Sunday, February 3, 2002
Gibson's Olympic dream becoming reality
By CAMERON MAXWELL -- Calgary Sun
Duff Gibson has finally found his niche -- his Olympic niche, that is.
Ever since he was a kid, the Toronto native wanted to compete in the Olympics for Canada and when he got into the sport of skeleton, he at last found what vehicle would get him there.
"I always had the dream of going to the Olympics. I can remember watching the '76 Olympics when I was 10 years old. And every sport I've done, I've thought I'm going to go for it and see what happens," said Gibson, 35. "And for whatever reason, I've always switched (sports) and now I'm finally getting to go."
Make no mistake, Gibson has competed in all kids of different competitions.
He started out wrestling in high school and was city champion on two occasions in Scarborough, Ont.
"I always dreamed of going to the Olympics in university," he said.
After high school Gibson switched to rowing while at University of Western Ontario. After that he came to the U of C to do his graduate degree in physical education and got into speed skating, finishing top-10 at nationals on two occasions.
Gibson competed for five years as a skater but never made a national team. From there he turned to bobsleigh but found he wanted a sport where he had control and didn't have to rely on anybody else, hence his move in 1999 to sliding down a track at over 125 km/h, head-first. Now he's going to Salt Lake City coming off his best season in skeleton, finishing seventh in World Cup standings.
Having achieved his goal, Gibson's trying not to get caught up in the emotion of an Olympics. He felt it for the first time on Friday when he picked up the outfit he and the rest of the Canadians will wear into Rice-Eccles Stadium in front of 57,000 people during the opening ceremonies on Friday night.
"It's going to be an experience I'm sure I'll never forget but I don't want to get caught up in any of the excitement -- I mean I'll be watching stuff on TV -- because I'm there for one reason only," he said.
To do his best, Gibson knows he is going to have to shut out all the various distractions in Salt Lake.
"It's going to be a challenge, without question. Lots of people say you have to be at an Olympics first and know how to deal with all the pressure before you succeed at an Olympics," he said, pointing out it will be easier for the Canadian skeleton team because they're going for the opening ceremonies, then coming back to Calgary before returning to Salt Lake Feb. 14 to compete on the 20th.
2002 Games Skeleton Coverage
