Proven Wrong - by Curt Tomasevicz

Most of the time, it is difficult as humans to admit when we are wrong. Well I will be one of the first to confess that I was wrong this past bobsled season.

This was my seventh year on the national bobsled team. Each of my first six years was spent planning and preparing for one thing – to win an Olympic gold medal. Now, with that goal accomplished, I guess I had a little bit of a relaxed feeling going into this past year. Maybe I didn’t train as intense this past off-season and maybe I underestimated my opponents. My team proved it was the best in the world last year, so shouldn’t that command a certain type of respect? The most decorated Olympic bobsled driver of all-time, German Andre Lange, retired after the 2010 Olympics last February, so shouldn’t the rest of the World Cup circuit lie down at our feet?

The answer was certainly, “No”.

The 2010-2011 season concluded last weekend with the World Championships race held in Konigssee, Germany. If anyone, along with me, thought that the German bobsled program would be a step behind this year, they were proven wrong very quickly. The Germans finished first and second in the4-man race last weekend (with two other teams in the top ten). My team came from behind to climb up from fourth to third in dramatic fashion on the last heat of the second day. We made up three-tenths of second in one run (a significant amount of time in bobsledding) to knock the Russian team out of the last podium position.

The result of the race was certainly an eye-opener. Taking advantage of the home track, the Germans proved that they may not have won last year, but they will definitely be ready for the next Olympics (which will come faster than we think). Of course the Olympic race will be on a neutral track for the Germans and the Americans with the Olympics being held in Sochi, Russia in 2014.

But this season certainly proved that the second you let your guard down and take your top position for granted is the moment you are quickly brought back to reality. This off-season I can promise the competition that the American team will not relax and become complacent with our World Championship medal. Next year, I won’t be wrong again.

Photo from the USA Bobsled & Skeleton Federation.