They are currently in Tonga to find a young, male athlete aged 18-25 years who will be willing lie on a sled and zoom feet first down a mile-long frozen waterslide at 90 miles per hour with no brakes. You must be fearless.

Tongan athlete

Makai, an Events Promotion Company in the United States, has taken up the initiative to introduce a Tongan to the sport and its President/CEO Robbie Thain is in Tonga this week to discuss the initiative with the Tonga Amateur Sports Association (TASA). With him are Mathias Ihle CEO of Makai Europe and Leafa Mataele Warrick, a consultant Tongan.

In a special presentation at the TASA office in Nuku'alofa today, Robbie said their aim is to identify a Tongan athlete by December 2008 and get him into training to qualify for the luge event in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Germany

He said once the athlete is selected in Tonga, he will be sent to Germany for one year of training since they have one of the best training facilities. By September 2010 the athlete should be ready to compete in international competitions, such as the Luge World Cup.

"But it is essential that we find someone who is willing to travel at great speed, who is strong, athletic and is up for the challenge," he said.

The plan is then for the Tongan athlete to head for Vancouver in January 2010 to train in the Olympic sled tracks before the Winter Olympic Games begin on February 12-28.

He said they had secured a sponsor who will finance the training of the athlete but they did not want to identify them until logistics were confirmed.

"We wanted to do this because this is a huge opportunity for an island country and we have identified that this is a strong PR story to be told and it will get worldwide media coverage during the games," he said.

Cool Runnings

Tonga is a new country to the sport with an athlete who has never competed. He drew inspiration from the hit Hollywood movie 'Cool Runnings.' that was loosely based on the Jamaican Bobsled Team at the 1988 Winter Olympics.

"This opportunity is beneficial for Tonga because of the exposure it would get from the media coverage during the games thus attracting more tourists," he said.

The company whose specialises in organising promotions and events for major companies such as Bentley and Red Bull said were they first targeting Nauru for this opportunity.

But Leafa who worked as the sales agent for Makai Events in the US said after she was tasked to be the consultant for this project she suggested Tonga, so that is why they are here.

Tryouts

The Makai Team will return to Tonga on December 11 and hold public tryouts beginning on December 13. A final will be held to select the athlete but the venue has not been confirmed.

"We need to find a hungry Tongan who is up for a change in life," said Leafa.

TASA support

Takitoa Taumopeau, the Secretary for TASA said they had agreed in principle to this initiative.

In order to compete in the sport, Tonga has to produce a Luge Federation, draw up a constitution and get members before applying for a membership to the International Luge Federation. And we are hoping to complete all of those logistics by early next year, he said.

Fearless

Luge is the French word for sled. Wearing head-to-toe spandex sliders hurl themselves down a steep, curvy, ice-covered track on a sled, lying on their backs. The athletes learn to lie back, relax, and maneuver their sleds with their bodies. The purpose is to do it as fast as they can without falling off the sled. According to one Olympic contender "Sliders can go from 0 to 60 in less than 20 seconds - and then as you whip through banked turns, forces can reach 5 gs, which means your brain (now hanging just inches above the ice) will feel four times heavier than normal.

"Don't lift your face to see where you are going -the difference between gold and silver at the 2006 Olympics was 11 hundredths of a second."