Word: luge
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...Puerto Rican Winter Olympic team, first in the annals of the country and last to the bottom of the luge run, consists of one well-rounded American named George Tucker, who is particularly well rounded in the seat, where the number of mended holes in his suit suggests that Tucker occasionally arrives at the finish line without his sled...
...have about a 75% completion rate," he says. "That's good for a quarterback. It's not so good for a luge racer." Tucker was born in San Juan, where his father distributed motion pictures for RKO. He lived there five of his 36 years, but spent the larger part around Albany, N.Y., irregularly pursuing a doctorate in physics among other degrees of understanding. Introduced as "George Turkey" by the Yugoslav public address announcer, Tucker muses, "He knows more English than he lets on," and takes off on another practice slide down a jagged icicle that meanders like...
...have to retrieve your sled." In the '60s, before he weighed 210 lbs., when he was a pretty handy 6-ft. 1-in. basketball player, Tucker thought of trying out for the Puerto Rican Olympic basketball team. But dreams, like pounds, like years, slip by faster than luge racers flip from their sleds. Finally last year, he says, "I got the name of the president of the Puerto Rican Olympic Committee out of the New York Times. They sent me a beret. The rest of my opening ceremonies uniform is off the shelf." Now the dream is close enough...
...luge team would be happy to finish in the top ten, but even then the sport may remain mysterious. A Congressman once asked if the luge was something to eat. An empty stomach would be more in keeping for anyone climbing onto the 4-ft.-long, 48-lb. sleds that offer the wildest ride in sports...
...more. The problem is finding enough enthusiasts for the sport. There are only 250 competitors in the U.S. (Hey, kids, want to go to the Olympics? This could be your best bet.) Stanford University Junior Bonny Warner, the top woman slider on the improving squad, had never heard of luge four years ago. She won a magazine contest to be a 1980 Olympic flame carrier and on a lark attended a Lake Placid luge development camp. One ride did it: "I was just a maniac for the sport," she says. "I couldn't get enough." After she was hooked...