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Friday, 8 February, 2002, 12:22 GMT
Fine tuning for Adam and Co
GB men's bobsledder Marcus Adam gives his latest insider's insight to BBC Sport Online as the pressure mounts in Salt Lake City.
The last few days have been spent trying to work out exactly what our best combinations are.
I've been out injured for the last four weeks, having broken my toe in December, but I got back in the bob in La Plagne last week so I'm okay.
I'm not talking literally. There's no need to panic. But we're not improving as we should be.
We have a squad of 10 and it looks as if the guys who do the two-man bob won't be able to do the four-man competition - but it depends how the crews turn out.
This means that there is a strong element of competition between all of us.
I've been doing the two-man bob all year and haven't done the four-man bob since last year in San Moritz.
Now it looks like I'm taking Dean Ward's place, and that's going to be a tough battle.
It's all a long way from the crash I had in Lillehammer last year, when I busted up my shoulder and was out for nine weeks.
Do I prefer the two-man to the four-man? It's hard to say.
In the four-man you get banged about a bit more, thrown around the bob, and that can hurt.
But at the same time, it's the Blue Riband event in bob, the equivalent of the 100m in athletics.
A lot of this year I've been doing my own training, because there is no real format for bobsleigh.
I've kept on doing my bounding over hurdles and my plyometrics, and I also incorporate a lot of circuits into my training as well.
I came in last year off the back of a lot of endurance work, as opposed to the rest of the guys who had been doing short sprint turnarounds, but it seemed to work for me.
We got the bronze medal last time around in Nagano, and if we get it right this time we might be able to do the same.
We've just taken delivery of a new sled from Lola, and it's very light. That should mean we get a quick start.
The track in Salt Lake City only has 16 bends, so if you have a fast start that should transfer itself into a fast time at the bottom.
But when you walk into the Olympic arena, you can either succeed or fail. That's down to you.
I hope that we will prove ourselves up to the tasks ahead.
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