What's your reaction to the Dutch bobsledder who bowed out of the Olympics?

I am really surprised by this story. If he was in an individual sport it would be more understandable to me, but his bowing out impacted the entire four man team and to me that is just wrong. He needs to suck up his fear and live up to the commitment he made to his team.

Is the track the bobsledders use the same as that of the luge or if not, were they designed and built by the same people? If yes to either of these, I’d say the guy made the right decision. Whoever designed that luge track was negligent.

I am sure that the guy discussed his internal conflict with his team members before making a public announcement. As the person controlling the bobsled, he obviously felt responsible for the lives of his team and ultimately did not want a major accident or the death of any of his team members on his shoulders for the rest of his life should he make a mistake. I think for this reason that if he were in an individual sport, it would be much easier to suck it up and compete because the risk is your own – the decision is yours and yours alone and does not directly impact the life of anyone else.

Now I think if the majority of his team members wanted to race fully aware of the risks involved and the position they would be in, it would be much harder to deny them the opportunity. Still, going into a team sport, you know there is a possibility that something like this would happen. The guy went with his gut instinct; that’s all you can expect a man to do.

And incidentally, while we are discussing Olympics, how was that coach that told the potential gold medalist to switch lanes into the wrong lane?! I mean, I think they were both at fault, but boy would I hate to be the coach.

if he could suck up his fears and carry on, he would.
he is disabled.

@ninjacolin he probably should have acknowledged his disability prior to agreeing to pilot a bobsled in the Olympics.

again, if he could’ve he would’ve.

@SuperMouse Yeah, but that was physically impossible since he did not see the track until he got to the Olympics.

^ see!

@lilikoi that seems like poor planning to me. When someone is training to compete at that level – especially as a member of a team – they need to do every single thing possible to support their training. In a sport as dangerous as bobsled that means learning about the track before one feels forced to bow out.

He is terrified beyond the point of manning up and taking one for the team. The fact that there is no tension among teammates, only reasonable disappointment, tells me they understand just how serious his fear is.

He has to consider his life and their lives. He has to consider how a severe injury or death will affect the family of that team member. The other members realize that they have to consider the same things; their lives are in his hands and it would be much more dangerous to run with a terrified, distracted driver.

He has never backed out before, but something is telling him not to do this and he is listening. Eight wrecks on the first day didn’t help. Him wrecking it on his first try didn’t help.

He is going to regret this some day and I feel bad for the entire team, but I understand it.

He’s a lot braver than me. I wouldn’t even get any where near that sled.

If he is that scared then what good is he going to be? I don’t think I can blame him.

I will not judge him – I thank him for having the foresight to bow out instead of going through with something he couldn’t see himself doing – he acted responsibly.

Complete apathy.