When the Opening Ceremonies kicked off the Olympic Games in Vancouver on Friday, with all of the pomp and circumstance we Americans have grown to love, I was glued to my HDTV like many others. The difference is that I had my DVR set to record and my remote in hand, ready to hit the pause button for any hint of a tall skinny blond boy I grew up calling “cousin Johnny.”

My cousin John Napier is competing in his first Olympics as a bobsledder and driver of USA II in both the two-and four-man bobsled events. John began driving bobsleds at age 8 and at 23 is the second-youngest to ever compete in that sport in the Olympics.

Bobsledding typically gets its athletes from football or track fields. John was a “track rat.” He grew up in Schenectady, and spent his weekends at the family cabin in Lake Placid — on Bobrun Lane.

His breakout win on the World Cup Circuit came this year, fittingly at Lake Placid, where he won his first ever World Cup event in the two-man race. John first saw the track (it was rebuilt in 2000) when his mom tucked him under her coat and walked it when he was 2 weeks old. John was in the old 1980 Olympic start house, thinking of his father and listening for the giant cowbell that his mother Betsy Napier (also a former bobsledder, who met my uncle at the Lake Placid track) is famous for ringing as the USA teams slide to the finish.

My uncle was Bill Napier, former national bobsled team member and president of the U. S. Bobsled Federation. Uncle Billy’s dream was passed to John, and right now in Vancouver it is coming true. Sadly, my uncle passed away in 2005 of kidney cancer, but not before watching his son compete for a final time. Although he was John’s coach, mentor and number one fan, he won’t be in Vancouver to see his son reach his ultimate goal.

While there are many people across this country who have family members in the Olympics, John is extra special because his commitment is not just to Team USA but also to the U. S. Army. As a member of the National Guard and the Army’s World Class Athlete Program, John is pulling double duty for the United States, as an athlete and as a soldier.

His unit is deploying to Afghanistan during the Olympics. Some of you may have seen him on the cover of the Feb. 7 edition of Parade magazine.

What is unique, even inspiring, about John is not that he is an Olympian, but that unlike some who would use the Olympics as an excuse to avoid active duty, John has asked the Army to send him to meet up with his unit after the Games. The decision rests with the Army, which may feel he can do more good by staying in the states and recruiting. But he has asked to serve and wants to go.

In a world where many youth look up to musicians, actors, even vampires, here’s a true inspiration. People, especially young people, these days are more interested in finding ways to evade their commitments and here’s someone with a perfect excuse. But rather than do that, he has stepped up and said, “It’s what I signed up to do. I’ve asked to go and I want to go.”

This is the type of person our children should be looking up to. I am proud of him, not just because he is my cousin, not just because he is an Olympian, but because he is a real American inspiration. I just wish there were more people like cousin Johnny in this world.