I'm trying out for the Olympic Bobsled team
 

It all started when I saw the football team push sleds to improve their speed. I wondered if the opposite was true. Do people work on their speed so that they can get better at pushing sleds? And does any sport involve pushing sleds? Hmmm....

So I went to [url]http://www.teamusa.org/usa-bobsled-skeleton-federation/join-the-team[/url] last night and decided to try out for the Olympic team. My next step will be doing the bobsled combine on August 12. If I score over 500 points (the maximum possible score is 600), I'll be invited to a rookie camp and have the chance to compete in some local races. If I do really well in those, I'll be in the Olympics.

The combine involves running, jumping, and throwing. The score sheet is attached. Does anyone want to predict my times and scores? I haven't really trained for this, so my results will be indicative of what a reasonably fit weekend warrior in his 20s can do. I'm 5'7" (170 cm) and weigh 110 pounds (50 kg).

I've spent the past few hours Googling "broad jump technique" and watching videos of people doing a standing long jump and a bobsled combine start (there's no reaction time, unlike a 100m dash). Due to my size, I have little hope of throwing a 16 lb shot far enough (12 meters) to get any points in the shot toss, but I [i]might[/i] be able to score some points in the running and jumping events. One of my friends disagrees and claims the test was designed for professional athletes, not for people like me who barely meet the physical activity guideline of 75-150 minutes/week.

Anyway, that's enough thinking for now. I need to book my flight, hotel, and car rental :smile:

[QUOTE=MooMoo2;464970]I need to book my ... car rental[/QUOTE]NO. I think you mean bicycle rental, right? Get in those hours and improve your fitness.

[size=1]Sheesh, why is it always a car? Don't people do anything for themselves any more?[/size] :razz:

Best of luck to you! You could be our own [URL="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1083452/"]Eddie Edwards[/URL], and beyond!
_____________
"The important thing in Life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

[QUOTE=MooMoo2;464970]I'm 5'7" (170 cm) and weigh 110 pounds (50 kg).[/QUOTE]

Have you seen a typical bobsled-team pusher? (And I'm not talking about the kind who peddle the PEDs. :) Let's just say the physical profile is - rather different - and I doubt that is simply to look good for the Team USA beefcake calendars.

But good luck with your endeavors, in any event!

[QUOTE=MooMoo2;464970]It all started when I saw the football team push sleds to improve their speed. I wondered if the opposite was true. Do people work on their speed so that they can get better at pushing sleds? And does any sport involve pushing sleds? Hmmm....

So I went to [url]http://www.teamusa.org/usa-bobsled-skeleton-federation/join-the-team[/url] last night and decided to try out for the Olympic team. My next step will be doing the bobsled combine on August 12. If I score over 500 points (the maximum possible score is 600), I'll be invited to a rookie camp and have the chance to compete in some local races. If I do really well in those, I'll be in the Olympics.

The combine involves running, jumping, and throwing. The score sheet is attached. Does anyone want to predict my times and scores? I haven't really trained for this, so my results will be indicative of what a reasonably fit weekend warrior in his 20s can do. I'm 5'7" (170 cm) and weigh 110 pounds (50 kg).

I've spent the past few hours Googling "broad jump technique" and watching videos of people doing a standing long jump and a bobsled combine start (there's no reaction time, unlike a 100m dash). Due to my size, I have little hope of throwing a 16 lb shot far enough (12 meters) to get any points in the shot toss, but I [i]might[/i] be able to score some points in the running and jumping events. One of my friends disagrees and claims the test was designed for professional athletes, not for people like me who barely meet the physical activity guideline of 75-150 minutes/week.

Anyway, that's enough thinking for now. I need to book my flight, hotel, and car rental :smile:[/QUOTE]

I think you are selling yourself short ( admittedly much like I do) I once put away over 900 kg of flour in a shift at my job placement, and I'm about 5 foot 4 and 65 kg. 2.4 meters is approaching 7 foot 10.5 inches for the broad jump 12 meters is about 39 foot 4.5 inches, as to the others, other than if they are times, I'm a little mixed up on what they mean. 16 lb is about 7.25 kg ( which under 9.80665 N/kg = about 71.2 newtons force to move it that far prior to air resistance and angles/arc) for the shot.

