USA Luge Legend Gordy Sheer Sees Parallels Between His Olympic Journey and Today’s Team

Lake Placid (FIL/10 Nov 2025) Every Olympic cycle brings change — new athletes rise as veterans step aside. USA luge legend Gordon “Gordy” Sheer knows that transition well. As a young slider in the late 1980s, he witnessed generations come and go through three Olympic Games before retiring in 2000.

Now watching the next wave prepare for Milano-Cortina 2026, Sheer sees history repeating itself.
“While we have the Ashleys, Emilys, Summers, Tuckers, and Johnnys who are now veterans, they once were the young kids too,” said Sheer, who with Chris Thorpe won the USA’s first-ever Olympic luge medal — silver at Nagano 1998. “After these Games, I expect a big turnover and new names stepping up.”

Sheer was part of the 1990s generation that transformed USA Luge from outsiders into contenders. Discovering the sport by chance on a family ski trip to Lake Placid, he and Thorpe became part of the “upside-down pyramid” of American luge — few athletes, little infrastructure, and big dreams. Their Olympic breakthrough in 1998, followed by bronze from teammates Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin, marked a turning point.

Since retiring, Sheer has stayed in the sport as USA Luge’s Director of Marketing and Sponsorship, helping secure the support that sustains today’s athletes. “As the results improved, so did the commitment from sponsors. The tide was rising, and all the boats were going up with it,” he recalled.

Now he’s applying that same passion off the track, confident the U.S. team is closer than ever to its first Olympic gold. “I couldn’t be more excited. We have realistic medal chances across the board,” he said. “If all goes right — that could be gold.”

Three decades after his own Olympic success, Sheer sees in the next generation the same hunger that once drove him. The story of USA Luge — from his silver in Nagano to the stars of Milano-Cortina 2026 — continues to slide forward at full speed.