British Bobsleigh Association
Corinthian' doctor is propping up Britain
26 February 2007
by Matthew Pryor
Taken from www.timesonline.co.uk
They used to call him Robo-prop or simply The Doctor, but now his friends and patients will not be able to resist a new moniker: Cool Runnings. Henry Nwume is a throwback to Corinthian ideals; after three degrees, three Blues and two winner's medals playing rugby for London Wasps, Nwume did not hang up his studs, he traded them for a pair of spikes and is now part of the Great Britain bobsleigh team, working his way to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Nwume was drawn to bobsleigh while at Wasps. From a 6ft 3in, 19-stone tight-head prop, Nwume remodelled himself with a savage training and weight-loss programme into an 18-stone piston. Then, after six weeks out with a knee injury, he pushed his way into the two-man sled for the World Championships in St Moritz in January, losing 5kg in four days before the trials, so that the sled would be under the 390kg (about 61 stone) weight limit.
"I was surviving on sips of water and jelly babies to give me bursts of energy," Nwume said. His job is to use his explosive power to drive the sled 50 metres in as close to five seconds as possible, and then to leap in for the one-mile, 90mph ride to the bottom.
Before the injury setback, Nwume, 30 and born in Nottingham to an English mother and Nigerian father, had the fastest times pushing the sled in a rejuvenated bobsleigh squad that included Allyn Condon, the former 4 x 100 metres relay Commonwealth gold medal-winner.
All that will go on hold for the next sixth months as Nwume prepares for a tougher challenge, his first tour of duty in Afghanistan in April. Captain Henry Nwume, of the Worcester and Sherwood Foresters, rarely stays within his comfort zone. He is an army doctor and feels a strong sense of duty.
"I want to go, I want to be with my regiment," he said. "I can still come back and try out for the bob next season. I knew when I was playing rugby that I was slipping behind on the medical side. Most of the people I graduated with had already been on several tours of duty."
No one's place is certain in the hothouse environment that Richard Simmons, the bobsleigh performance director, has developed. But Simmons, who made his name as the national coach for athletics from 1985 to 1997, says Nwume has earned respect. "He was the fastest in the trials, and that included Condon," Simmons said. "He is a serious contender for GBR1 out of six people for the side or the back. He was there on the first day of our new talent ID scheme at Bath."
The environment in British bobsleigh has changed by the active trialling of athletes from other sports. Meanwhile, Peter Shakeshaft, the new chairman, has helped to shore up the finances. The four-man team finished a creditable fifth in St Moritz. "That's the funding," Simmons said. "We were told we had to finish in the top six to secure it for next season."
Funding is important because technology makes a big difference, with sleds costing £20,000 each and the runners £3,000. It is the testing and training that usually set Switzerland, the United States, Germany and Canada apart.
But Britain have power to add. GBR2 finished ninth and the starts compared with the top four were poor; for example, GBR1 covered the crucial first 50 metres in 5.20sec on their last run, while Switzerland, who became champions, pushed a record 4.98. That is a huge difference by the time you get to the bottom in one of only three Olympic sports measured in thousandths of a second — speed skating and luge are the other two. Bobsleigh is a gravity sport and GBR1's crew of Lee Johnston (driver), Steve Smith, Condon and Dan Money (also a new recruit from athletics) were so light that 50kg had to be put in the sled. That gave them momentum, but a harder start. Enter Nwume.
So adept at changing weight and technique was Nwume that he played in every position in the pack at Oxford except hooker. He was faster than most of the backs, but converted late to become a tight-head prop and impressed Warren Gatland, the Wasps director of rugby at the time, and was on the bench in the Heineken Cup and Zurich Premiership finals in 2004. "He was good, he should have kept on," was the verdict of Matt Stevens, the Bath and England prop. But Nwume missed being a doctor too much.
Nwume sees nothing extraordinary in his transition. "There are lots of fantastic athletes out there who could be doing this," he said. "Sometimes people just don't find their sport."
They used to call him Robo-prop or simply The Doctor, but now his friends and patients will not be able to resist a new moniker: Cool Runnings. Henry Nwume is a throwback to Corinthian ideals; after three degrees, three Blues and two winner's medals playing rugby for London Wasps, Nwume did not hang up his studs, he traded them for a pair of spikes and is now part of the Great Britain bobsleigh team, working his way to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Nwume was drawn to bobsleigh while at Wasps. From a 6ft 3in, 19-stone tight-head prop, Nwume remodelled himself with a savage training and weight-loss programme into an 18-stone piston. Then, after six weeks out with a knee injury, he pushed his way into the two-man sled for the World Championships in St Moritz in January, losing 5kg in four days before the trials, so that the sled would be under the 390kg (about 61 stone) weight limit.
"I was surviving on sips of water and jelly babies to give me bursts of energy," Nwume said. His job is to use his explosive power to drive the sled 50 metres in as close to five seconds as possible, and then to leap in for the one-mile, 90mph ride to the bottom.
Before the injury setback, Nwume, 30 and born in Nottingham to an English mother and Nigerian father, had the fastest times pushing the sled in a rejuvenated bobsleigh squad that included Allyn Condon, the former 4 x 100 metres relay Commonwealth gold medal-winner.
All that will go on hold for the next sixth months as Nwume prepares for a tougher challenge, his first tour of duty in Afghanistan in April. Captain Henry Nwume, of the Worcester and Sherwood Foresters, rarely stays within his comfort zone. He is an army doctor and feels a strong sense of duty.
"I want to go, I want to be with my regiment," he said. "I can still come back and try out for the bob next season. I knew when I was playing rugby that I was slipping behind on the medical side. Most of the people I graduated with had already been on several tours of duty."
No one's place is certain in the hothouse environment that Richard Simmons, the bobsleigh performance director, has developed. But Simmons, who made his name as the national coach for athletics from 1985 to 1997, says Nwume has earned respect. "He was the fastest in the trials, and that included Condon," Simmons said. "He is a serious contender for GBR1 out of six people for the side or the back. He was there on the first day of our new talent ID scheme at Bath."
The environment in British bobsleigh has changed by the active trialling of athletes from other sports. Meanwhile, Peter Shakeshaft, the new chairman, has helped to shore up the finances. The four-man team finished a creditable fifth in St Moritz. "That's the funding," Simmons said. "We were told we had to finish in the top six to secure it for next season."
Funding is important because technology makes a big difference, with sleds costing £20,000 each and the runners £3,000. It is the testing and training that usually set Switzerland, the United States, Germany and Canada apart.
But Britain have power to add. GBR2 finished ninth and the starts compared with the top four were poor; for example, GBR1 covered the crucial first 50 metres in 5.20sec on their last run, while Switzerland, who became champions, pushed a record 4.98. That is a huge difference by the time you get to the bottom in one of only three Olympic sports measured in thousandths of a second — speed skating and luge are the other two. Bobsleigh is a gravity sport and GBR1's crew of Lee Johnston (driver), Steve Smith, Condon and Dan Money (also a new recruit from athletics) were so light that 50kg had to be put in the sled. That gave them momentum, but a harder start. Enter Nwume.
So adept at changing weight and technique was Nwume that he played in every position in the pack at Oxford except hooker. He was faster than most of the backs, but converted late to become a tight-head prop and impressed Warren Gatland, the Wasps director of rugby at the time, and was on the bench in the Heineken Cup and Zurich Premiership finals in 2004. "He was good, he should have kept on," was the verdict of Matt Stevens, the Bath and England prop. But Nwume missed being a doctor too much.
Nwume sees nothing extraordinary in his transition. "There are lots of fantastic athletes out there who could be doing this," he said. "Sometimes people just don't find their sport."