On the final day of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, the British still hadn't won a single medal. The driver then tries to take the quickest line down the track, reaching speeds of 90mph and experiencing pressure five times the force of gravity on the curves. Concentration and focus are everything. All the members of the team are top athletes in their own right, but their own particular brand of explosive power and the bruising, stressful ride means that they are always fearful of injury.
Crashes are spectacular and brutal.
The team had been preparing for this moment for years, and was now ranked fifth in the world. Manager Tony Wallington and trainers Tom De Le Hunty and Horst Heinlein were determined to put the team on the winners' podium. Three months earlier the British bobsleigh team arrived at Winterberg in Germany for the start of an intensely competitive season of World Cup races, their final chance to improve before the Olympics. The strategy was to steadily raise targets with intense training and competition. It would keep everyone on their toes while their performance was closely monitored.