Bonny Warner, '83, has a theory: if you need Olympic athletes, head to the Farm. That's what brought the former Olympic luger to Stanford Stadium in May to host an all-comers bobsledding tryout. She wasn't disappointed.
About 50 athletes -- half of them Stanford students or alums -- showed up on the 80-degree day for the chance to get on the winter Olympic fast track. Twelve scored high enough on the jumping and sprinting tests to win invitations to a training camp in Lake Placid, N.Y. The best athletes will go on to Salt Lake City in August to compete for a spot on the U.S. national teams in men's bobsledding, women's bobsledding and "skeleton," a head-first version of luge that, like women's bobsledding, is expected to be added to the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.
Mark Ganek, who throws the hammer and discus for the Cardinal, emerged from the tryouts as a top prospect. He's training in Lake Placid and hopes to make the national team as one of the bobsled's "push" athletes. Warner expects great things from her latest discoveries. "I've recruited at least one athlete for every Olympics since 1984," says Warner, who competed in the luge in '84, '88 and '92. "I'm hoping for a bunch in 2002."
