2012 World Championships Update

Hello!, Hola!, Wie Ghets!, What up!, Privet!, Konichiwa!

After a year of constantly being tested and doubted it was finally World Championships week! World Championships format is the same as the Olympic Games where you have a week dedicated for 2-Man training and a week dedicated to 4-Man training both ending with a two day/four heat race on Saturday and Sunday.

In preparations for Worlds USA 1 and USA 2 had both spent two weeks in Lake Placid working on timing and training together as we had planned at the beginning of the season and now it was time to reap the benefits!!! However we were waiting for the USA 3 and USA 4 teams respectively to come back from racing in Whistler and Calgary before the official announcement was made. On February 20th we had a team meeting to officially announce the teams racing World Championships which we already knew but like I said it’s a formality. Todd Hays announces the Women’s Team by name and sled rank, Tuffy (Skeleton Head Coach) announces the Men’s and Women’s Skeleton Athlete by name and sled rank, Shimer (Men’s Head Bobsled Coach) announces the 2-Man Teams racing by name and sled rank; he then announces the 4-man Team of USA 1 by name and then for USA 2 and USA 3 he announces the drivers by name and then the Pool of Push Athletes to be racing!! It was at that moment that me and everyone else in the room knew another curve ball was coming……..! All I could do was sit back and think Here We Go Again!!

Coach Shimer dismisses everyone in the room except the members of USA 2 and USA 3, after its just us in the rooms he announces that the Selection Committee would like to see one more race of between myself and Chuck (A good push athlete and former 2010 Olympian who had done two races this year in Canada with USA 3) to compare push times and sled velocity. Warning- some of my frustrations may come out in the e-mail! It was a surprise to everyone in the room!! It was like getting hit with a sucker punch to the gut when you don’t know you were even in a fight till after the impact!! I felt pretty disrespected by the whole thing especially since I had been taking the lead on my team to work on ridding positions, dry loads, and running positions all to help make us faster at the load and increase our velocity. Not to mention that I did finish Fourth in push championships (higher than any other push athlete on USA 2) and have passed every single test and race-off I was put through this year and yet again in the eleventh hour I would be tested yet again for what to me and other did not seem logical especially when you look at the numbers! But once again I could not take any action of protest without looking like I’m not a team player so I had to suck it up and get prepared for a race-off I would have in a week. If you could have x-rayed me at that moment you would see Two Supernovas colliding inside of me creating and Extinction Level Event I was so HOTT!! To me and other athletes it was like if the Super Bowl was a week away and the Head Coach Announces to the team that we are thinking about switching out one of our starting receivers because we think this replacement may be better even though he only played two games this year. It just did not make sense so much that every other member of team USA male and female, medical staff, housekeeping and hell members of foreign countries ask what was going on and how does this make any sense!? I had no answer, only thing I knew was that once again I was being tested and once again I knew I was ready to beat whoever they put in my way! I had trained all off-season to be ready for whatever challenge thrown my way and the coach I worked with in Colorado Springs this summer had me on point!! Furthermore not only did this race-off affect me it also affected every other member of USA 2 because now instead of having a grueling two days/four heats of racing we now essentially had three days/six heats of racing not to mention having lifting schedules and timing issues that can occur because of situations like this.

As I mentioned the first week of World Championships is dedicated to 2-Man races for Women and Men in that order!!! I thrilled to say that it was a great week of racing for Team USA!!! The USA 1 Team of Elana Meyers (2010 Bronze Medalist Pusher turn driver) and Katie Eberling (2011 Push Champion and Rookie) took the Bronze for women at Worlds!!! And not to be out done the USA 1 Team of Steve Holcomb (2010 Gold Medal Driver) and Steve Langton (2011 World Push Champion) to the Gold Medal, which was the First Time In History that American has won during the 2-Man World Championship Races!!! Yup it was a historical day for the USA.

The next week it was finally time to put away the little sleds and Break out the Big Boi’s….It was 4-Man Week Baby and all the teams of the World were ready to get after it! But before I could really get loose with it and do my thing I had to deal with a race-off/push off that against a Mr. Chuck Berkley for my spot on USA 2! Now for the record there is no animosity between me and chuck or really any push athletes but sometimes we are pitted against one another whether it makes sense or not. And in this instance those making the decision thought in order to help USA 2 the best possible push that it would be best to race me off on the sled because somehow I got pegged as a possible weak link or I had bad ridding position. This is besides the fact that on my sled I finished the highest in Push Championships 4th and the other pushers 6th and 12th, also that every other race-off or hard push session I had so far this year I WON!, or that when I was taken of the 4-Man Sled in France for a race the USA 2 team pushed slower compared to the field then they had all year, combined with two man testing in placid which showed I had great ridding velocity, added to the fact that I lead the charge on my team when it came to working on loading into the sled and ridding position to increase our velocity!! Not to mention that the possibility of changing out the members of a crew so close before the biggest race of the year disrupts team cohesion and timing. But once again I somehow was the one in doubt and need to race-off once more. But like I said who am I to judge what makes sense or not so based on the facts I just mentioned I will let you all determine that for yourselves. I do not that during that week several athletes from different countries ask me what type of craziness was happening on my team?, members of team USA asked me the same and so did everyone from the cooks in the kitchen, people in sports med and hell even the house keepers than not understand the logic in it. But, it was whatever for me because no matter what, Evidently I will be tested at any and every from here until the Olympic Team is named in 2014 and who knows I might even need a Lawyer on call then to make sure the numbers I have that year are not ignored!!! (I think I may a mentioned a bit of my frustration coming through in this e-mail!! lol)

