Psyched for Sochi: This Former Ballerina is Ready to Take the Plunge

October 13, 2013

I am obsessed with the Olympics. It’s actually kind of bizarre–to the point where I tear up whenever I hear the Olympic Fanfare and Theme.

So naturally, I’m stoked for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia (only 115 days left! Not that I’m counting…). And when I came across this news report on a new Olympic athlete who credits her ballet training with prepping her for the games, I freaked out a little bit.

I usually schedule my Olympic viewing around gymnastics in the summer and ice skating in the winter. Oh, and diving…I like diving, too! So basically anything that involves pretty lines. But this year, I may just have to save some room on my DVR to record skeleton racing, a sport in which racers plunge face first down an ice track. Yikes.

Canadian athlete Sarah Reid will be competing in Olympic skeleton racing for the first time in 2014. And in an interview with CBC Sports, Reid talked about how her 10 years of ballet training helped her become an Olympic athlete.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll be looking out for Reid this winter, even though my only knowledge of skeleton comes from Wikipedia and the 1993 film Cool Runnings, which is actually about bobsledding, not skeleton. Apparently, I’ve got some research to do before February 7th.

Also, if you haven’t seen Cool Runnings, you totally should. This clips says it all.