Bobsleigh or bobsled, I dare to say is a sport rarely heard of in Asia, but it is an thrilling competition in the Winter Olympics. I bet there are many things to learn from this sport on another freezing cold day in Hong Kong.
On text, it is pretty difficult to describe what the sport is, according to Wikipedia,
"Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of two or four make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled. The timed runs are combined to calculate the final score."
So, there is no one better than Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion Bobsledder Steven Holcomb to teach us about his beloved sport,
And how does it look like from Steve's perspective?
Truly exciting isn't it? It may look easy but the training and the danger that one has to go through is anything but simple. Once loses control and fatal accidents are almost guaranteed.
Those of us who live in Asia won't be able to enjoy the fun of this sport unless you visit the countries up North (and be professionally trained), but watching experts like Steve in front of the monitor is still very cool and most importantly safe, unless your friend pranks you with some edited horror videos just as you get into the mood of watching.
Success really doesn't come easy, especially for Steve, and he tells you why.
Keratoconus, from Wikipedia, "is a degenerative disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than its normal gradual curve."
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| Image from Wikipedia |
Even though Steve suffered from Keratoconus, he fully recovered and he did win the gold medal in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics 4-man bobsled for The United States! Congratulations to you Steve, (Hope you don't mind the late words) and thanks for following us!!!
Types of Bobsleigh races:
- Four Man,
- Two Man,
- Two Woman
Vocabulary:
banked -- (adj) from bank (n)[C] sloping raised land, especially along the sides of a river
gravity -- (n) the force which attracts objects towards one another, especially the force that makes things fall to the ground
beloved -- (adj) slightly formal loved very much
fatal -- (adj) A fatal illness or accident, etc. causes death
prank -- (vb) from prank (n) [C] a trick that is intended to be funny but not to cause harm or damage
keratoconus -- (n) [U] a degenerative disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than its normal gradual curve."
Resources:
People: Welcome Steven Holcomb To Our Playground!!!
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/01/people-welcome-steven-holcomb-to-our.html
Bobsled @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobsled
Steven Holcomb @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_holcomb
Steven Holcomb @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTZ53gpo2wU
Go Pro Bobsledding with driver Steven Holcomb @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPb637T7UEQ
Scary Maze Game® Reaction[Monitor Punch] @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeDd61n0Kqs
2010 Winter Olympics: Steve Holcomb - Bobsled @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzzWUdbQzxU
Keratoconus @ U.S. National Library of Medicine - The World's Largest Medical Library
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002008/
Keratoconus @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keratoconus
List of Olympic medalists in bobsleigh @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_medalists_in_bobsleigh#Four_man
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/bank_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/gravity_1?q=gravity+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/beloved_1?q=beloved+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/fatal?q=fatal+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/prank?q=prank+
