updated 1:19 p.m. ET Feb. 17, 2006

CESANA, Italy - Pavle Jovanovic couldn’t bear to watch the 2002 Olympics. He was a bobsled medal hopeful three weeks before those games opened, then was suspended for a positive steroid test and banned from the sport in which he was becoming a star.

And home in Toms River, N.J., the training track he built in his parents’ backyard sat idle for months.

“There were times,” he acknowledged this week, “when I didn’t know if I’d be back.”

Oh, he’s back. And better. And brimming with confidence.

At long last, Jovanovic — who served a two-year suspension before being welcomed warmly back to the U.S. team, which always supported his claim that he never cheated — is poised to become an Olympian. He’ll push the USA-1 sled driven by Todd Hays on Saturday in the start of the two-man event, which continues Sunday.

“There is a little bit of anger inside me, there’s no question about that,” Jovanovic said. “I’m really excited to be here. And I can’t wait for this race to begin.”

He used his time away wisely, taking 36 hours of civil engineering classes at Rutgers; he’s only four classes shy of his degree. He got into the best shape of his life, chiseling his 6-foot-1, 220-pound body. And he pushed an old sled thousands of times on that backyard track, all with this race in mind.

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“I was surprised that he took it as well as he did,” said U.S. driving coach Brian Shimer, who won Olympic bronze four years ago in the four-man. “They would have had to carry me away in a straitjacket if that’d happened to me. He came back even better.”

Jovanovic says his job is easy. His role in the two-man?

“I need to rip the sled off the block and accelerate it as fast as possible, giving us the fastest velocity we can going into that first turn,” Jovanovic said. “And then I’m going to leave it up to Todd from there. He’s going to drive us down the track, in my opinion, better than anyone in the world.”

Hays finished third in this season’s World Cup two-man driver standings, and could have won if he hadn’t skipped the final race of the season — time he thought would be better spent prepping for the Olympics. Steve Holcomb will drive USA-2, pushed by Bill Schuffenhauer.

Hays invited Jovanovic to a house he rented in Lake Placid, N.Y., shortly before the suspension ended, asking him to rejoin the team for training. Since then, the two have been gearing up for these games — and getting Jovanovic the medal that eluded him four years ago.

“Anytime as an athlete, you’re happy for those who overcome and prevail under tough circumstances,” Hays said. “Pavle’s that guy. He overcame a very tough situation and did it with class. He came back and proved he was not doping, he’s had great success and I’m happy he’s vindicated himself.”

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No American two-man bobsled team has won Olympic gold in 70 years, none even medaling since 1952.

Hays was fourth with Garrett Hines in his two-man sled at Salt Lake in 2002, and figures to be among the golden favorites this year along with Switzerland’s Martin Annen, Germany’s Andre Lange and Canada’s Pierre Lueders, the 1998 Olympic two-man champion driver.

“It’s an amazing track. It’s going to be a crapshoot,” said Hays, the Del Rio, Texas native who won a four-man silver medal at the Salt Lake City Games. “It has every type of corner and every type of speed killer that you can think of and if you don’t hit every corner perfectly, you’re going to find yourself in 10th place.”

Jovanovic has a little different finish in mind.

The son of a Yugoslavian father, Jovanovic — fittingly — fell in love with bobsledding while watching television coverage of the 1984 games in Sarajevo. And he’s finally getting his chance.

“I’m not going to kid you — when you step to the line here, you’re going to be a little shaken,” Jovanovic said. “And if you ain’t, then you’re not alive.”

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