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Weird and wacky Canadian men’s bobsleigh team includes Lyndon Rush’s CFL socks, Jesse Lumsden’s hair, everyone’s beards
The Canadian bobsleigh team's full of quirky characters who have everything from odd hair and beards to CFL ties. That league really does get everywhere these days, from shoutouts at Hollywood parties to appearances on Modern Family, and now, it's showing up in the Olympics, accompanied by a bunch of wildly-hairy bobsledders. Oddly enough, the one man who's discussing his CFL apparel is the clean-shaven member of the bunch, though. That would be Lyndon Rush, who drove the Canada-1 sled to bronze in the four-man bobsleigh in 2010. Rush was born in Humboldt, Saskatchewan (along with fellow Canadian Olympians William Dutton, who's competing in long-track speed-skating, and Brianne Theisen-Eaton, who competed in heptathlon in London in 2012) and grew up as a fan of the Roughriders. As he told The Canadian Press, his CFL allegiances are reflected in, of all things, the footwear he brought to Sochi:
The 33-year-old from Humboldt, Sask., confessed Wednesday that he brought three pairs of Saskatchewan Roughrider socks with him to the Games
"They're just sort of in the rotation so I don't really wear them any time specific. But when they come up, I always smile putting on the Rider socks," he told a news conference prior to a training session.
Rush said with pride that he "really did grow up where everybody knew everybody."
"Now that I'm doing bobsleigh for Canada, the town is really excited about it," he said....
"Humboldt's really excited about it ... It makes us feel really special to be from there," Rush said. "It's a lot of fun whenever we do get to go home because they treat us like rock stars. It's pretty neat."
Funnily enough, though, some Roughrider rivals are also represented on the Canadian team, as Jesse Lumsden will be competing for Canada in both the two-man (with driver Christopher Spring) and four-man (with Spring, Ben Coakwell and Cody Sorensen). Lumsden shone in both the CIS and CFL ranks, starring at the university level with McMaster before playing in the CFL with Hamilton, Edmonton and Calgary (plus having brief NFL stints with the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins). He demonstrated great potential at the CFL level, but his numerous injuries kept him from consistently succeeding. They weren't what eventually caused him to leave the sport in 2010, though; that was his desire to focus on bobsleigh.
Lumsden started bobsleigh in early 2009, seeing it initially as a training exercise to help him with football, and he juggled CFL and bobsleigh duties for a while. However, it was his bobsleigh career that really took off. He served as Pierre Lueders' brakeman in March 2009, winning the Canadian championships in Whistler and doing well, and despite suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in his first game for Edmonton in July 2009, he continued to do well in bobsleigh, being named to the Canadian Olympic team for the 2010 Games in Vancouver. He and Lueders finished fifth in both the two-man and four-man (with Justin Kripps and Neville Wright, both of whom are on the Canadian team again this year) events. Lumsden tried to juggle football and bobsleigh again later in 2010, signing with the Calgary Stampeders and often practicing football in the morning and bobsleigh in the afternoon, but he tore his ACL in November, ending his season. He took that as an opportunity to retire from football and completely shift his focus to bobsleigh, though, and that's paid off; he and Rush teamed up in 2012 and 2013, winning the overall World Cup title the latter year, before Rush paired with Lascelles Brown this year and Lumsden went with Spring. Lumsden told Gregory Strong of The Canadian Press last month that the time he's spent in bobsleigh has helped him become much more comfortable with the sport:
"I don't know if there is a defining moment for that," he said. "Just in the terms of comfort level in any situation. It's the same thing in the military, when you get infantry guys coming in for the first time, they're scared because they're in an environment that is completely foreign to them and surrounded by this physical presence of their officers.
"It's the same thing in football — a rookie going into a team — and it's the same thing in bobsled. You just develop relationships and trust with your teammates and friendships with other nations and that's when it becomes more of your environment."
For his part, Spring's thrilled to have a former CFL star pushing him:
"He has the right amount of crazy about him," he said. "He watches video, but not too much. He sees what he needs to see and he's like, 'OK, now I'll go and do it.' And then he goes out there and does it."
Spring feels good about their chances when competition begins Feb. 16 at the Sanki Olympic Sliding Center.
"You need that magic, that little bit of luck, that something else to be an Olympic champion and Jesse definitely has that," Spring said. "That's why I'm excited to have him in the back of my sled."
Meanwhile, the Canadian bobsledders in general are rocking some pretty impressive hair-and-beard combinations, and Lumsden's joined them for a good cause; as he told Reuters' Alan Baldwin, he plans to donate his hair to charity after the games:
There is something in the hair for Canada's Olympic bobsleigh team.
Pilots Chris Spring and Justin Kripps, with brakeman Jesse Lumsden and pusher Cody Sorensen, would not look out of place behind a pack of huskies, mushing along with ice in their beards and a glint of gold in the eyes.
Introduced to the media on Wednesday as "one hairy group of guys", although 'mane attraction' might also do, the four form part of a bigger bobsleigh squad that will not be troubling a barber shop any time soon.
At least one of them has not cut his hair in years.
"I think Tim Randall actually started it, he's on my four man team. He's always rocking a pretty large beard," said Kripps.
"You know, we all just kind of picked it up and started growing it towards the end of the summer. We think it better represents the culture of bobsledding in Canada than our clean-shaven counterparts."
As he spoke, he grinned across at Olympic 2010 four-man bronze medalist Lyndon Rush - very much the odd man out with a head as smooth on top as his exposed and naked chin.
In Lumsden's case, it will be hair today and gone tomorrow.
"I've been growing my hair for two years now with the intent of donating it after the Games," said the burly brakeman.
There's apparently something for everyone to embrace with the Canadian bobsleigh team. Prefer clean-shaven types and/or Riders' fans? Rush is your guy. Like beards, and/or the Stampeders, Eskimos and/or Tiger-Cats? Lumsden's a natural choice. Even Aussie Rules fans have someone to root for, as Lumsden's driver Spring competed for Australia in 2010. It's a deep and impressive team, and one that should do well in Sochi.
