Act as interpreter:
Here is an interview with Bryan Berghorn – a Lake Placid native who took to the sport of bobsledding at the age of 8. Growing up in an Olympic Veteran town, there were plenty of opportunities to become involved in a winter sport that many may not be familiar with. His aspirations to become a member of the United States Olympic Bobsled team and eventually a Gold medalist have driven him to compete in competitions throughout the country. His love for the sport shines through the work he puts forth in achieving his dream.
Question: Прежде всего я хотела Вас попросить рассказать немного об истории развития бобслея…
B
ryan
Berghorn: Bobsledding
began in the mid to late 1800s in Switzerland by loggers who would
build sleds that would pull the logs from the tops of the mountains
down to the mills at the bottom and eventually as the sleds got more
advanced and companies “raced” to get more production, the sport
was born.
The first track was constructed between the village of St. Moritz and Celerina, Switzerland, cut from natural ice; the bobsled track in St. Moritz is the only “Natural Ice” bobsled track on the World Cup Circuit today. Most are artificial tracks now, built with a concrete frame, and covered with ice with advanced refrigeration systems to allow for much longer seasons.
Q.: А как Вы можете описать в общем суть этого вида спорта? Особенно то, как определяется победитель?
BB: Bobsled races are timed events to the .01 of a second taking place over 2 heats or runs down the track. In the Olympics or World Championships, races are 4 heats stretched out over 2 days. The tracks are about a mile long and have at least 15 banked curves with an uphill finish to help the sleds slow down. A bobsled is pushed off at the start by either a 2 or 4 man crew who load into a 400-600lb sled and with help from centrifugal force in the turns can put up to 5gs of force on the crew (astronauts blasting off into space only have to endure about 3gs), so a 220 pound man in the sled at times weighs about 1,100lbs. There’s no accelerator in a bobsled, so the only time you can gain an advantage is by throwing down a fast, powerful push start. After that, the sled is accelerated by gravity and momentum; you can think of it as the heaviest rock down the hill will win the race. There are weight limits however so that no one can have too much of an advantage and puts emphasis on having a strong, athletic team at the start. Also, the skill of the driver and the quality of the equipment play a huge role in having a fast down time.
Q.: А насколько важную роль играет каждый член команды?
BB: Each team is comprised of a driver and a brakeman and for four-man events there are two other push athletes to help launch the sled off the line and provide a good push start. The brakeman is usually the strongest and fastest as he is the last to load. The driver is responsible for the driving obviously and in the auto racing sense. He’s also the team manager, owner, mechanic, crew chief, marketing director, coach, recruiter and engine.
Q.: Сколько времени Вы посвящаете тренировкам, и в чем они заключаются?
BB: My sliding season ended two weeks ago but next season began that Monday. Luckily I’ve taken these two weeks off to rest and heal my body, but I’ve been working on a budget for next season. I’ve sent numerous emails to potential sponsors, started my blog, and made a list of things that need to be repaired on the sled. I’m coming up with a new paint scheme, trying to find a truck to haul my sleds around, I have to bring them to the Zero-Error racing team’s shop in Youngstown, Ohio for maintenance and work 40 hours a week. It’s a lot of money and work for roughly two minutes of sliding each day during the winter, but it’s worth it.
Q.: Вы тренируетесь в основном зимой? Или все-таки на протяжении всего года?
В
B: During
the summer, in addition to everything else I have to do, I‘ll spend
about an hour or two every day before and after work in the gym
weight lifting and running sprints to get stronger and faster so push
times get better. In the junior bobsled program, the drivers sat in
the sled so there was no need to train for the push start, yet I’m
regretting not having been on the track team in high school.
Each summer there are a series of combine tests where athletes can see if they have what it takes to be bobsledders. This is valuable time to recruit a strong, fast team for the next season. They usually come from football or track and field; many are Division One NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) athletes. Athletes who score well on the combine get housing at the Olympic Training Center here in town. I usually need about 20-30 athletes to schedule in blocks so that I always have a four-man team available for practice and races and on standby in case someone gets injured.
The driver goes balls to the wall pushing the sled as hard as he can, jumping in from the side and then into a very relaxed Zen-like state, because as the sled accelerates, the driver is put under more and more G-forces in the turns but has to keep the sled on a perfect line, minimizing friction when he steers it. Think of the front runners like hockey skates; when the hockey player turns sideways, he stops. It’s a much more subtle scale in bobsled; when the driver turns to the left, the sled goes to the left, but that change in direction slightly breaks the sled’s momentum.
Q.: Как Вы начали заниматься бобслеем, и как Вам удалось собрать свою первую команду?
BB: I’m a Lake Placid native. My mom worked for the Visitors Bureau and my dad was a ski jumper. They started me in the skating club as soon as I could walk, but I was bored with that. I started ski jumping when I was 6 years old, but unfortunately “Fat don’t fly!” so I joined the junior bobsled club when I was 8. I didn’t have a brakeman so this is where I met Dennis, who also didn’t have a partner. Luckily back then, there was no weight limit; we were a much heavier team, and won just about everything we raced in together, including the Empire State Games in 1999, and the Junior National Championships in 1999, 2000 and 2001. By 2001 we got into bigger, heavier sleds where Dennis would then push. In junior bobsled we were a top 3 team with over 35 medals.
Q.: Что Вы считаете своими самыми значительными достижениями на сегодняшний день?
BB: I joined the Adirondack Bobsled Club which provided me with a full-sized bobsled; we placed 3rd in the Club Championships and the next season we won by over 1.5 seconds. In a sport timed to the .01 of a second, that is an eternity! That win got me a spot on the National Development bobsled team where I’m currently at.
Last season was my first chance at an International race in the America’s Cup four-man race here in Lake Placid, where we finished 5th. This season we finished 4th in the two-man and 3rd in the four-man at the National Team Trials, currently ranking me 4th in the Nation. We ended this season in the four-man Americas Cup placing 9th with sled malfunctions, but that motivated us to get everything in line for next season!
Q.: Бобслей – это опасный вид спорта. У Вас было много травм за годы увлечения бобслеем?
BB: As for the physical toll on my body, I’ve sustained 8 concussions, and 2 broken ribs having been in 4 crashes (only 2 caused by me) and can’t breathe as well as I would want to because one of the ribs healed funny and keeps poking my lung when I breathe deeply.
Q.: В отличие от лыжного спорта и фигурного катания, бобслей не очень популярен. Каким образом можно привлечь детей к занятиям этим спортом?
BB: If children want to get involved in bobsled, the junior program is still going on for kids ages 11-18; I would strongly recommend they join their school track or football teams, so they can start developing their bodies and getting fast for the starts.
(Interview by Juliet Barney – an Assistant Editor of The Free George on-line magazine).