Published>Fri, Feb 12 10 04:49 AM
Ruben Gonzalez describes Corner 16 on Whistler's perilous track as akin to a horse stamping on your head so what then drives a 47-year-old former photo-copier salesman to risk his limbs as an Olympic luge slider?
"It's not the sport, it's the Olympics," Gonzalez, who moved to New York from his native Argentina aged six and now lives with his wife and children in Houston, told Reuters after surviving his first two white-knuckle training runs ahead of the weekend's men's singles competition.
"I didn't even like luge for the first 20 years but it was my ticket to the Olympics. I needed a sport with lots of broken bones because I knew there would be quitters -- and I never quit. I'll be the last man standing."
Remarkably, Gonzalez is still standing and is about to appear in his fourth Winter Olympics dating back to 1988 when he first raced for Argentina in Calgary.
His life changed direction in 1984 when he was sat at home watching the Winter Games in Sarajevo and was transfixed by Scott Hamilton winning figure-skating gold for the U.S.
"He was like this tiny and I said if he can go to the Olympics so can I."
From that moment he was obsessed with becoming an Olympian but having acquired no particular athletic skills in his first 21 years he had no idea what sport he could take up.
"I went to the library and read books on all the summer sports but realised you had to be a super athlete," he said.
"The problem was I was always the last kid picked for P.E. at school. Then I hit on the idea of luge, it seemed to fit because it overcame my lack of athleticism."
Gonzalez travelled up to Lake Placid but his requests for a try-out initially fell on deaf ears and he was forced to practise on grass with a wooden sled that had wheels not rails.
"They said I should have had 10 years' experience by that stage," he said. "I didn't take no for an answer and when I said I was from Argentina they said if I raced for Argentina they could support because they wanted more nations involved."
Despite crashing "four times out of five" in his first year in the sport Gonzalez persevered and his dream came true in 1988 when he finished 33rd. Four years later at Albertville he was 31st and after a 10-year gap he competed at Salt Lake City.
"For 20 years I was scared every single run, I didn't like the sport," said Gonzalez, whose list of broken bones includes fingers, feet, ribs and elbow. "The broken bones were just a temporary inconvenience."
After setting up a motivational speaking company and having children, Gonzalez left his sledge alone for six years after Salt Lake but the lure of the Olympics came calling once again.
"It was the anniversary of the Calgary Games two years ago and I started to think can my old body handle it," he said. "I took a few runs and felt good and took part in four World Cup races to qualify. I made it by the skin of my teeth.
"It's crazy, this is the fastest track in the world and even the good guys are crashing. But I just had to be here and walk into that opening ceremony, that's why I do it."
Gonzalez said this will be his last Olympics although he is not ready to walk the dog just yet.
"I ran with the bulls in Pamplona two years ago and didn't get holed and I'm climbing Mount Kilimanjaro next year with a guy who went up Everest," he said. "I probably won't be in (2014 Winter Games in) Sochi....but don't set that in stone."
Source: Web Search
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