Setting the Olympic Record Straight - Olympic Speaker Insights

Posted by Vince Poscente on Fri, Feb 14, 2014 @ 05:04 AM

After reading this Canada's National Post article I had to respond.
Let's get the facts straight. (I trust I'm qualified since I represented Canada at the Olympics in Albertville in the 1992 Olympic Winter Games.) 

1. Nicolas Bochatay (Swiss team - not French) was NOT racing or training when he was killed by hitting a snow cat. He, and others on the Swiss team were free skiing the morning of the finals. The driver of the snow cat was coming up the hill on a tourist slope - far from the speed skiing track. The accident happened on the blind side of a large roller. Nicolas piled fatally into the machinery simply because he saw the snow cat at the last millisecond. Because the race committee tried to keep the accident quiet, it was leaked out to the media the same morning, "Speed Skier dies at Olympics." Later that day, the facts were revealed but the media didn't give it the same attention. The damage was done and the story wasn’t as juicy.

2. I've crashed three times going over 100 mph in speed skiing. Not once, before or during the crash, did I feel my life was in danger. It’s terrifying to watch the Downhillers navigate turns with rock faces, cliffs and trees behind protection fences. The last thing on a good athlete's mind is the danger. Overcoming fear is part of the human condition. This is part of the appeal of watching the Olympics. How do they handle the pressure?

3. FIS, the international ski federation would have to be the one to initiate inclusion of speed skiing in the Olympic program. The politics in sport have EVERYTHING to do with money. This is why ski cross, slope style boarding are included in the Olympics. Viewer eyeballs means more money. Speed Skiing has traditionally had a pretty scarce lobby effort within FIS and speed skiing has a small viewership in world of broadcasting.

4. Citing a speed skiing death from 1965 is like saying the Presidents shouldn't ever go out in public because of Kennedy being shot in 1963. Just as security detail changed 50 years ago with the secret service, speed skiing organizing committees have made the fall line safer and death free for 50 years. 

5. Speed skiing is very exciting to watch. You can easily anticipate crashes in the qualifying rounds, if that is what floats your boat. Plus, when someone is skiing over 200 kmph or 120+ mph they are constantly being violently buffeted by aerodynamic turbulence, a wall of air and 240cm skis constantly catching edges. The Olympic champion, Michael Prufer exceeded 230 kmph on his Gold medal run and at one point was practically riding on his tails before the speed trap. Every athlete in the world struggles with the same factors of mental toughness:  how to overcome the instinct to flinch at real-time speed. This is quintessentially demonstrated in speed skiing.

6. For the author to comfortably add, "the sport doesn’t require much athletic ability" I invited him and all those people under the category of "some may say" to strap on some boards and give it a go. 

7. There is no judging in the speed skiing. Judging involves bias. The athlete who wins at speed skiing is the fastest, strongest and went from the highest point on the track.

8. The Olympic motto is Swifter, Higher, Stronger. What part of Speed Skiing doesn't match Citius, Altius, Fortius?

Should speed skiing be included in the Olympic program? Yes.

Will it? Not with the likes of inaccurate and biased reporting found above.

vince on slopes 92

Tags: Goals, Motivational