Latvian sledge driver Andris Šics said in a conversation with the organizers on Wednesday that the fifth place in the Beijing Olympics was affected by the damaged track after the first trip.
Andris Šics stated that in his opinion the first trip was a success, but the result was affected by damaged tracks after the first trip.
“The first ride was good, ‘clean’ and I was happy to finish at the finish, but then I looked around for a while and realized it wasn’t good,” said the sleigh rider. “When we got off the track, I realized something had happened to the sledge or tracks. Then we checked and it was. Somewhere in the middle of the track or closer to the start we crossed a small stone or something like that and the tracks were damaged.”
For the Shiche brothers, this was already the fifth Olympic Games and the fifth place they won at the Beijing Olympics was not their goal.
“It wasn’t what we expected. We thought we’d be better and we could fight for medals closer,” the athlete commented on the fifth place. “It was very difficult to prepare mentally for the second race, because we were very far from the first three places, but the race was successful to the bottom of the track, there was one mistake. It also ruined the dream of an Olympic medal.”
The first two places were taken by the German doubles and Andris Schics pointed out that the sport of sledges is very popular in Germany, which also helps to achieve such high results.
“The German team and tradition are very strong in this sport. Sledding is very popular in Germany,” said Schitz. “There are about 7,000 sleigh riders in Germany and that’s an incredible number, so I think it’s very important.”
This was already the fifth Olympic Games for the Shitz brothers. In 2006, they finished seventh in Turin, second in Vancouver four years later, and third in Sochi, and sixth in South Korea four years ago in both disciplines.
