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Local Teen Earns Spot On Olympic Luge Junior Team

photo by Cookie Steponaitis Mary Hogan 6th grade student Gracie Weinberg wears her new Luge Olympic Team jacket as she gets ready to pack and go to Lake Placid to continue her formal Luge Training.

photo by Cookie Steponaitis America’s fastest sport on ice, Lugers, like Gracie, wear a suit made from synthetic material that fits tight to the body to allow the least air resistance.

photo provided Gracie Weinberg on the Luge training track at Lake Placid, NY.

Tuesday November 30, 2010

By Cookie Steponaitis

Often referred to as “lightning with no brakes,” the sport of Luge is one of America’s least known of the Olympic sports but is steadily growing.  Ironically, Luge is one of the oldest winter sports, tracing back to the Vikings as early as 800 A.D.  The name Luge comes from the French word for sled and has been a part of the Norwegian and European Sports scene since the 1840’s. The Luge competition consists of three events; men's singles, women's singles and mixed doubles. Mixed teams can consist of two athletes of either gender. Since there was no formal Luge program at the time of the 1964 Winter Games, the United States' first Olympic Luge team consisted mainly of American soldiers who were stationed in Europe.  What resulted in the greatest change in the dynamics and growth of the sport in America was the arrival of the 1980 XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid and the construction of the nation's first refrigerated Luge run in 1979. During the same time frame, USA Luge was formed as the sport's National Governing Body (NGB).Since its inception, USA Luge has overseen the selection and preparation of the U.S. National and Olympic Luge teams.

    So, just what is Luge? To understand it best, try this description given by the USA Luge Association, “One competitor races on their back down an icy track aboard a Luge with their feet facing forward. The fiberglass shell rests on two steel blades. There is no braking system. Using the same track as Olympic bobsledding and Skeleton, the banks of the track are elevated. The luger propels him or herself forward using spiked gloves, before laying flat on the sled. The competitor steers the Luge with slight foot and body movements. The goal is to find the best line down the track and to accomplish it in the least amount of time. With average speeds of 80 mph and speeds often reaching 145 mph, the luger hurtles down the track using a combination of balance, skill and technique to keep the sled from flipping and to achieve the best possible times.”

    Into this exciting and often dangerous sport comes Mary Hogan sixth grader Gracie Weinberg, who until last year, had never really heard of Luge or even tried the sport out.  Gracie, who is the daughter of Sloan and Andy Weinberg is no stranger to competitive sports and has been a competitive swimmer and runner since she was five. While at a swim meet, which is a weekly event for her family, her father was visiting with a man who asked about Gracie’s different athletic endeavors and asked if the family had ever considered Luge. Invited to a Slider Search program at the Olympic Village in Lake Placid, Gracie attended a camp with other teens curious about the Luge sport. There they had a rigorous schedule of running, physical training, classroom lessons about Luge and were allowed to use a trainer sled on wheels, but not on ice.  Attending this camp in 2009, Gracie was intrigued with the sport and even more so, as she met Olympians and her biggest inspiration Erin Hamlin, who is a two time American Olympian in the sport and got her start by attending a Slider Search.

    While Gracie was one of the youngest camp members there, the staff was consistently impressed with her workout ethic, technique and her aggressive attack of each time in the sled. When she was invited back for a second round, Gracie was excited, but not overly optimistic about her chances of making the training team. When the call came this past week from the Olympic coaches, Gracie was presented with a once in a life time opportunity, but one that comes with commitment and life changing sacrifices. Leaving the day after Thanksgiving, Gracie will be gone for weeks at a time and will live in the Olympic Village in Lake Placid. There she will train with the other members of the D Luge Team and will compete at the junior level in Salt Lake City, Calgary and Montreal. “It’s crazy, if you think about it,” shared Gracie. “Just a year ago I was trying Luge for the first time and now I have this incredible chance. When I am there and in the sled I focus and work to my hardest. I imagine the track in my mind, listen to what the coaches have told and give it my all. It really takes a lot of focus and effort.”

    While her daily routine will include physical training and six hours a day focused on Luge, this 12 year old will also be continuing her studies with a tutor while she is away from her family and her classmates at Mary Hogan, where she is in the sixth grade. “It really is a mixture of fun and work,” Gracie commented. “We have fun, but when we are out there on the track, it is all business and about our personal best times as well as the team times. I am so excited about the chance to travel and the new possibilities this opens for me. Where it will lead I am not sure, but I am sure that while I am doing it, I will be giving it my best.”

    While Gracie will still continue her other loves of swimming, dancing, and running ½ marathons and triathlons. Her immediate future includes a sport that is propelling her down an Olympic track at great speeds and thrusting her into a world where athletics is more than a way of life; it is a commitment that directs both mind and body toward a goal of Olympic honors and personal bests. The Valley Voice salutes Gracie and wishes her the best as she packs up to leave for Lake Placid and begins a new and exciting chapter of her life as a member of the U.S. Luge Olympic program and junior team.

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