

Olympic performance inspired people who had never even seen ice to try

the sport.

Growing up in Sunset Beach, the small beach community nestled between

Huntington and Seal Beach, Smith didn’t see ice larger than the cube

variety until he was 12 years old.

That was when his mother took him to the ice rink.

“Two days later I tried speed skating,” he said.

Once he started, it never occurred to him to stop.

He skated in clubs and kept moving up through the sport. At the age of

15 he moved part-time to Lake Placid, N.Y., where he lived and trained

with other young Olympic hopefuls. When he was in California he attended

Ocean View High School.

“It’s pretty much consumed my whole life,” he said.

After the time in New York, it was back home before getting into the

Olympic training program in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he lived and

trained with 15 other Olympic skaters.

In the 1998 Olympics Smith placed 13th in the 1000-meter race and 22nd

in the 500-meter event.

He was not considered a top contender heading into Salt Lake, but

during the last 500-meter race, he led the skaters for the first four

laps of the four-and-half-lap run.

“I got beat. Some look at that as failure, but I’m one of the best in

the world,” he said of his bronze medal victory.

Despite the travel and extended stays in New York and Colorado, Smith

considers Southern California home.

When here he lives in Sunset Beach with his mom, or with friends in

Newport Beach and works at Home Depot on Warner Avenue in Huntington

Beach, next door to his alma mater.

His friends from Home Depot were excited about his win, but are even

more thrilled to have him back, said Noel Tran, who said she screamed and

hugged him upon his return.

“He’s really a great guy,” Tran said. “We got to know each other off

the clock and he became like a brother to me.”

Although skating consumed much of his life, Tran said he kept it

separate, like most people try to separate their work and personal life.

“It’s like he has three lives,” she said. “I don’t know how he

manages, but he manages.”

Home Depot’s Olympic athlete work program, which allows Smith to work

20 hours while getting paid for 40, helped him to juggle all three. It

gave him much-needed time for his training, which starts with 18 hours of

pure skating a week and also includes strength and weight-training.

“It’s strange to think of him as an Olympian, he’s just Rusty,” Tran

said with a shrug.

Now back in Southern California for good, Smith said he plans to

reassess his future and his goals, but future Olympic medals -- gold

medals -- definitely have a place in it.

“My goal is still is an Olympic gold medal -- multiple,” he said.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at o7 danette.goulet@latimes.comf7 .