Anyone know how to get me in touch with Usain? He, Powell, and a couple other guys could make great bobsledders. I've always said sprinters make the best bobsledders.
Anyone know how to get me in touch with Usain? He, Powell, and a couple other guys could make great bobsledders. I've always said sprinters make the best bobsledders.
We've got a bobsled team!
But he's already the greatest 100/200 meter sprinter the world has ever seen.
BelgradeNative wrote:
But he's already the greatest 100/200 meter sprinter the world has ever seen.
So what. Track is in the summer and he needs a winter activity to keep him occupied.
Bonsledding is for guys who gain their speed from pure strenght and no so much from technique. A technically strong runner will never ever make a good pusher.
Above all that Bolt and Powell are way to tall, and way to light.
They tried to enter sub 20 guy Regis from GB into a team, but despite his speed, strengt and weight he couldn't do it. As with all elite sprinters; speed = technique + strengt
With bobsledding; speed = strenght and weight
Ever tried a push off? Than you'll see it's not purely about sheer speed...
didn't Herschel Walker win an Olympic medal for bobsledding?
No. Hershel was 7th in 1992.
However, Vonetta Flowers, long jumper/ sprinter, NCAA All American, 2x summer Olympic Trial qualifier did win gold in 2002 in the 2-person bobsled.
So you just watched the movie Cool Runnings and then you came up with this brilliant idea, right? Well duh, the movie is a true story and it has already been done - Jamaican sprinters not goof enough to make the track team go into bobsledding.
Bet he would not, but he (or anyone else) can go through a battery of tests that US Bobsled does and get a score.
http://bobsled.teamusa.org/recruitment
. (if you know someone who can score high please have them give it a shot. Heck Brian Shimer was from FL and went on to win a bronze and then coach the gold medal winning team). The combine score has had a very good correlation with success (personal communication).
I was just at a conference where their talent ID methods to find pushers was discussed. Here would be some issues:
1) There was a case of a very fast sprinter who could not make the technical adjustments to running fast while pushing a sled (and then to timing the jump into the sled).
2) Edwin Moses apparently was very good as he was such a technician that he quickly got the technique down. I assume he just did not have the top end speed.
3) Bolt is really tall.
4) The push in the bobsled is about 50m. Long enough that a 100m guy(gal) has a shot.
You've slipped up with this idea
They have sleds big enough?