Daly can leave skeleton at peace this time

DAEGWALLYEONG, South Korea - The night before what will probably be the final runs of his Olympic skeleton career placed him 16th in the men's skeleton final Friday, American racer John Daly posted a message on Twitter about the run he once thought would be his last.

"I believe everyone will have moments in their lives that will change who they are forever," Daly wrote. "Mine was February 15, 2014."

Four years ago to the day, at least in the U.S., Daly was in medal position at the Sochi Olympics. He charged into the start of his fourth run, the one that would have sealed that medal, one loaded with life-changing potential in the most uplifting ways.

But his sled popped out of its groove. He slid slowly down the hill in life-altering agony. His heart broke along with his medal chances. The whole years-long journey ended without the closure he had been so sure he'd find. Daly left the sport and moved to the District of Columbia, where he could be anonymous, where his failure wouldn't find him. He sold medical devices, just trying to start over.

But after a fateful dinner conversation about passion - one in which he realized he had allowed that moment of disappointment to steal his - the sport pulled him back for one last try. That try left him way out of medal position after three of four runs in the men's skeleton final - ready for the fitting last run he never got last time around.

"The deafening crowds will silence and my name will no longer be in lights," Daly wrote in that Twitter post. "I won't remember how I made it through, and I won't be the same person I was when I started this journey."

Four years and three of four Olympic runs later, Daly was at the line again, tears already in his eyes. He hugged his coach. He ran into his start again. This time, the sleigh stuck in its grooves. He mounted it so smoothly it was hard to believe the process could ever have caused him so much trouble. That time, he tumbled. This time, he flew.

He really never had much chance at a medal here. Korean star Yun Sung-bin, the reigning World Cup champion, took a no-doubt gold medal in front of a home crowd mad with joy. Nikita Tregubov, an Olympic Athlete from Russia, and Great Britain's Dom Parsons took silver and gold. Daly's teammate and the man vaulted to Sochi bronze by Daly's debacle, Matt Antoine, finished 11th. Daly finished 16th.

"I got to walk off the track for four runs, hold my head high and wave to my family," Daly said. "It was a moment I thought I would never get back. That's enough for me. It's not a medal, but for me . . . that's my medal."

But Daly is here as much to enjoy as to win. The vociferous 32-year-old has been an active social media participant throughout the games, surprising teammates with trust falls and sharing his hair care routine with Us Weekly (two shampoos, conditioner, blow dry, hair cream).

Those who know him consider it a surprise when he is actually wearing pants and no surprise when he eschews a shirt. Those who follow his Instagram know he has strong feelings about puppies. He's become one of the darlings of these Games because of it all, a role best suited to those who can appreciate the extracurriculars and not lose it all in competition.

"It's kind of exactly what I would have hoped for. It's exactly what I remembered from Sochi. If anything, it's better," Daly said. "I know this might not happen again."

Emotional social media posts occasionally teeter into the world of the melodramatic. But Daly, a fun-loving prankster with a powerful devotion to the state of his hair, doesn't. He is an athlete in love with his sport, who somehow forgave it when it broke his heart and was moved enough to give it one more chance.

"I came back because I never wanted to wake up one morning and wish I would have tried," Daly said. "To get that moment back . . . it was just a moment I won't forget."

No results, no splits, no standings mattered as he headed down the hill toward the rest of his life - on his terms this time. He wasn't heading toward a medal like he always imagined. Instead, he was heading back to his job as a sales representative, which he starts again next week. Asked about potentially competing in Beijing four years from now, he didn't rule it out. He knows better than to say anything is final. But if Friday's runs were his last at the Olympics, he can live with that now.

"What I will remember are the memories made, the friendships I'll cherish," Daly wrote in his post, "and the fact that I held my head high, put on my helmet one more time, and tried."