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

[QUOTE=ewmayer;464975]Have you seen a typical bobsled-team pusher? (And I'm not talking about the kind who peddle the PEDs. :) Let's just say the physical profile is - rather different[/QUOTE]
I might have better luck with the skeleton (their combine is the same as the bobsled combine). Tristan Gale was about my size and won gold in the skeleton in the 2002 Olympics, so there's some hope!

On another note, this might appeal to some of the 'muricans out there:
[url]https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/the-workout-training-to-bobsled/[/url]

[quote]
Q:Do you follow a special diet?

A:Our diet is basically just to eat everything we want. [/quote]

Is this just an excuse to watch Cool Runnings and call it research?

I just got back! I'll post some pictures along with an interesting story later today, but here are my results:
[URL]http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Bobsled-Skeleton-Federation/Results/Combine-Test/2017[/URL]

15m - 2.28 (66 points)
30m - 4.02 (64 points)
45m - 5.67 (65 points)

Flying 30m - 3.43 (60 points)*

Broad jump - 2.58m (59 points)
Shot toss - 7.7m (0 points)

Total - 314 points
Total possible points - 600 points
Total points needed to get to the next round - 450 points

*My flying 30m is listed as 3.43, but it should actually be 3.39 (5.67 seconds - 2.28 seconds). I would have gotten 62 points instead of 60, but even getting a perfect 100 points in that event wouldn't have gotten me into the Olympics.

Well... Congrats! :tu:
You should not be disappointed about not getting into Olympics. I think that your results are very good, and the most of us here won't get even close! You for sure invested a lot of work into those results. I wish you better luck next time (well... I am sure that the luck is about a lot of practice and transpiration!)...

Looks like you were very much the lightest.

I think that this quote works for the athletically gifted (as well as singers, knowledgeable folks, etc.):
[QUOTE= Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Bluebeard]...simply moderate giftedness has been made worthless by the printing press and radio and television and satellites and all that. A moderately gifted person who would have been a community treasure a thousand years ago has to give up, has to go into some other line of work, since modern communications put him or her into daily competition with nothing but world's champions....[SPOILER] A moderately gifted person has to keep his or her gifts all bottled up until, in a manner of speaking, he or she gets drunk at a wedding and tap-dances on the coffee table like Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers. We have a name for him or her. We call him or her an "exhibitionist." How do we reward such an exhibitionist? We say to him or her the next morning, "Wow! Were you ever drunk last night!”[/SPOILER][/QUOTE]I have the first part of the quote posted in my workspace at the place that trades me money for time.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;465549]I think that this quote works for the athletically gifted (as well as singers, knowledgeable folks, etc.):
I have the first part of the quote posted in my workspace at the place that trades me money for time.[/QUOTE]

closest I am to gifted is potentially finding failed barcode prints ( UPC barcodes that don't match the stated human readable code) but that's also possible for anyone with access to any barcode printing/genrating sites and even :

[url]http://www.av1611.org/666/barcode.html[/url] about the supposed biblical connection so many write about the UPC barcode.

[QUOTE=LaurV;465530]Well... Congrats! :tu:
You should not be disappointed about not getting into Olympics. I think that your results are very good, and the most of us here won't get even close! You for sure invested a lot of work into those results. I wish you better luck next time (well... I am sure that the luck is about a lot of practice and transpiration!)...[/QUOTE]
Thanks!

I showed up about half an hour before the combine started and saw about 15-20 people already there and doing their warmup. Most were ex-college football or track athletes who wanted to give this a shot since they were good but not good enough to make it to the NFL or the summer Olympics. A few of them had already taken the combine before.

