Posted on 02/26/2002 3:22:01 PM PST by Utah Girl
PARK CITY, Utah - I came to watch the skeleton event, which involves sliding through icy turns at death-defying speeds approaching 80 miles per hour. And that was driving here in my rental car. The actual skeleton event was even scarier.
Skeleton is a sport wherein competitors hurtle face-first down a twisting ice track, lying on what appears to be either a small sled or a large belt buckle. The sled has no brakes and no steering (although it does have a CD player). The competitors steer by screaming.
The skeleton event has appeared in two previous Winter Olympics, in 1928 and 1948. The reason for the lengthy gaps between appearances was that none of the competitors survived. They had no problems going down the track, but experienced major difficulties when they encountered what was known in those days as the ''stopping wall.'' Today, however, there's an uphill ramp at the bottom of the track to slow down the sleds, so despite its scary appearance, modern skeleton is really no more dangerous than any other ''extreme'' sport, such as volcano snorkeling, chainsaw lacrosse, or dating Mike Tyson.
The skeleton competition drew a large, festive crowd, which cheered often as it wandered festively around, trying, without success, to find a vantage point from which the competition was actually visible. It was snowing hard, so most of the spectators were bundled up, although I did see three wild and crazy American dudes who were bare-chested, football-fan-style, and who had painted big red, white and blue letters on their chests, so that when they stood together, they proudly spelled out the patriotic message: ``S-U-A.''
I should mention that beer was available at this venue.
Anyway, despite the fact it was mostly invisible, the skeleton competition was excellent, in the sense Americans won both the gold medals. (Also, as has become standard operating procedure at these Olympics, a second set of gold medals was awarded to Canada.) The American winners were Tristan Gale and Jim Shea. As I watched them celebrate, the thought that came to my mind, as it often does when I see these world-class athletes in their moments of joy and triumph, was: How do they go to the bathroom in those Spider Man suits? They don't appear to have zippers, at least not where you would NEED a zipper. But all the Winter Olympic athletes wear those suits, except (thank God) the curlers.
The function of the suits, as I understand it, is to reduce wind resistance. This seems like a good idea, and not just for athletes. I don't know about you, but wind resistance is a BIG problem in my life. My wife will say, ''Could you take out the garbage?'' And I'll say, ''I can't! There's too much wind resistance!'' If I wore one of these suits, it would be a whole different story. My wife would say, ''Could you take out the garbage?'' And I'd say, ``I can't! I'm stuck in the bathroom!''
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LOL
Here I was hoping this was the probable place to find out how this sport got such a bizzare name.
I still have no clue...
"The sport got its name in 1892 when a new metal sled was unveiled and people thought it looked like a skeleton."
The last few days - WE could have used those suits down here in cold, wind-torn Tejas!
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