Hard to keep Olympic dream down
It’s one of the few sports where women can earn top money alongside the men but it’s an all-or-nothing game. Athletes have to spend so much time working on speed and power that moving focus to other sports can be tempting.
Both the summer and winter Olympics happen every four years and the winter Games offer athletes another chance at glory. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia are fast approaching and there’s an intriguing story developing involving US track athletes and the bobsleigh.
Personally, I’ve never had an Olympic performance I was happy with. It’s the one championship I always see myself as having unfinished business with. I understand that huge desire to try and find a solution to Olympic heartbreak. One way track athletes are trying to slay their Olympic demons recently is in the women’s bobsleigh event.
Women’s bobsleigh made its Olympic debut in 2002. Teams consist of a driver and a brakesman. The speeds range from 60 to 90 miles per hour combined with roller-coaster gravitational forces. The start involves a six-second push off with a 400 pound sled, to do this well you need great power and speed. This is where sprinters are making their mark!
Bobsleigh is not for the faint hearted. To sprint that hard and jump in for the ride down to the bottom with the risk of crashing at high speed takes guts.
The American sprinter Lolo Jones was tipped for a gold medal in the women’s 100 metre hurdles in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She led until the ninth hurdle, clipped it and swiftly went from first to seventh — a moment that has so far defined her Olympic career. She finished fourth in London four years later, with her dream of an Olympic medal looking very much in tatters. Jones’ profile in the US is huge. She attracted major interest after her heartbreaking run in Beijing and has since become one of the most famous US track athletes with a massive social media profile. Behind the media profile is a seriously talented athlete with two world indoor titles and the US indoor 60 metre hurdles record.
There has been a lot of interest in her decision to compete in bobsleigh alongside such an illustrious track career, albeit minus the Olympic glory.
“I just came out here and kind of needed to get away from track for a bit, kind of wanted to get some motivation,” she said.
If there was a full-time bobsleigh programme in Ireland and they approached me to trial after the London Olympics I would probably have jumped straight in too. Second chances in Olympic sport don’t come around very often and nothing quite breaks your heart like Olympic disappointment. Jones wants an Olympic medal, that may not be a track medal but I understand the desire.
Another American girl, Lauryn Williams has a 100 metre Olympic silver medal to her name from Athens 2004 and won the World Championships outdoor title in 2005. She is another incredibly talented sprinter and was also part of the American squad to win gold in the 4x100m relay in London 2012. As a track athlete she always demonstrated an amazing ability to raise her game when the pressure was on. Williams announced her retirement from track in June 2013 and was recruited to bobsleigh by Jones.
She tried out at the US National Push Championships last July, finishing third. So far in her rookie season, she’s performed brilliantly and medalled in her World Cup debut.
Williams is different from Jones in that she has Olympic success. For her it seems to be more about the journey and seeing if she can translate her athletics achievements into success in another sport.
“I’m here more for the adventure and the fun, to add another story to my life,” she said.
I think the fire she had during her running career will bring her amazing results in bobsleigh.
Jones and Williams have both transferred into winter sports in superb fashion. In a sport that craves speed and power, they have both in abundance. I’ve won and lost many races by the tiniest of margins, it’s something track athletes come to understand. We know how important millimetres are and that’s something that will help the two girls. In sliding sports, hundredths will make all the difference between success and failure and medals or no medals. Jones and Williams have been thrown in at the deep end of winter sport, they’ve had to adapt to their new responsibilities as bobsleigh athletes.
Logistically, there is no comparison between travelling to athletics meets with a pair of spikes in a backpack and travelling with a 400 pound sled and there are far fewer bobsleigh runs than athletics tracks to train on.
The US women’s push squad will be announced on January 19 and the team have made no secret of their ambition for the Sochi Olympics. They are likely to have three bobsleigh teams competing and are aiming to sweep the podium. The reigning champions are Canadian Kaillie Humphries with Heather Moyse who will be fighting hard to defend their title. The first two teams appear to be set which leaves only one place to be filled. There are three athletes fighting it out for this spot, Lolo Jones, Lauryn Williams and Emily Azevedo and on paper very little separates the three.
When the team is announced, there’s a big chance a US track star will be named. No female US track athlete has ever competed in both summer and winter games. The girls might be off the tartan track but the podium desire will be as strong as ever. I will be watching Sochi 2014 and I understand why these track girls will be jumping in a sled and flying down an icy track in Russia.