My chances of actually making it to the 2018 Games were a long shot, so I had two more realistic goals: Get at least some points in most of the events, and don't end up as the person who scored the least points overall. Fortunately, I achieved both of them :smile:

The first event was the sprints. Names were called in a seemingly random but pre-determined order. Unlike a track race, each person ran individually, and there was no blocks or starting gun. The timer started when you began running, and a beep would sound as each runner passed the 15m, 30m, and 45m meter points. Each person was allowed 3 attempts (only the fastest run would count), but at least one person didn't take all 3 attempts due to tightness and/or fear of injury. There was a 10-15 minute rest period between attempts since each person had to wait for everyone else to finish their sprints. At first, there some chatter about waiting until there was a favorable tailwind before making an attempt, but this soon died down since the winds were calm.

My second attempt was my fastest one. Since the 50m world record (with blocks and a reaction time) was 5.56, I was pretty happy with my 45m time of 5.67. Breaking down the run into 15m, 30m, and 45m checkpoints was also helpful for determining whether my acceleration was better than my top speed (or vice-versa).

After the sprints, we were split up into two groups - half would do the jumps first, and the other half (my group) would do the 16 lb shot throw first. The shots were thrown from the edge of the track onto the football field. We got a practice throw and were allowed to grip the edge of the track with the front tip of our spikes. It helped a bit, but not enough for me (and quite a few other people) to throw it far enough to get some points in this event.

The standing long jump/broad jump came afterward. I had serious doubts about performing well in this since I was already tired from the shot throws and the sprints. Small pine cones were placed at the left and right edges of the long jump pit to give everyone an idea of where the 2 meter and 3 meter lines were. The world record for this was 3.73m, and most NFL players had jumps in the 3.0 meter / 10 foot range. I wasn't able to consistently jump further than 8 feet (2.44m) in practice, so I was really pleased with my 2.54m and 2.58m (8'5") jumps.

Finally, I decided that my experience wouldn't be complete without the chance to push and ride in an actual bobsled, so that's what I did later that afternoon. It wasn't part of the combine, but I pushed the sled, went down the track (an experienced professional did the driving), and reached a speed of 70+ mph / 112 km/h.

[QUOTE=Batalov;464974]Best of luck to you! You could be our own [URL="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1083452/"]Eddie Edwards[/URL], and beyond!
_____________
"The important thing in Life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."[/QUOTE]
You can't win if you don't try :smile:

One of the best parts of my whole experience was getting to meet all different kinds of people. They drove or flew hundreds or thousands of miles from different states, but one of them lived less than an hour's drive away from me! Most were really friendly, and we did get to meet two Olympic medalists, Valerie Fleming and Shauna Rohbock. They recorded our times, took pictures, and observed our forms/technique while we were doing the events.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;465549]I think that this quote works for the athletically gifted (as well as singers, knowledgeable folks, etc.):
[/QUOTE]
The quote may work, but I'm nowhere near athletically gifted. I was always one of the slowest kids in the playground until age 11 or 12, which was when I joined youth baseball and basketball camps. But I think this summarizes my experiences pretty well:
[url]http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/what-its-like-to-try-out-for-olympics[/url]

[quote]
At 27, I was probably too old, and too slow, but what if?

The only certainty in this whole half-baked dream-chase was that I was going to have to put serious work in.

To say I’m fit is accurate, but to say I’m athletically gifted is a vast overstatement. I played a few sports in high school, none in college.

I’m a relatively athletic “gym guy” who works out a few times a week—you might take me in the first round of a corporate pickup basketball tournament team draft—but I’ve never delved into the kind of hardcore athletic training required for the highest levels.
...
I started as a realist.

I’ve seen Olympians in the weight room, and these guys are absolute beasts—I once saw bobsled pushman Steve Langton jump 6 feet in the air.

I have a better chance of growing 6 feet in six weeks than jumping it.

Skeleton is such a niche sport, that simply by trying out for the team I had a decent shot of going somewhere. (It’s a public tryout, after all!)

There are no large communities of kids out doing skeleton runs on the weekends, and the more naturally talented are focused on popular sports like basketball, soccer, and football.

Maybe I’m naturally talented. If I could get through the combine, I thought, I might wind up a natural at the track and in the Olympics in 2018.

