FARMINGTON – Margaret Gould Wescott became a celebrity overnight after her son Seth won the first Olympic gold medal in snowboard cross last month.
It was a whirlwind of events that followed the win in Italy, from talking to Dick Ebersol, the president of NBC Sports, to meeting “The Today Show” co-hosts Katie Couric and Matt Lauer.
What surprised her the most, Gould Wescott said recently, was how many mothers came up to her with tears in their eyes and asked for her autograph, with complimentary things to say about her son.
“I love it,” she said.
She even signed a Sports Illustrated magazine in Germany.
Last week, she was back teaching dance at the University of Maine at Farmington and performing again with her dancers.
“I am exhausted. Deliciously exhausted,” she said. “My heart is really full of joy. I’m so proud of him.”
The Olympic mom arrived home from Italy to find a large banner draped across her Farmington home in recognition of Seth’s win, and on her first day back to the university she came home with a makeshift gold medal of her own.
Deans Rob Lively and Kathy Yardley had made her a cardboard medal that said “Well Done, Mom!!” complete with a red ribbon.
She had her cowbell and a USA hat “The Today Show” representatives gave her in her office at UMF.
Her message machine had no more memory left, and she continued to be swamped with phone calls even after she had listened to those.
Family came to visit to share in the success, and there was not a spare inch in the house, she said.
Even several days after she arrived home, her jaw still hurt from smiling and her voice was hoarse, she said.
She shed lots of tears during her time at the Olympics, she said, and at times was uncontrollably sobbing for joy.
She laughed about how things changed after Seth won including her accommodations from a lovely bed and breakfast, a 90-minute ride on a train from the Olympic events to hotel accommodations being paid for by network television.
Even the food changed, Gould Wescott said.
She watched her son be whisked from one place to another to make appearances and then return home and go up to Sugarloaf/USA in Carrabassett Valley to sign autographs for more than 1,500 people, many of them children.
“The little worrier in me hopes he can get some rest,” she said. “His eyes look kind of tired.”
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