Home Bio Pictures Press Q's Rustyfied

O.C. Olympians welcomed home Fans, friends and family turn out to cheer Rusty Smith ... for ... personal achievements in Salt Lake by Catrine Johansson and Jeff Collins originally published in the Orange County Register 2/27/2002 Rusty Smith stepped off a plane at John Wayne Airport on Tuesday afternoon and pulled a beige leather pouch from his backpack. "You should see this thing. It's unbelievable," the Sunset Beach native said, slipping a wooden box from the pouch, then producing a heavy bronze medallion hanging from a wide blue ribbon. "We've got to do something with this," Smith told friends as he showed off the Olympic bronze medal he won in Salt Lake City last week in short- track speed skating. ... Smith will have little time to think about what comes next, with new skating competitions looming within weeks. ... Rusty gets back to work Smith focused on just one souvenir - the one he spent the past eight years working to win. "I'm done now. Now what do I do?" he joked. "It's too soon to plan everything. I still will continue to skate. I really, really love doing it." While Smith spent recent years living at the Olympic Training Centers in Colorado Springs, Colo., he supported his sports career working at Home Depot. Now, he's moving in with friends in Newport Beach and relocating to the Home Depot in Huntington Beach. If there's time between practice and work, he'll continue to attend college courses at Golden West College or Orange Coast College, he said. And, of course, there are the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. But first, he said, "I have to make the team." His well-publicized fall did more than cost the United States a medal in the 5,000- meter relay. The fall reinjured a left shoulder he broke in an earlier accident, and he'll need surgery to repair torn ligaments and muscles. But that will have to wait until he gets re-established in Orange County and attends more competitions. He'll be working with the Southern California Speed Skating Association while he continues work with his coach, Wilma Boomstra. Smith has an agent looking for sponsors and endorsements, but "there were 34 people with medals," he said. "I work to be able to do this." For now, he'll attend a welcome-home party hosted by the association. The speed skater will also try another sport that had been too risky during Olympics' training. "At some point, I'm going to go snowboarding," Smith said.