It will remain as one of the defining images of the Beijing Olympics. An unusual excerpt, which the pair of the Brazilian bobsleigh crew would no doubt have spent. The duo made up of Edson Luques Bindilatti (driver) and Edson Ricardo Martins (pusher) completely missed their start. On the video, after encouraging each other and clapping his hands, we see the latter slipping a first time, then a second time, when getting into the bobsleigh under the embarrassed gaze of the coach who films the scene with his phone. and Chinese staff.
His partner, Bindilatti, is then forced to slow down to allow the unfortunate to get into the bobsleigh and finally be able to set off on the frozen track. A gag video… but fortunately without consequence. It was just a practice. The competition will begin on Monday February 14. Bindilatti and Martins will also compete in the four-man event on 19 and 20 February, the last weekend of the Games.
Leaders of the “Blue Birds” (blue birds, nickname of the Brazilian selection), Bindilatti is a legend of the discipline in Brazil. His 5th Games will be the latter because the man who played his first Olympic Games in 2002, in Salt Lake City, announced before the competition that he would hand over at the end of the Chinese meeting.
A treat for bloopers
The Brazilian, who will turn 43 in March, discovered bobsleigh in 2000. National decathlon champion, he was then contacted by the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation, which wanted to put together a team for the 2002 Games. The discipline is unknown for this native of Bahia, a state in northeastern Brazil. He accepted after watching the film “Rasta Rockett”, inspired by the improbable adventure of the Jamaican bobsledders at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.
“As I have vertigo, many people ask me how I manage to do a sport where you go at 150 km/h, without a seat belt and without an engine. I don’t know, it was love at first sight, ”explained the one who risks being the star of the next bloopers on TVs around the world.
