The 28-year-old Woodinville resident has been one of the top U.S. sliders for a decade. An extreme sport junkie, Niccum began his luge career by entering a Verizon USA Slider Search when he was in his teens and over the next several years, he proceeded to amass numerous World Cup medals for his performances.

He nearly made the 1998 Olympic team in doubles with former partner Matt McClain, but a crash in Latvia ruined their chances of competing in Nagano. The pair finished third in the rankings to determine the Olympic team and that year, the U.S. only sent two doubles sleds.

For the next few years, Niccum spent time coaching the sport and essentially retired from competition, but he staged a comeback in the 2004-05 season when he teamed up with partner Patrick Quinn.

The pair placed eighth three times in World Cup events and ninth at the World Championships in Park City.

Niccum also competed in singles, placing 23rd in the World Cup standings and 20th at the World Championships.

All of his efforts became focused on making the 2006 Olympic team to compete in either the doubles and/or singles events.

His chance, however, almost ended last November after a serious crash during a training session in Cesana Pariol.

He and Quinn lost control of their sled while sliding at speeds greater than 80 miles per hour and smacked into a wooden barrier.

Niccum suffered a concussion that put him out of commission for several weeks, causing him to miss two very crucial World Cup races.

Unfortunately, the pair failed to qualify (by only .120 of a second) for the Olympics team in the doubles event, but Niccum was able to qualify as a singles slider based on his performances from the past season.

He was one of three American men who went to Torino as a singles slider, looking for a shot at a medal.

For more than four decades, the U.S. has seen many of its best lugers enter an Olympics with realistic hopes of being the first medalist in this event, but each time, they have left empty handed.

The closest anyone has come is fourth place.

Unfortunately, the long-awaited breakthrough medal wasn’t in the cards this time around either.

American Tony Benshoof had the best results at Torino, coming in fourth place overall, followed by teammates Jonathan Miles, who came in at 18th, and Niccum, at 23rd.

Despite his less than stellar finish, however, the Woodinville man was said to be all smiles while he waved his flag at the end of the competition. And why not?

After all, not just anyone can claim they are an Olympian.