U.S. speedskater Baver wears a bronze after career of mixed moments

VANCOUVER - In her finest hour, Allison Baver remembered how her little sister peed in the car.

Funny what you remember at the top of the mountain.

Baver and her relay teammates exited the ice Wednesday as bronze-medal winners, Baver delighted with a medal of any kind.

She saw her family first, and with family comes memories; memories of sacrifice and sadness, and pain, and, sometimes, pee.

Her path to the podium began in Reading and went through places like Nebraska and the infamous potty tale.

The Bavers were headed to the Midwest for a meet where Baver would win her first short-track title, a national championship. Mom drove the minivan, Aunt Cindy by her side, for almost 1,300 miles. In the back, the three Baver kids watched a makeshift mini TV/VCR combo plugged into the lighter and crammed into a cooler: Allison, 11; her brother Brad, 7; and, of course, Crystal. She was 8, and she had to go, but Dixie Baver couldn't get to the side of the road in time, and Crystal couldn't hold it.

Accidents happen.

"My mom was like, 'Everybody out! Everybody out!' " Baver told the Daily News yesterday.

It was a happy memory, on a happy, happy day.

On Wednesday, Baver, 29, endured a terrible day, in a terrible year after a terrible injury . . . all of which was salvaged, incredibly, impossibly.

A year ago, Baver shattered her lower right leg in a World Cup race in Bulgaria. She collided with Katherine Reutter, a teammate on Team USA, better known as The Leg that Stephen Colbert Signed.

It put into question a third Olympics; she was held out of all but the relay in 2002 and was slowed by injury during the 2006 Games. Baver had no question about making it to Vancouver.

Baver pushed through an agonizing rehab schedule and qualified for the Olympics in September in the 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter races, along with the relay; her ankle couldn't support the rigors of the 500.

She didn't advance past the semifinals of the 1,500 on Sunday. Then, Wednesday morning, she was disqualified in a preliminary heat in the 1,000.

"I didn't feel like I made that mistake," Baver said.

Wednesday night, she and her 3,000-meter relay team, its order shuffled at the last minute, finished fourth. At first.

The Korean team was disqualified. A short-track DQ that cost Baver her dream in the 1,000 made Baver a medalist at night.

"For me to walk away with a medal is just a miracle," she said.

For her to even walk up the podium last night wasn't far from miraculous.