Word: sledded
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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With speeds so high and stresses so intense, bobsledding now requires well-trained athletes, not the hell-for-leather but paunchy types who once populated the sport. Before restrictions in the early '50s, on the combined weight of sled and crew, bobsledders simply loaded their machines with beef, using the extra weight to build momentum. Recalls Nathan Pratt, who daily hand-sculpts the course's corners by shaving ice in one spot or building it up in another: "In the old days, they used to train by drinking gallons of beer. Sometimes I'd have to help...
Davenport learned so fast that he became a member of the top U.S. sled, as had Jeff Gadley, 24, a former decathlon man. Davenport and Gadley will be the first two American blacks ever to compete in the Winter Olympics. If they win, giving the U.S. its first gold medal in bobsledding since 1948, Davenport will gain a further distinction: he will become only the second man in history to win gold medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympics...