Geek leads US bobsled team to early lead
Is it possible that the geeks of the winter sports world can equal the absolute rapture of the Jamaicans by turning in a truly stellar performance on the bobsled run at the Vancouver Winter Olympics?
Steven Holcomb is a man of many interests and considerable talents. He is a computer science major and Microsoft Certified Professional, which places him firmly within the hallowed halls of geekdom. He also happens to be the pilot of the American bobsled team at the Winter Olympics, who after the first day of trials is leading the bobsled competition at that event, putting his team in an excellent position to end an incredible 62-year drought during which the United States has not won a single Olympic gold medal in the bobsled event, according to a CNET story.
With good reason after such a performance, Holcomb is pleased with what his team has accomplished. After the first round of trials ended, Holcomb said, “It takes a little bit of pressure off tomorrow. We can still make some improvements,” followed up by the usual athlete’s addendum that there were still things that they could do better, etc. Still, first place is not bad after half the runs have been made, putting the American team as it does in the best position to take the gold in this winter’s competition.
Team member Steve Mesler, who is all athlete rather than part geek, was surprised that the team did as well as it did under the conditions they ran in. He said, “We don’t need to improve anything; we don’t need to change anything,. We just need to do the same thing.” Both team members alluded to it just being a sport, despite the level of importance and emphasis which seems to be placed on winning. The team is trying not to be distracted by the attention and will attempt to do their last two runs just as they did the first two.
Maybe Steven can even get some coding time in.
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February 28th, 2010
I wonder how the Jamaican bobsled team is doing this year?