Bobsleigh:Not For the Faint-Hearted

Even before the start of the Vancouver Games, we were hearing that the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre is dangerous. Although it is widely accepted that it was the fastest track in the world, the feeling was that it is just too fast for safety.

The crash of Nodar Kumaritashvili put those concerns into stark contrast. What was initially dismissed as a ploy to get more track time, the statements of concern became chilling prophecies of a modern sporting tragedy.

In the wake of this, the track was changed and the luge and skeleton went off without major incident. There was the occasional crash, but they resulted in little damage other than bruised egos.

Some of the bobsledders, however, remained unconvinced. Their track was unchanged.

The Swiss team withdrew one of its teams for safety reasons and lost a second to injury. Others, on the other hand, love the track. Romanian driver Carmen Radenovic referred to it as her favourite.

For the most part, the loudest complaints are coming from coaches and team officials. It is their responsibility to protect the welfare of the athletes and sometimes that attracts more attention than is necessary.

The athletes, however, have a different approach. Fear is not in their vocabulary. It would be impossible to hurl yourself down these hills with doubts or fears clouding the judgment.

They are adrenaline junkies.

There has been more crashes on this track than we normally see at an Olympic Games. There were seven in the first men’s two-man practice session, but none were more spectacular than Aussie pair Jeremy Rolleston and Duncan Pugh in the first round of competition.

The pair crashed in the second corner after Rolleston had trouble getting into the sled and getting his hands on the controls. They slid, upside down, through 14 more corners before reaching the finish line on the sides.

They were uninjured, but badly shaken. They also weren’t alone in seeing the track from the wrong angle. The British team also crashed and their brakeman, Dan Money, slid along the track after being thrown out of the sled.

There is a reason that the sliding sports (bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton) are so popular. They are sports on the very edge of control and we watch to see how athletes operate under those conditions.

If we’re honest, we also watch to see what happens when athlete’s go over the edge. It’s the speed and the danger that draws the audience. It’s only when things go horribly wrong—as they did with Kumaritashvili—that we realize just how dangerous these sports are.

The Olympic Games should be tough. It should challenge the athletes to perform at their best and it should also expose those who aren’t up to the task.

Coach of the Netherlands bobsleigh team, British Olympian Tom De La Hunty, had a blunt message for the whingers. “If it's too fast, go home. Go and get married and have some children," he said.

British pilot Paula Walker backed him up. "You don't have to participate…It's the Olympic Games, not a bob school."

Says it all, really.