Every time I’d start to doubt myself I’d think of famous Olympic underdogs, like Brad Alan Lewis, who rose from being cut during the 1984 Olympic sculling team tryouts to gold medalist in just a handful of weeks.

Or Gwen Jorgensen, who went from being a full-time accountant to the No. 1 female triathlete in the world virtually overnight.

By the time I hopped in a rental car and pointed it north toward Lake Placid, I had a true chance.

It was probably after the second broad jump that I figured out I wasn’t making the team. Are you kidding me? I’m a 27-year-old magazine editor with no elite athletic experience.

The combine drew some of the fastest, most powerful men I’ve seen in person—many of them D-1 All-American sprinters, all of the great athletes younger than me.

You know, a funny thing happened when I realized that this whole twisted Olympic fantasy was out of reach. I didn’t bow my head, or get down on myself.

Each remaining jump and shot-put throw became cathartic. Those Winter Olympics I’d always wanted to be in? Well, here I was. At the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center, trying out for them—and at those final moments of the combine, that became enough for me.

Here’s why: I trained my ass off in the time I had. I literally couldn’t have done anything better.

And then I showed up, and I did respectably. Sometimes making the team isn’t what’s really important—it’s the feeling you get from truly giving something your all, whether you succeed or fail.

It’s getting in and getting after it. It’s no regrets.

That’s something I can take with me when I watch the opening ceremonies in 2018.

Could’a, would’a, should’a? No—been there, done that.
[/quote]

[QUOTE=henryzz;465538]Looks like you were very much the lightest.[/QUOTE]
Yup. Here are the numbers for all the other men who tried out:

[code]
Total number of men who tried out besides me: 19

Weight:
Mean: 195 lbs
Median: 190 lbs
Standard Deviation: 24 lbs
My weight: 110 lbs

Age:
Mean: 28.4
Median: 27
Standard Deviation: 4.6
My age: 28

15m:
Mean: 2.25
Median: 2.24
Standard Deviation: 0.145
My time: 2.28

30m:
Mean: 4.02
Median: 3.97
Standard Deviation: 0.283
My time: 4.02

45m:
Mean: 5.81
Median: 5.69
Standard Deviation: 0.605
My time: 5.67

30m fly:
Mean: 3.49
Median: 3.42
Standard Deviation: 0.287
My time: 3.39 / 3.43

Broad Jump:
Mean: 2.80m
Median: 2.78m
Standard Deviation: 0.304m
My distance: 2.58m

Shot toss:
Mean: 12.33m
Median: 12.40m
Standard Deviation: 1.96m
My distance: 7.70m

Total points:
Mean: 334
Median: 388
Standard Deviation: 169
My score: 314
[/code]
edit: Numbers including myself:
[code]
Total number of men: 20

Weight:
Mean: 190.8 lbs
Median: 190 lbs
Standard Deviation: 30 lbs
My weight: 110 lbs

Age:
Mean: 28.4
Median: 27.5
Standard Deviation: 4.5
My age: 28

15m:
Mean: 2.25
Median: 2.25
Standard Deviation: 0.141
My time: 2.28

30m:
Mean: 4.02
Median: 3.98
Standard Deviation: 0.275
My time: 4.02

45m:
Mean: 5.80
Median: 5.68
Standard Deviation: 0.59
My time: 5.67

30m fly:
Mean: 3.49
Median: 3.43
Standard Deviation: 0.279
My time: 3.39 / 3.43

Broad Jump:
Mean: 2.79m
Median: 2.77m
Standard Deviation: 0.30m
My distance: 2.58m

Shot toss:
Mean: 12.10m
Median: 12.33m
Standard Deviation: 2.17m
My distance: 7.70m

Total points:
Mean: 333
Median: 381
Standard Deviation: 164
My score: 314
[/code]

It's been some time since I last paid much attention about the makeup of a good 4 man bobsled team. I do recall that the driver was always the lightest member of the team since the drive is first into the sled and the others have to push him some distance before getting in.

