JOHN FARROW

By Will Keely

PROFILE

Sport-Skeleton

Event-Individual Men Nickname-Farrow the Arrow Height-188cm Weight-85kg Age-32 Born-Sydney, NSW, Australia Residence-Sydney, NSW, Australia Birthday-February 18 1982

HOW DOES SKELETON WORK?

The athlete runs along the ice with the board for the first 50 metres then they lie down on the board and slide down the track. When you come to a corner how do you steer? You lean to the side you want to go.

HISTORY OF SKELETON

Skeleton started in 1928 in St Moritz, Switzerland. It was modelled on the popular British sport Cresta Sledding. The skeleton track is also used by Bobsleds and Luge. Skeleton was an Olympic event in 1928 and 1948, the was then taken out of the Olympics and reintroduced in 2002. It is still part of the Olympics today.

RESULTS IN SOCHI

In Heat 1 John Farrow finished 19th 1.8 seconds behind the leader.

In Heat 2 he finished 19th again but was 3.5 seconds behind the leader.

In Heat 3 he finished 19th, 5.05 seconds behind the leader.

In the Final he finished 17th completing the course in a great time of 3.50.67

JOHN FARROW’S HERO

John Farrows hero is Shaun Palmer. Shaun Palmer is an American professional snowboarder, skier, mountain biker, and motocross rider. He is a legend of extreme sports.

JOHN’S MOTIVATION

Last year John Farrow ruptured his ACL and LCL after falling over during training for the World Cup. One of his spikes got caught in the ice and he fell over. The doctors told John it was unlikely he would walk again. But he loved skeleton and wanted to be able to walk again. He was donated a Hamstring and a Achilles tendon and he is fit again to compete.

HOW JOHN PREPARES BEFORE THE EVENT

To prepare he sprints 50 metres up and down pushing the board along the ground. Then he lies down and slides on his board down the ice.

SACRIFICES JOHN HAS MADE

A big sacrifice John has made is family time. He has not spent much time with his family during training and competing. He has also sacrificed his body following injuries that nearly disabled him.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton_(sport)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton_(sport)

http://sochi2014.olympics.com.au/athlete/john-farrow

http://kobreguide.com/how_they_train_skeleton_racing/

http://observer.theguardian.com

http://www.olympic.org/results?q=john%20farrow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page