After a 70-year hiatus, the Winter Olympics returned to the Italian town of Cortina d’Ampezzo, and with it, a renewed spotlight on the historic bobsled track. The venue has seen a resurgence, drawing competitors and observers – including those from nations where maintaining an ice track is simply not feasible.
Latvian Olympic team doctor Jānis Kaupe participated in his sixth Winter Games, and his insights into bobsledder Jēkabs Kalenda’s performance are proving insightful. Kalenda enjoyed his best results of the season in Cortina, with the Latvian teams finishing in the top ten in both the two-man and four-man events.
“A bobsledder does more than he thinks, he does it quickly. Mostly it’s with big muscles, from a physiological aspect, with fast fibers. That’s what we look for,” explained Kaupe. “Winter athletes are all a little bit introverted, a little bit stubborn, and don’t react much to minor discomforts.”
Kaupe praised Kalenda’s composure and the impression of detachment the pilot projects.
“He [Kalenda] is enjoying the Olympics and, in my opinion, is approaching it highly productively, as he should. He’s been talking, and it feels like he’s opened up here [in Cortina],” Kaupe said. “Perhaps he feels safe, comfortable, with his experienced [brakeman] Matīss Miknis beside him, we help a little there too, and he feels secure. His little ‘detachment,’ I think, helps him focus on the right moments.”
Kalenda also received praise from brakemen Mairis Klava and Matīss Miknis. Klava highlighted Kalenda’s contribution to Latvia’s two top-10 finishes, while Miknis noted that even a single mistake in eight runs was a strong result, especially during the most important competitions of the season.
Unfortunately, only one Latvian team was able to compete after Renārs Grantiņš suffered a training accident, injuring his cervical vertebra and being ruled out of the Games. The incident involved a dislocated cervical vertebra, prompting medical personnel to immediately arrange for transport to a larger hospital in Treviso for surgery. Fortunately, strong neck muscles kept the vertebra from shifting further, preventing a more severe injury.
Kaupe had the opportunity to observe Olympic medical care twice, and rated the Italian specialists a 10 out of 10, with a bonus.
“They specifically cleared the entire hospital just for [the Olympics], brought in doctors from the region, and the way they manage the situation – there wasn’t a single person’s decision at any point,” Kaupe explained. “Immediately three people come together to form a kind of mini-council. I just watched and didn’t interfere with their work.”
Sports doctor and medical science doctorate Sandra Rozenštoka, along with foreign colleagues, implemented a scientific environmental intelligence program at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. The international group of scientists included specialists from Hong Kong, Austria, and Spain.
“We have athletes whose performance we can measure online. Our technology is connected to the athlete in real-time,” explained Yiannis Picalidis, head of the Olympic Games environmental intelligence program. “Then, using artificial intelligence, we can predict what the athlete needs to do to stay safe. That is our first priority. Secondly, to break world records or achieve higher goals. That’s what we want to do.”
The scientific program aims to promote athlete safety and maximize performance, allowing the public to witness spectacular competitions.
“The beauty of the Olympic Games is that the technologies we develop here can also be used at home,” Picalidis emphasized. “We receive data online on our mobile phones, and that can inform teams of athletes how best to prepare their sleds or skis.”
The amount of data is so large that artificial intelligence assistance is useful in processing and compiling it.
Scientist Rozenštoka emphasized the athletes’ physical preparation, but data analysis helps to correctly assess potential risks and mitigate them.
“In neck strength tests, the neck flexor muscles [of the athletes] are two to three times stronger than those of an ordinary person who is not involved in these sports,” Rozenštoka noted. “Then you can also witness those G-forces, how big they are and at which point on the track. It will be possible to assess in which sport, in the training process, to include, for example, separate exercises or targeted load in order to reduce risks.”
Bobsleigh also attracts representatives from countries where the air temperature rarely drops below 20 degrees Celsius.
“When I arrived in Europe, I usually like to lower the room temperature to a certain level so that when I go out into the cold, I don’t really feel cold. So, in general, the cold doesn’t affect me,” said Jamaican bobsleigh pilot Shane Pitters.
The film “Cool Runnings” told the story of Jamaica’s debut in the Winter Olympics, participating in bobsleigh at the 1988 Calgary Games. The Jamaican Olympic team also took to the start in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Jamaican bobsleigh pilot Shane Pitters (left) with brakemen Junior Harris, Taikendo Tracey and Joel Feron Photo: SCANPIX/dpa/picture-alliance
“I participated in athletics competitions in Jamaica, and a guy who participated in the 2022 Olympic Games came up and asked if we – me and my teammate – would like to join bobsleigh. I asked him what bobsleigh was,” Pitters recalled his introduction to the sport. “He said it’s a small box that you run with, push down a hill, jump in, and whoever gets down fastest wins. I thought: me, me, me! It sounded fun! And that’s how my bobsleigh journey began.”
A large portion of the fans in Cortina supported the Jamaican team.
Joel Feron’s mother, Jacqueline, didn’t hide the fact that she had always found her son’s passion for bobsleigh frightening, but It’s a sport he chose for himself.
“So we just support him,” emphasized the Jamaican bobsleigh athlete’s mother. “These Olympic Games have made bobsleigh much more visible to Jamaicans, creating an opportunity to say: ‘I want to become a bobsleigh athlete.’”
The central square of the track was crowded with fans on competition days – while bobsleigh is far from the most popular sport in the world, it has been able to discover its fans at the Olympic Games.
“It’s a small sport, and it’s quite random that we know someone who does it. Everyone we know plays soccer, but it seems some people also go bobsleighing,” said Polo, a bobsleigh fan from Germany.
“It’s great – there are a lot of kids here, there’s a lot of excitement. There’s a lot of competition between different countries, the Germans are ahead again, but you know, the US team, we’re slowly catching up,” said Eric Wilson, a US bobsleigh fan.
“It’s spectacular. Of course, it’s beautiful, and you can enjoy beautiful views from all sides, so it’s fantastic,” added Jason Bennet, a US bobsleigh fan.
“It’s been wild. The Italians have been super wonderful, super hospitable. They are very friendly. There are a lot of people here from all over the world. It’s amazing. The infrastructure is great,” said Baik Weiley, a US bobsleigh fan.
“As a fan, I have to take the bus, and everything works perfectly. So I’m very happy to be here. The atmosphere is great because all the countries are represented and everyone is in a friendly mood. I really like it,” said Magnus, a bobsleigh fan from Germany.
Meanwhile, Vittorio – a bobsleigh fan from Italy – believes that his compatriots enjoy being the hosts of the Olympic Games: “In Milan too, people, I think, really enjoyed hosting the Games.”
The locals welcomed the Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo with a smile and a large dose of Italian peace.
