Bobsled Start Simulator helps U.S. Olympic Team bring home the gold

Jack Raplee
ASME NEWS

With the assistance of a Bobsled Start Simulator designed by a team that included five ASME members, U.S. Olympians ended a 46-year medal drought in bobsled competition.

When the members' role in the design of the simulator was covered last month in ASME NEWS, the result of the Simulator's role in sled design and athlete preparation was unknown.

Now that Olympic medals for the 2002 Games have been awarded, some credit for ending the medal drought for U.S. bobsledders can be given to the simulator designers, known long before the Olympics officially began as the Gold Team.

The Gold Medal went to the female team, the first women's bobsled competition in Olympic history. The male team won the Silver Medal. Members of both medal-winning teams used the simulator in training.

Vonetta Flowers, who also used the simulator, was a member of the Gold Medal-winning two-woman bobsled team. Flowers also became the first African-American athlete to win a Gold Medal at the Winter Games.

Bonny Warner, a bobsledder who got the simulator project started, worked with ASME Fellow Arthur G. Erdman's design team while training on the device with Flowers during qualifying for the bobsled team. She contributed to fine-tuning the simulator and served as an NBC commentator during the Games.

Todd Hayes of the Silver Medal-winning four-man bobsled team also incorporated the Start Simulator into his training.

The design team, which was headed by Erdman, included ASME members Will Durfee, Peter McMurry, Troy Nickel and James Ramsey.

Based on the success of the simulator, it is likely that mechanical engineers will remain involved in the training of future Olympians.

Erdman said that he is looking at engineering projects for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens as well as the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, but had no specifics on an event or an Olympic Game.

 

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