If you’re approaching adulthood, have athletic experience, and are dreaming of becoming an Olympian, Lake Placid, NY is the place to be. The village is home to the US Olympic Training Center, which is specifically the headquarters for team USA’s sliding sports (boblsed, skeleton, and luge). These sports, which have low numbers of participants worldwide, compared to ice hockey and soccer, give you some of the best chances of becoming an Olympic athlete.
Albeit some of the current members of Team USA started bobsled, skeleton, or luge during their adolescence, most didn’t pick up the sport until after college. They did not, however, lack prior athletic experience. All of them were well trained and built to become sliding athletes. Annie O’Shea, for example, a current member of the USA skeleton team, was a track athlete in high school and college, and was only introduced to the sport when she was a sophomore in college. Additionally, two members of the USA women’s bobsled team played division one field hockey in college and started sliding after those college careers. Even though the sliding sports can be picked up later in life, it is difficult to start any of them, let alone make the Olympic team, without prior athletic experience and strength training.
The Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex is home to the only combined bobsled, luge, and skeleton track east of the Rockies, making it one of the best and only places to train. Situated in the same village where perhaps the greatest underdog story of all time, the Miracle on Ice occurred, Lake Placid is the place to take your chances and pursue your Olympic dreams.
I didn't realize the training center was the main hub for bobsled, luge, and skeleton- that's interesting that the most remote training location (Adirondacks) would have the least popular sports. Also pretty cool that a lot of these athletes didn't get started until college, I assumed that everyone started as early as the kids we saw ski-jumping! I wonder what the optimum build for a sliding athlete is? I also wonder what kind of training they do, like what sort of exercises are best to prepare for extreme sliding?
ReplyDeleteAlthough I lack the athletic build (and therefore will probably never be an Olympic athlete), I think it is awesome that college athletes have an opportunity to train for the Olympics. When we met with the luge athlete on our trip, I developed a respect for these athletes. Their lifestyle at the Olympic Sports Complex is both very intense and monotonous. Still, I imagine their dedication to their sport is quite profound and many of us non-athlete can comprehend such zeal.
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