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15
Feb
Harrogate’s Caribbean bobsledder begins Olympic farewell
Harrogate’s Caribbean bobsledder will begin his Olympic farewell tomorrow (February 16), in typical Cool Runnings fashion.
Axel Brown’s Trinidad and Tobago team will compete in the two-man and four-man bobsleigh events in Cortina.
Harrogate-born Brown, 33, will captain his mother’s birth nation at the Olympics for the second and final time.
Speaking to the Stray Ferret, Brown said:
I’m over the moon to be back at the Olympics. It’s taken a couple of days to really sink in, but now that it has, I’ve realised the magnitude of what we’ve achieved.
I’m trying my best to soak it all in and be present. I’ve put my Olympic rings flag up on my shelf to remind me why I’m here. Seeing it makes those 4.50am starts feel worth it.
Axel Brown on the track in Beijing.
Brown led the Caribbean nation to a 28th-place finish at the 2022 Beijing Olympics – the highest position in Trinidadian history.
But with only 17 nations competing, this year will prove to be stiffer competition.
The captain said that experience will be key:
There’s loads that I’ve learned from Beijing that I can bring into Milan. How things are run, what the accreditations do, where you can go and when, rules on social media posting, how training works. All these little things have made me feel way more at home right away.
Axel Brown and a teammate push off at the Beijing Olympics.
Brown said the two Olympic tracks are similar, which helps settle pre-race nerves, which even after 12 years in the sport are very much there.
When we interviewed him in November, Brown said that you have to respect the sport, otherwise you could get seriously hurt.
As the driver of the sleigh, Brown has the lives of his teammates in his hands. One wrong movement while flying down an ice track at nearly 100 miles per hour can be fatal.
He said:
I’m driving a track I’ve never seen before, I have 48 hours to prepare then just throw myself down it at 85 miles an hour. Even though, by the nature of being here, I’m one of the best in the world and best suited to doing it, it’s of course still nerve-racking.
So, having been to Beijing and done it before has definitely helped settle that and made me feel way more ready to just compete.
Axel sits at the front of the bobsled to steer it round the ice track.
'Success is two-fold'
With this being Brown’s final Olympic Games, he is determined not to waste it.
He said that success is two-fold, both on and off the ice.
On the ice, the goal is not to finish last. Although it may sound defeatist, Brown said that it was “just realistic,” and the amount of work and effort that went into qualifying means that just being there was their main success.
Off the ice, he wants to enjoy it. The 33-year-old knows that this will be his last Olympic experience, so is doing everything he can to make the most of it.
He said:
I want to enjoy it, soak it in, be proud of being here, chat to all the different athletes, trade pins and get the entire Olympic experience, because it doesn’t come around very often and very few people get to do what I’m doing right now. I want to make memories that are going to stay with me for the rest of my life.
We had to be in the top 17 nations in the entire world to even be here. If we can then beat one or two of those nations, that’s a huge win for us. For Trinidad and Tobago to be in the top 15 nations in the world for a winter sport would be amazing.
Axel Brown and the Trinidad and Tobago bobsled team will begin their Olympic dream at 9am on Monday (February 16).
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