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(NewsUSA) - Imagine lying down on a sled that looks no
bigger than a cafeteria tray, sliding downhill on smooth, slick ice with no way to brake and
limited ways to steer. You plunge headfirst, barely an inch off the ice, on a winding, mile-long
track at speeds that surpass 80 mph until your speed finally begins to slow and you glide to a
stop. Welcome to the world of Olympic skeleton sliding.
In his new book
"Headfirst," Robie Vaughn, an oil and gas executive, details his passion for this extreme sport and
his ultimate success in getting it back onto the Olympic docket for the first time in more than 50
years.
But to fully understand the sport of skeleton as we know it today, we have to trace
its roots.
Historical records are vague but it seems that organized skeleton and
bobsledding started in the late 1800s, when both men and women raced small sleds from a resort in
St. Moritz, Switzerland, down to a local village. One of the racers lay down on the sled -
headfirst - starting what is now known as skeleton.
While certain parts of the world had embraced the sport, it was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that it began to catch on with
Americans. Fast forward to 1995 when Vaughn, a 39-year-old business executive, made his first run
in Calgary, Canada, and became hooked.
After that, he made the World Cup team for the
1998-99 season and used his business savvy to lobby the International Olympic Committee and various
other organizations to put skeleton back onto the Olympic circuit in 2002. Then, along with five
other athletes, he led the U.S. skeleton team to two gold medals and a silver in the
competition.
Although Vaughn says he recognizes that skeleton has a long way to go before
it becomes embedded in popular culture, he is confident that it will continue to gain
popularity.
"The sledding sports will never be as popular as skiing and snowboarding, from
a participation standpoint," he said. "However, tremendous growth in participation and awareness
continues to increase since the USA success and introduction of skeleton in the 2002 Olympic Winter
Games."
Currently, Vaughn volunteers as interim executive director for the United States
Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. The organization has set a goal of five medals in each discipline
- men's four-man bobsled, men's two-man bobsled, women's bobsled, and men's and women's skeleton -
for the 2006 Olympic Games.
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