[QUOTE=MooMoo2;465603]
Numbers including myself:
[code]
Total number of men: 20
45m: (49.2 yards)
Mean: 5.80
Median: 5.68
Standard Deviation: 0.59
My time: 5.67

Broad Jump:
Mean: 2.79m
Median: 2.77m
Standard Deviation: 0.30m
My distance: 2.58m (8'5")
[/code][/QUOTE]
You would have been in the 95th-98 percentile for 17-18 year old guys. Not bad!

The 100th percentile is probably impossible to achieve for most events. The 100th percentile is a 4:21 mile for 12 year old boys, but the official track record for 12 year old American boys is 4:22 for the 1500m, and that's quite a bit shorter than a mile.

On another note, it's interesting to see how the general population lost fitness over the years. This was apparent as early as 1975, and those numbers are probably much slower today with all the fat guys loafing around:
[URL]http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED120168.pdf[/URL]

[QUOTE=The Carnivore;470941]
It's interesting to see how the general population lost fitness over the years. This was apparent as early as 1975[/QUOTE]
Here's the data for Americans in 1985 and Australians in recent years (1990s):
[url]http://teacherweb.com/WV/SouthCharlestonHighSchool/AFJROTC/Presidential_Challenge_Test_Standards_2011.pdf[/url]
[url]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51736727_Normative_health-related_fitness_values_for_children_Analysis_of_85347_test_results_on_9-17-year-old_Australians_since_1985[/url]

[b]1 mile/1.6 km run:[/b]
American 12 year old boys in 1975, 50th percentile: 8:21
American 12 year old boys in 1985, 50th percentile: 8:40
Australian 12 year old boys after 1985, 50th percentile: 8:05

American 12 year old boys in 1975, 85th percentile: 6:20
American 12 year old boys in 1985, 85th percentile: 7:11
Australian 12 year old boys after 1985, 85th percentile: 6:59

[b]50m sprint.[/b] At this ability level, the conversion factor is approximately 0.5 seconds from 50 yards (45.72m) to 50 meters.
American 15 year old boys in 1975, 50th percentile: 6.9+0.5 = 7.4 seconds
Australian 15 year old boys after 1985, 50th percentile: 7.7 seconds

American 15 year old boys in 1975, 80th percentile: 6.4+0.5 = 6.9 seconds
Australian 15 year old boys after 1985, 80th percentile: 7.3 seconds

American 15 year old boys in 1975, 95th percentile: 6.0+0.5 = 6.5 seconds
Australian 15 year old boys after 1985, 95th percentile: 7.0 seconds

[b]Broad jump:[/b]
American 15 year old boys in 1975, 50th percentile: 2.03m (6' 8")
Australian 15 year old boys after 1985, 50th percentile: 1.89m (6' 2")

American 15 year old boys in 1975, 80th percentile: 2.21m (7' 3")
Australian 15 year old boys after 1985, 80th percentile: 2.09m (6' 10")

American 15 year old boys in 1975, 95th percentile: 2.44m (8' 0")
Australian 15 year old boys after 1985, 95th percentile: 2.28m (7' 6")

[QUOTE=The Carnivore;470941]those numbers are probably much slower today with all the fat guys loafing around[/QUOTE]
A 4-man team made up of fast but skinny guys may be slower than a 4-man team made up of slower but heavier guys. I checked the results again, and predictably, it said that I was better suited for the Skeleton than the Bobsled (see attached).

Interestingly enough, my sprint times were (barely) fast enough to qualify for further training:
[quote](from email I received)Thanks for participating in today's combine. I have attached the results so please look over and let me know if you see any mistakes or if you have any questions.
I have sent the results over to the USABS National Team coaches to review.

The Bobsled and Skeleton National Team are looking for athletes that score 450 points and higher. Based on your total combine score, athletes are eligible to receive an invitation to participate in a rookie camp in OCT at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY.

[b]To qualify for our G-Force Elite Bobsled and Skeleton Development program you need to score 250 on the sprint portion of the test.[/b][/quote]