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I am an Olympian Posted: Tuesday January 22, 2002 2:26 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-foot 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 Olympic. January 22, 2002 I am an Olympian! This one should be pretty easy. I made it to the Games! The Race: The Lake Placid race wasn't what anyone would have expected, but at the end of it I had secured my position on the Olympic team. I had a fairly secure position in second place just behind the only person who, at that time, had won a race on this year's World Cup tour, Gregor Stahli from Switzerland. The race was held in snow, which makes fair sliding conditions tough to come by, especially while working with Mother Nature in Lake Placid, N.Y. Usually there is a crew of track workers cleaning the track regularly so that the track stays as consistent as possible. I slid to a third-place position in the first heat, and after some debate the race was called during the second heat due to extreme weather conditions. There are two ways for U.S. skeleton athletes to qualify for the Olympic team this year. You can either race to a top 3 position in World Cup points going into the U.S. Olympic Team Trials or to go through the four-team trial races for one of the positions offered. With my second-place rank, I was on the team as the leading U.S. athlete and there was no need for me to do the Olympic team trials in Park City. My teammate Jim Shea was able to stay in third place overall in the Placid race to pre-qualify for one of the other three men's positions available. Lincoln Dewitt would take the last position in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. On the women's side one position was locked up by Tristan Gale, the other position for Lea Ann Parsley would have to be earned, with the help of Tricia Stumpf in the St. Moritz World Cup Finale. For me, it was time to go home and enjoy the holidays with my family and friends. If you look at the numbers, there are very few people lucky enough to go to the Olympics, even as a spectator. I am now one of the elite who actually get to represent their nation in the greatest international competition possible. What is happening with skeleton as a sport is also much more involved than it appears. Skeleton is being re-introduced into the Games as the oldest sliding sport. In essence it is giving all those athletes who have been competing in the sport a way to make valid what they have been doing for years. I actually got to meet with Nino Bibbia, the 1948 gold medalist in skeleton (at the time cresta) during this year's World Cup Finale in St. Moritz, Switzerland. I won the race, so we got to test each other's medals with a bite for content. His had a bit more gold in it than mine, but just standing by Nino made me realize what a special moment in time this is for the sport. A lot of athletes have come and gone since Nino's days on the podium, all of whom have had some sort of influence on the sport. Since I began racing, it has been very evident that the athletes have been a large voice who've helped get skeleton back into the Olympics. That is something they can now be proud of. Skeleton is very unique in that the athletes are very hands-on with how the sport is shaped. Athlete representatives, jury members for races, team leaders, coaches and supporters of the sport all deserve a lot of credit. The people who compete are most responsible in shaping skeleton racing through their actions and in the professional manner that the athletes work with the sport. Recently, the athletes held a meeting to discuss all issues involving the sport. The issues included how the races were being held, who was working with us to advance the sport, what we can do to make skeleton more accessible to others, the future of the sport and what we can do to preserve the camaraderie that is very present in the sport. When I step back and take a look at what is happening, I get a bit of perspective. Orvie, Terry, Jimmy T., Haggy, Brisbois, Ryan, Robie and everyone who I have crossed between when I started to now are also responsible for getting me here. I will try to represent all those who have been before me as well as those who have supported athletes and myself throughout the years.
-- Chris
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