Retiring Hays, in 7th, has two runs left

CESANA, Italy -- Todd Hays will leave everything -- body, soul, even blood if he must -- on the ice. For Hays, there's no other way to finish an Olympics.

And definitely not this one, his final one.

Hays, the Texas-tough driver who put American bobsledding back on track four years ago, said yesterday he will retire following his final two runs in the four-man competition in Turin.

For the United States bobsled team, Captain America has two slides left to win a gold medal.

After two runs, the 36-year-old Hays, a disappointing seventh in two-man last week, is in seventh place again, this time trailing not only the world's elite drivers but teammate Steve Holcomb, too.

Hays's announcement was surprising, though he said he had contemplated retiring for several weeks.

''Tomorrow will be my last two bobsled runs and you'll see every ounce of energy that I have in this sport," he said. ''Unfortunately it didn't go as I'd hoped, but fortunately I know there's a lot worse things in life than not finishing the Olympic Games with a medal."

Unless Hays can find some speed, he'll leave the Alps without a medal after arriving as a favorite in two events.

Hays completed his two runs in 1 minute 50.99 seconds and is .49 seconds -- a sliding eternity -- behind Germany's Andre Lange, the gold medalist in two-man. Hays is also .32 seconds from winning a bronze.

Lange, who won the four-man over Hays in 2002, is seeking to become the fifth driver to win the two- and four-man events in the same Olympics. The last was Germany's Wolfgang Hoppe at Sarajevo in 1984.

Switzerland's Martin Annen is in second, .13 seconds behind. Russia's Alexander Zoubkov is third, followed by Canada's Pierre Lueders, Germany's Rene Spies, and Holcomb in USA-2.

In fifth after the first run, Hays, the former linebacker/kickboxer, couldn't make up ground his second time down.

''It was bad driving, I wish I had some other reason," he said. ''I told the other guys, they deserve to be in medal position. For some reason, I can't find the rhythm on this track after finding it on just about every other track in the world. That won't stop me from sliding like hell."

Hays busted the country's 46-year medal-less streak with a silver in Utah four years ago. He skipped this season's final World Cup event to focus on his specialty -- the four-man -- hoping to get America's first gold since the St. Moritz Games in 1948.