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The oldest sliding sport
Updated: Friday April 20, 2001 12:24 PM
Skeleton athlete Chris Soule, 28, is training for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Soule, who won the first round of U.S. national team selection races back in October, is a two-time national champion (1997, 2000) and finished second on the 2000 World Cup circuit. The 6-0 native of Trumbull, Conn. spent time as a stunt player on the film G.I. Jane and currently works as a research assistant. Check out Soule's diary on CNNSI.com as he trains for the Olympics. March 20, 2001 Hello everyone. My name is Chris Soule and I race in the sport of skeleton. I have been asked by CNNSI to share my thoughts and experiences with you through this Olympic year. Although I have been competing in my sport on the World Cup level for over nine years, this Olympic experience will be totally new and exciting for me. The 2002 Winter Games will be the first time my sport will be included in the Olympics since 1948! Skeleton is the oldest sliding sport (ancestor of luge and bobsled). It is a single person headfirst sliding down an iced track at speeds in excess of 80 mph. Since most people have never heard of skeleton before, I hope that my diary entries will not only introduce you to me but will also interest you in my sport.
The season has just come to an end, once again. It is always an odd thing to not be traveling and competing every weekend, but the little break that I get between the winter season and the summer training is always a good thing. This time away lets me reflect what I have done throughout the season and what I need to work on for the upcoming year. I have already started my off-season training program, which consists of weights and sprints as well as a complete plyometric program to help get that pop into the 35-50 meter push start along side the sled. In order for me to reach my Olympic goals, I know that this is going to be the most rigorous training I've gone through. I will let you know how my training is going in future entries. During the racing season, I finished in 8th place on the World Cup circuit, which has made me realize that there are a couple of things that I have to work on to reach my goals in the Olympics. It has been another interesting year, though. I have been doing this for years, but every time I get on the road it's like a whole new adventure. Something always happens that makes me realize there are things that I haven't seen yet. I do have my favorite stops, but there's something at every place we go to that is special. The best part of participating in this sport has been the people I've met along the way. I often joke that I have a "mother" in every city. For instance, there is "Mama Karen" and her family in Winterberg, Germany, who own a hotel in town. I always visit them while I'm in Winterberg racing and join them for a local brew to catch up on what's happened throughout the year. The U.S. has the best men's and women's skeleton teams ever. The women finished off the season in second place while the men took the World Cup Team title. Other than being talented on the ice, there's a lot of personality on our teams. There are a couple of firefighters, a team handball player, an airplane pilot, computer programmers and some with military backgrounds too. My coach Ryan Davenport has taught me a lot about sliding and good sportsmanship. He also has the largest collection of unopened, obscure CD's that I have ever seen. So you can imagine that traveling with this group can be pretty interesting at times. We train and travel with the international racers as well, which makes the World Cup tour even more entertaining. It's been an exciting journey so far... 11 months to go! -- Christopher
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