I thought of this on Saturday, when writing up the post for our Drinks With Broads live chat — speaking of which please join us! We’re talking every day during the Olympics and it’s so fun! (This is today’s post.) Imagine you are informed that, For Reasons, you MUST compete in the Winter Olympics. You do NOT have any time to train; you can take 3 or 4 practice runs and a coach can explain the logistics of your event to you, but that is it. Then you are on. Crucially, you do not have to win but you do have to make a sincere attempt to complete the event. What would you choose?
See, this question is easy if you know how to ski or you are a snowboarder, or can skate. I can do none of those things, so I’ve decided I will be either the second or third person into a four-man bobsled. I am pretty sure I can run and help push the bobsled and then jump in and hold on. (I CANNOT steer it and I also don’t think I should be the last person in.) I cannot do it WELL but I think it’s literally my only shot at the Winter Games to NOT DIE. (I mean, maybe I could curl but I don’t know how curling works!)
What would you do?
PS: The Informative Caption reads for this photo reads, “The Heaton Brothers and William Fiske of Chicago (in front), who comprised the American Bobsled Team, on their sled at St. Moritz [in 1928]. The team won the skeleton bobsledding event, scoring fifteen points, in the Olympic Winter Sports Games.” Billy Fiske lied that he was Canadian in order to join the RAF when World War II broke out and was the first American citizen pilot killed in the war. He also basically invented Aspen as a ski resort. His Wikipedia is VERY interesting. HOWEVER! Wiki says his 1928 Olympic teammates are Geoffrey Mason (boring Wiki), Nion Tocker (boring Wiki), Clifford Gray (boring Wiki) and Richard Parke (slightly insane Wiki), NOT the Heaton Brothers, and in fact, the Heaton Brothers’ respective Wikis say that one of them (who got married 4 times) was actually on the SKELETON team in 1928 and the other was on the other 1928 bobsled team which came in second (but he did marry Billy Fiske’s sister). I am happy to act as fact-checker on this nearly one hundred year old Informative Caption.
Photo: Getty Images.
