Winter Olympics 2022 - Greg Rutherford reflects on 'incredible experience' representing Team GB in 'brutal' bobsleigh

ByEurosport

Updated 05/02/2022 at 05:10 GMT

There will be two British crews competing at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics but Greg Rutherford will not be in one of them. He missed out on qualifying as part of Lamin Deen's crew, but says it was an "incredible experience" to turn his hand to bobsleighing and does not rule out a return to the sport. 'Greg Rutherford: One Last Push' is available on discovery+ now.

Lamin Deen, Sam Blanchet, Luke Dawes, Greg Rutherford of the United Kingdom compete in the 4-man Bobsleigh during the IBSF Bob & Skeleton World Cup

Image credit: Getty Images

Greg Rutherford says it was an "incredible experience" representing Great Britain as a bobsleigher after missing out on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The 2012 London Olympic champion came out of retirement last year in an attempt to qualify for the Winter Games.

The 35-year-old came back from a shoulder injury last month to make his official bobsleigh debut in driver Lamin Deen's sled in January, but the team failed to achieve the qualifying standard of three top-12 World Cup finishes this season, which meant Rutherford would not be competing in Beijing.

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Rutherford says he will remember his experience of a new sport fondly and enjoyed being part of a team for the first time in his professional career.

"It was an incredible experience," he told Eurosport in the Cube.

"First and foremost you sort of understand what it is like to be in a team environment. I spend my entire career as an individual and I'm at a stage in my life it was probably the best thing for me to be around other people.

"I had to learn a skill that is far more difficult than it looks. When you watch it on TV it looks so serene and really calm. When you are in a bobsleigh, and I was at four so I'm the guy that is having to pull the brakes. You are thrown around like you are in a washing machine. It is absolutely brutal.

"It was an incredible experience and what I wanted to show is I'm getting a bit older. In sports terms at 35 you're considered relatively old and from that point of view I wanted to show that you can turn your hand to other things. You can try new things, push your body in ways where hopefully you can get something out of you.

"For me I felt as if I was just about young enough to try a new sport. I managed to compete for Great Britain again which was a fantastic honour to have. We just missed out on going to the Games.

"The team that we had myself, Lamin [Deen], Luke [Dawes] and Sam [Blanchet] towards the end. If we had that team with no injuries and no issues from the get-go I think we could have had an absolutely incredible season on the World Cup circuit. We would have been out there with Brad Hall's team and would have had two men's British sleds pushing for Great Britain. It's a real shame it hasn't happened but it was a really incredible experience."

Rutherford says that adapting to cold conditions was one of the greatest challenges he faced having always trained in warm weather when he was a long jumper.

"It is obviously colder and, as silly as that sounds, you have to get used to that," he said.

"Fundamentally I used to chase the sun and half the year I'd be based in Arizona so it was nice and hot. I was always training in the heat. It was perfect for my body so I always felt good when I woke up. When you are out in the mountains it is cold.

"It really is difficult on the body. You have to get things going and it's not like athletics, it is a bit more basic. For example you might be warming up in the car park. You might be out in the snow mixing it up with a bit of slush.

"It really is very different to what people would expect but you have to adapt. An incredible experience. For me as a summer Olympian it was great to try something new."

When asked by Eurosport's Reshmin Chowdhury whether he will return to the sled, he replied: "It's too difficult to say. The herniated disk in my neck is currently telling me that I should stop but I don't know.

"There could be another sport or maybe another try at bob."

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Greg Rutherford: One Last Push is available on discovery+ and on Eurosport.

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