When the race-off was first announced a few of the members of Team USA approached me and said “I hope you don’t get sand bagged by someone!” If you are wondering Sand Bagging is when an individual does not put forth 100% effort when they push, in football we call it loafing on the field and when you see it on film it is obvious and embarrassing for the person who is guilty of it. I kind of disregarded the comment because it was something I did not want to think about, especially since my coach this summer had worked hard to help me understand that “All I can do is control my own performance and I can’t worry about what others are doing it” and that is how I was approaching this situation. I will tell you that just like every time when I race that I prayed that God’s will be done and that I perform to my best because I know my best can’t be beaten!!

Going into the race-off I elected to push second because for me It had felt like some forces beyond my control were trying to get me off the sled all year and I wanted to make sure that everyone involved were properly warmed up. Sorry if I have gotten ahead of myself……The way a 4-man race of works is that the persons in question each take one push with the other members of the sled they are trying to get on or stay on. In this instance Chuck would do one push with USA 2 and I would do one push with USA 2. In this case the selection committee was looking at start time and velocity down the hill to see if it was a need to change me out for Chuck. It’s not the most scientific method in the World because of all the possible variables involved but as of now that’s the process we have. The day (Wednesday) of the race off-came and thankfully the weather was cooperating…..well so I thought. Things were going as planned, Chuck and the guys went first and they pushed a 5.13 which was pretty good. It actually got me pretty excited because I knew I could push faster. My warm-up was going great I was getting deep in my zone and then it went from clear blue skies to gray skies and snow, not just flurries either but full out snowing that would last a day or more. I was like great!!! Lol but I still trusted in my abilities not worrying about the snow I just knew I need to push hard and let the numbers speak for themselves. It was finally my time to push! I stepped on to the block with the USA 2 squad I had pushed with all year. I was ready to put in some more work and prove my worth once again like I had been doing all year!! The hit felt good and I was in perfect position coming off the block. I got to the bottom and both Chris and Adam felt like the timing on the hit and push felt great we were surprised that the start time even with the snow was 5.19, obliviously .06 slower than the push they had with Chuck. Now in real world time this is a very small number but in the World of bobsled I had just got dog walked and put out to pasture!!! I was not happy but at the same time in the back of my mind and in other minds (I would find out later) to get beat by .06 in a 4-man race-off just did not seem possible unless other factors were involved. Especially since me and Chuck both figured that it would be either .01 or .02 of a difference between us one way or another. But the numbers were what they were and that’s what the selection committee would be looking at.

Later that night I was called up to the coaches’ office to meet with the selection committee and hear what decision they had made. They informed me that they had looked at the video from the back and front of the sled at the start and although the sled velocity was better with me that they could not overlook the .06 difference at the start and that Chuck would replace me on USA 2 and I would race with USA 3 for World Championships!! Based on the days results I knew it was coming but it was still unsettling to hear. I told the selection committee thank you for your time and that I am still going to push as hard as ever to try and win this race and left the office.

I initially went back to my room but for some reason I felt a need to walk around the training center to blow off some steam!!...and thank God I did! As I walked around I ran into a teammate who sarcastically congratulated me on been railroaded onto USA 3!! I immediately said “WHAT!” (but deep down I was thinking yeah but I can’t prove anything) Then my teammate asked me if I had seen the video? I said no. He said well I have to show you this video I took because Jesse you got sand bagged pretty bad! I told him to show it to me! The video he showed me was a side angle of the sled and a view that the Selection Committee had not seen and did not know existed!!! When he showed it to me it was so bad and blatant all inadvertently laughed and shook my head. He told me yeah I know man it’s bad!! I copied the video from him and showed it to my Athlete Reps who deal with athlete issues along with other members of the National Team to make sure I was not seeing what I wanted because it would benefit me and they all agreed that I need to show this video to our Coaches and CEO because it was not fair. As you could imagine I prayed long and hard that night to decided what course of action and the type of resolution I was looking for.

The Friday before the race I arranged a meeting with my Head Coach, CEO and Athlete Reps to show the video I was blessed with receiving. Their response was similar to my response when I saw the video. Both I and my athlete reps expressed their concern for what was on the video and everyone in the room were in agreement that for the integrity of our sport that things like this can’t be allowed to happened. The fact that sand bagging had happened during World Championship made it worse because if unpunished what stops it from happening Olympic Year!? Not only that but what little funding we do get and our ranking for housing depends on World Championships as well. So basically my lively hood had been put in jeopardy by the selfish actions of another who wanted someone else on a sled other than me!!! I presented those facts to my coach and CEO stating that based on new video evidence no one can claim I lost that race-off or that chuck is better than me pushing and that although I am pushing for USA 3 my status as a USA 2 brakeman within the federation would still stand. I was happy that they agreed and assured me that neither my funding nor housing status would change. I also informed them that I had no desire to race with the current USA 2 sled for Worlds because obviously from the actions shown on the video I was not wanted on the team; and that I was happy to race with the USA 3 squad because they were excited to have me on their squad because of the power and speed I possess! Why would I make such a decision you ask? Well it’s pretty simple when I prayed about it, I felt it was obvious that God was telling me that I was not meant to race as USA 2 for this race….and you know what I was fine with it. At the end of the meeting my CEO told “Well Jesse prove it on the ICE” and I said I WILL shook his and my head coach’s hand and left the meeting room.

