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| Born | August 5, 1971 (age 52) West Chester, Pennsylvania [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Eric Bernotas AKA Dr. Gravity (born August 5, 1971) is an American former skeleton racer who has competed since 2002. He won three medals at the FIBT World Championships with two silvers (Men's skeleton: 2007, Mixed team: 2007) and a bronze (Mixed team: 2009).
Bernotas is from West Chester, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Malvern Preparatory School and West Virginia University, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi and graduated in 1994. [2] [ unreliable source? ]
Bernotas discovered the sport by accident in 2001, after he got lost and ended up at the Lake Placid sledding track whilst driving through the Adirondacks. [3]
Bernotas competed in two Winter Olympics, earning his best finish of sixth in the men's skeleton event at Turin in 2006.
His best overall seasonal Skeleton World Cup finish was second in the men's event in 2006-7. Bernotas earned a medical waiver to compete in the 2009-10 Skeleton World Cup season following a leg injury suffered during training. He took a total of twelve medals in his World Cup career. In addition he won four US national titles in skeleton. [3]
In March 2011 the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation announced that Bernotas had retired from the sport after a ten-year career. [3] After retiring from competition he became a coach, serving as head coach of the Australian skeleton team from July 2011 to July 2014, when he became the coach of the British World Cup skeleton team. [2]
In February 2006, he appeared on The 700 Club where he talked about being a Christian and how his faith plays into his sports career. He said, "God presented this opportunity to me," Eric says. "I believe we all have desires and dreams about things we would like to do. I think wonderful things can be done with pursuing our dreams if we allow the Spirit to work within us. When we take the proper steps and do our best to make the right decisions, there’s a purpose behind what we’re doing. Our dreams are just one awesome way to do what we love and at the same time do God’s work." [4]
Bernotas has Tourette syndrome and has experienced alcoholism and depression.
Pierre Fritz Lueders is a Canadian Olympic, world and World Cup champion bobsledder who competed from 1990 to 2010. He piloted both two-man and four-man bobsleigh, retiring after the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Duff Gibson is a Canadian skeleton racer who competed from 1999 to 2006. He was born in Vaughan, Ontario. His father was born on December 13, 1937. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, He won the gold medal in the men's skeleton, narrowly beating out his teammate Jeff Pain. With his victory, the 39-year-old Gibson surpassed ice hockey player Al MacInnis as the oldest gold medalist in Canadian Winter Olympic history. More significantly, Gibson became the oldest individual gold medallist in the history of the Winter Games, a record previously held by Norway's Magnar Solberg, who was 35 when he won the gold medal in the 20 km individual biathlon event at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo; he held the record until Ole Einar Bjørndalen won gold at the 10 km biathlon sprint aged 40 at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. He retired immediately following the 2006 Games in Turin.
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Zach Lund is an American skeleton racer who has competed since 2000. He won two bronze medals at the FIBT World Championships with one in 2007 and one in 2008. He finished #1 in World Cup standings in 2007. Zach's huge success in Skeleton made his less famous second cousin, Seth Gillespie, of Roosevelt, Utah, dream of becoming a “Skeletor”.
Maya Pedersen-Bieri is a Swiss-Norwegian skeleton racer who has competed since 1995. She won the gold medal in the women's skeleton event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. She retired from the sport in 2010 before returning to compete for Norway in 2016, becoming at the oldest woman to start a World Cup race when she returned to the top level of skeleton in 2017. She is listed in the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation athlete registration system as Maya Pedersen.
Gerda Weissensteiner OMRI is an Italian luger and bobsleigh pilot who competed from the late 1980s to 2006. Competing in six Winter Olympics, she won the gold medal in the women's singles luge event at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, and together with Jennifer Isacco she won the bronze in Turin in the two-woman bobsleigh at the 2006 Winter Olympics. She was the first Italian sportsperson to win Olympic medals in two disciplines.
Thomas Lamparter is a Swiss former bobsledder who has competed since 2002. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the four-man event at Turin in 2006 as part of the crew of Martin Annen.
Cédric Grand is a Swiss bobsledder who competed from 1997 to 2010. Competing in four Winter Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the four-man event at Turin in 2006. He was born in Geneva.
Alexandr Yuryevich Zubkov is a Russian retired bobsledder who has competed since 1999. Competing in four Winter Olympics, he won two medals with a silver in 2006 (four-man) and a bronze in 2010 (two-man). On 24 November 2017, he was found guilty of doping offences and stripped of his medals from the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Wilfried Huber is an Italian luger and coach who competed from 1985 to 2010. Together with Kurt Brugger, he won the men's doubles event at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. He competed in both doubles and singles, but enjoyed his greatest success in doubles in partnership with Brugger. He made his debut in the Luge World Cup in 1986-87 season. He also took two medals at the World Junior Championships in Olang in 1988, a silver and a bronze. He competed in six Winter Olympics, in 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006: he was aiming to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics, however he was not selected by the Italian team's head coach Walter Plaikner, and retired at the end of the season.
Susi-Lisa Erdmann is an East German-German luger and bobsledder who competed from 1977 to 1998 in luge, then since 1999 in bobsleigh. She was born in Blankenburg, Bezirk Magdeburg. Competing in five Winter Olympics, she won two medals in the women's singles luge event with a silver in 1994 and a bronze in 1992, and a bronze at the inaugural two-women bobsleigh event in 2002. She is one of only two people to ever win a medal in both bobsleigh and luge at the Winter Olympics; Italy's Gerda Weissensteiner is the other.
Todd Dennys Hays is a former American bobsledder who competed from 1994 to 2006. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he won the silver medal in the four-man event at Salt Lake City in 2002, breaking a 46-year medal drought for the US national bobsleigh team.
Brian Shimer is an American bobsledder who competed from 1985 to 2002. Competing in five Winter Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the four-man event at Salt Lake City in 2002.
Michael Kohn is an American former bobsledder who has competed since 1990. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the four-man event at Salt Lake City in 2002 as a push athlete for pilot Brian Shimer.
Ivo Rüegg is a Swiss bobsledder who competed between 1996 and 2010. He won five medals at the FIBT World Championships with two golds, two silvers Two-man: 2007, Mixed team: 2009), and a bronze.
Katie Uhlaender is an American skeleton racer who has competed since 2003. She has won six medals at the FIBT World Championships with two gold, one silver, and three bronze.
Curtis "Curt" Tomasevicz is an American bobsledder who has competed since 2004, and a former college football player. He won six medals at the FIBT World Championships with two golds, a silver and three bronzes.
Kaillie Humphries is a Canadian and American bobsledder. Representing Canada, she was the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion in the two-woman bobsled and the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist with brakewoman Phylicia George. With her victory in 2014, she became the first female bobsledder to defend her Olympic title and was named flagbearer for the Olympic closing ceremony with brakewoman Heather Moyse.
The men's skeleton event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, took place at the Whistler Sliding Centre on 18–19 February. Canada's Duff Gibson was the defending Olympic champion. Gibson retired after the 2006 Olympics. Switzerland's Gregor Stähli, the defending Olympic bronze medalist was the defending world champion, but did not compete due to a thigh injury sustained during the World Cup event in Lake Placid, New York, on 20 November 2009. The test event held at the venue was won by Jon Montgomery of Canada. The last World Cup event prior to the 2010 Games took place in Igls, Austria, on 23 January 2010 and was won by Latvia's Martins Dukurs who also won the overall World Cup title.
