Nerves of Steel

Went to a showing of a new Australian documentary in Parliament House last night. Nerves of Steel was about four young women who, with no experience whatsoever, formed a team that qualified for the skeleton in the Winter Olympics.

They did, I should point out, have the backing of the Australian Institute of Sport and were experienced in various sports. On the other hand, they had absolutely no experience of winter sports, or of hurtling head-first down a tunnel of ice on something like a tea-tray at 130kph.

There are many good reasons why many of us lack that experience, not least of which is the will to live, to retain the use of our limbs, and a keen sense that tea-trays are best used for other purposes.

I know I keep banging on about it, but here, again, was the “she’ll be right, mate” mentality writ large and taken to whole new level of professionalism. Apart, perhaps, from when they turned up on their first slope without proper gloves and apparently used washing-up gloves instead. The amazing thing is, and it’s a tribute to the women themselves and the whole enterprise, that, apart from many spectacular bruises and a few broken bones, they were more than “right”.

In five months, the team came from nowhere to qualify for the Winter Olympics. Only one team member could compete, and, on the day, fifteen months after starting out, one touch of a foot on the ice saw a possible medal-winning position slip to 13th.

I think what impressed me most was that, despite all the technical and financial help, it was their confidence in their ability and willingness to risk their necks time after time, that brought them success. Nerves of steel, indeed.