Travers revels in his own cool run

(CNS): Having completed two gruelling Olympic downhill giant slalom coursesand moved from his start ranking of 101 to 69th, Travers can hold his head high as Cayman’s first ever Winter Olympian. At only 22, Travers has plenty more to give and believes he can do even more. This was, however, a great experience for the young alpine skier, who says it was fantastic to have the support of Cayman fans in Vancouver as well as back home. Travers has also generated a phenomenal amount of media attention with inevitable comparisons to the Jamaican bob sleigh team, which has also helped to put Cayman on the map for a whole new audience.

“It was a great honour to represent my country,” Travers said. “We have a long line of great summer athletes and it’s wonderful that we can translate that to the slopes here. My second run was a little slower but I was a little tired and had to deal with a little fog. I’m inexperienced but will hopefully improve in the future. I’m pleased that I moved up 32 spots, coming from the back of the pack.”

Many did not finish, including Bode Miller, who has won a clutch of medals in a glittering Olympic career, but missed a gate and pulled up on the first run. Travers will forever have the satisfaction of ‘beating’ the celebrated American.

“There was a huge amount of adrenaline at the start and the best part was coming to the finish line. I don’t really think it counts as beating Bode Miller and I’m sure he’ll ask for a rematch!” he added.

Travers negotiated the gates superbly at Whistler Creekside, finishing his first run in 1 minute 29.39 seconds to move from 101st up to 75th. The 22-year-old geo-biology student at Brown University, Rhode Island, moved up the standings again on his second run to finish 69th with an overall time of 3.02.89, which was 25 seconds behind the gold medallist Carlo Janka of Switzerland, but no less an achievement. The Norwegians Kjetil Jansrud and Askel Lund Svindal took silver and third respectively.

The top skiers are full-timers, born into the sport with all the resources imaginable. Travers only started skiing seriously at 14 but has to juggle it with studies and snatching practice time for a few weeks a year when not in Cayman. Representing Cayman has made Travers a media curiosity.

“Everyone has been incredibly friendly here. It’s not like the Cool Runnings film when everybody’s out to get each other. It’s been a great experience so far,” Travers said adding that his Olympic experience has been a marvellous one. “It’s great how friendly everyone has been and my best moment was yesterday when I was free skiing. It was my first time ever on a nice, hard, world class hill and I couldn’t stop smiling afterwards.”

Dow could one day set another Olympic mark because rugby sevens will be introduced into the 2016 Summer Games in Brazil and having played for Cayman’s Under-19 and U20 sides in sevens and 15s, he could be collecting more Olympic kudos. He is a wing and fullback in 15s and prop in sevens. (When an English reporter heard this he asked Travers if he has any British ancestry so that he could be poached for the struggling England side!) But Dow won’t renounce his Cayman passport. “If we win the Caribbean Championships, it’s a matter of progressing in the tournaments to qualify for that.”

Anthony Travers, Chairman of the Cayman stock exchange but this week simply proud dad, said the family was very happy for Dow. “It was a very solid result. He started 101st and moved all the way up to 69th and I think that’s a tremendous performance. There’s no question he could have gone a little faster but he did the right thing. He was very solid through the turns and showed nice form and he finished, which was the crucial thing. Bode Miller didn’t have the best of days!” laughed Travers senior. “The most important thing here is that Dow substantially improved his International Ski Federation points. That was a personal best by a very long way. You can’t ask for more than to go to the Olympics and provide a personal best.”

Source Ron Shillingworth