Mark Grimmette of Muskegon carries the USA flag during the opening ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
Muskegon’s native son represented his country, his sport and his friends and family watching back home at Muskegon State Park, where he got his start in the downhill sport 26 years ago.
Grimmette again will team with Brian Martin of California — the most successful team in U.S. luge history, which won a bronze medal in 1998 in Nagano, Japan, and a silver medal in 2002 in Salt Lake City — in Wednesday’s doubles luge competition.
A 1989 graduate of Reeths-Puffer High School, Grimmette was one of eight American athletes selected to carry a tattered flag pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center into the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, five months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Grimmette grew up across the street from what is now the luge run and Winter Sports Complex at Muskegon State Park and, once he got over the shock of bulldozers destroying his favorite sledding hill, helped build the track.
For the full article, see Tom Kendra, “Muskegon’s Mark Grimmette leads American team into Winter Olympics”, MLive, February 12, 2010.
For more information, see 9.8 meters per second per second / Jean E. Van Lente. Kalamazoo, Mich. : Bormann Publishing, 2013. available through interlibrary loan via MelCat.