The next day in preparations for the race USA 1, USA 2, and USA 3 all began our warm-up in the OTC gym before heading to the track to complete our warm-up and race!! It is impossible to put into words how jacked up I was for this race!!! I felt like I could punch space and create a black hole (told you all I was a sci-fy nerd at heart) the blood in my veins were pumping like lava from a Volcano!!!! For the next two days anything that was in my way would be crushed The IMMORTATL was Ready Hell hath no furies like me scorn!! I was determined to break that side push bar off the sled every time I hit it, and my teammates knew it!!! JQ and I were racing together again….it was almost poetic since we were both assumed to be the reasons why the USA 2 sled had not been fast all year!

By the time we got to the track USA 1 had already gone pushing a 4.97 off and were sitting in 2nd position. USA 2 was off the top of the hill 3 sleds ahead of us and pushed a 5.11 and were in 8th position at the bottom of the hill!! Nick (driver), JQ, Dallas, and I took to the start block and it was show time!!! The intensity was extremely high and radiating from each one of us if you were smart you did not want to be in our path. It was Nicks second year driving and first World Championships as a driver, along with Dallas’s firs Worlds as well. When we got to the bottom of the hill we were in 14th position but our start was 5.04!!!! The fifth fastest start time in the World we were pumped and instantly Vindicated from those who doubted our ability!!

The next heat was in reverse order so we were off the top of the hill before USA 1 and USA 2. Once again we took to the line just as focused and determined as ever! Once again we hit the sled and sprinted it off the top!! We got down to the bottom and were in the same position as before but our start was a bit slower…we had pushed a 5.10. We were not happy, but we all knew the timing was off on that second heat resulting in a slower push time. It was a problem we could fix so we were not too concerned about it! Being that we had two more heats the next day we hoped on the sled truck to the USA garage to prepare for tomorrow. Once we arrived at the sled we talked about what we needed to do tomorrow to move up but what happened next none of us could have guessed! As I said we were down in the USA garage without any ability to know what was going on with the race or the sleds that were still coming down the hill. As we were taking the runners off the sled the USA 2 sled came down and Chuck walked into the garage. I asked Chuck what was their start time because I know they were hell bent on beating our start time!! Chuck told me they didn’t have one! I thought he was being sarcastic because they had beaten us on the second push! So I asked again, then he told us that Adam had problems loading into the sled and fell off in Curve 1!!! Adam had a few bruises and was fine but they had been disqualified and their World Championships were over! It was crazy and we were all speechless, but did our best to offer some words sympathy for the guys, as you can imagine it was not much we could say. Shortly thereafter USA 1 came down and they had moved into 1st position by .01, they were on the verge of making history by being the only USA team to win both the 2-Man and 4-Man World Championship Races!! It was a day of ups, downs, and ups for Team USA!

Going into the second and final day of racing we changed runners at the coaches recommendations who felt that the runners we used on the first day were slow for the race conditions. Similar to the first day USA 1 and our squad began our warm-up in the OTC Gym before finishing our warm-up at the top of the hill. We maintained our intensity going into the second day of pushing and we pushed a 5.07 and a 5.04 completing a solid outing of pushing for us. The second set of runners we used were definitely a lot faster as were made evident in our down times resulting in us moving up a spot to 13th. It was a good result for Nick at his first World Championships but better than that God had used what to me were seemingly hellish situations to create a great team of four Division One athletes that push well together and were now USA 2!!!! Not to be out done USA 1 had start times of 4.95, 4.94 and went on to make History by Winning the 4-Man Gold in The 2012 World Championship Races!!!

Overall it was a great World Championships for the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Team!!! We had taken Bronze in Women’s 2-Man, Gold in Men’s 2-Man, Gold in Women’s Skeleton, and Gold in Men’s 4-Man on our home track!!!!

It was a rough year full of numerous trials for me that resulting in me now being on a team with a group of guys with similar athletic backgrounds and willingness to do what’s best for the team! I am really not sure while I continually have to fight every year at every turn but if it’s for me to show God working in my life so be it!! But I promise you this, that the HEART that God put in me is stronger than any squat video I will ever post!! There is no quit and me and every year I will get better AND I WILL NOT BE STOPPED!! The ability I have been given will not be wasted!!

God Bless you all

Jesse

P.S you can watch every race from this season including World Championships by pasting the following link in your browser http://eurovision.digotel.com/fibt/index.html And look for pictures on my web page under my media section, click on 2012 World Championships!!

www.jessebeckom3.com