Eric M. Jukelevics/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA assistant rugby coach Matt Dallow - Tucson's lone 2002 Olympian - will compete for New Zealand in the bobsled event in Salt Lake City.

Athlete will compete on New Zealand bobsled team

Matt Dallow has always strived to become an Olympic athlete.

But when the 1996 summer games in Atlanta ended, his dream had not yet become a reality.

"I wanted to be the Olympic decathlete champion since I was 10 years old," said Dallow about an event held during the summer Olympics.

Eight years later, the assistant UA rugby coach's boyhood dream will come true, but it will be much different than he ever pictured it.

Dallow will be racing around a track in the Olympics, but it will be a track of a different sort.

This winter, the 29-year-old will compete in Salt Lake City at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He will be the brakeman for his native New Zealand in the two-man bobsled competition and the only Olympian in Tucson.

"A bobsled run is the biggest adrenaline rush you can possibly imagine," he said.

The unlikely story of how a decathlete became a bobsledder is amazing, but what is even more amazing is the story of how he got where he is today.

Growing up in New Zealand, Dallow was a track and field sensation. He wanted to attend college in the United States, so he wrote more than 60 letters to different colleges and universities, hoping to get a spot on someone's track team.

UA assistant track coach Mark Mynard responded to Dallow and invited him to Tucson. In 1992, he enrolled at Arizona and earned All-American honors as a decathlete on the Wildcats track team.

That same year, during a trip home, he met New Zealand bobsled pilot Alan Henderson. Henderson talked to him about competing as a bobsled brakeman. Dallow didn't think much about it because he was still dedicated to continuing his decathlon dreams.

In 1993, Dallow continued his success with another All-America season at Arizona. He was so good that year, in fact, that he was considered a possible Olympic competitor for the '96 games.

However, Dallow suffered a serious knee injury in a club rugby game later that year. He damaged virtually all of the connective tissues around his knee and was forced to undergo reconstructive surgery.

That injury changed everything.

Only after several years of extensive rehab on his knee was Dallow able to continue his track and field career at UA as a discus thrower in 1996. After that, Dallow had one year of eligibility left, and he joined the Wildcats rugby program as a player/coach.

Following college, Dallow was selected to compete for the United States National Seven rugby team. After great success with the U.S. National team, he was offered a professional contract with the Harlequins of London - a professional rugby team - and he gladly accepted.

During his time in London, he again ran into Henderson, who offered Dallow for the second time the opportunity to try bobsledding. Dallow decided to give it a shot at the 1999 Monaco Push Championships, a dry bobsled start competition. The New Zealand team finished ninth and Dallow enjoyed the competition.

A short time after that, tragedy struck Dallow on the rugby field when he blew out his knee again. Discouraged and confused, Dallow returned to the States.

On his plane ride from London, an event Dallow described as "an incredible thing" happened. The two listed movies on the flight were "Runaway Bride" and "Notting Hill." However, both films were lost and another movie was shown.

As Dallow was contemplating whether to rehab and return to rugby or try something new, the movie "Cool Runnings" was shown. The movie - about a Jamaican bobsled team and the incredible odds the team had to overcome - served as an omen to Dallow.

"As soon as that movie came on, that made the decision for me," he said.

Dallow joined the New Zealand bobsledders in the 2000 bobsledding World Cup and again in the 2001 Monaco Push Championships.

In Ingls, Austria, the New Zealanders earned their way into the Olympic games. They finished No. 5 in the competition but were behind only two other countries: Germany and France.

"That is the most successful finish that a New Zealand bobsled team has ever had," Dallow said.

Now a seasoned bobsledder, he can't wait until his next run.

"I'm very jacked," Dallow said. "I'm ready to run through a wall."

In a typical bobsled run, speeds approach 100 mph and athletes experience between four and five G-forces in some of the turns.

"Many people who don't bobsled compare it to a roller coaster," Dallow said. "It's more like being put in a barrel and being thrown down a hill."

He said that every run is very rough and the physical toll it takes on your body is unbelievable. He has suffered only minor injuries while bobsledding and has only crashed the sled once.

"I've been in one crash," Dallow said. "It's not something I want to experience again."

The New Zealand team is currently ranked number 25 out of 48 teams, and its ultimate goal is to crack the top 15. Because of the way that the bobsled event is set up, it is key to finish in the top 15 after the first run. Teams compete in order of the times that they finish, with the fastest time going first. The more runs that occur, the slower the track becomes.

Dallow said that coming away with a medal in Salt Lake City would be extremely difficult because teams like Germany and Switzerland spend several million dollars on technology, while other teams, such as the New Zealanders, struggle just to pay airfare to training sessions.

"Let's put it this way: Of all 48 countries competing in this year's bobsled event, New Zealand is the furthest away from a bobsled track," he said.

The first runs of the bobsled event take place on Feb. 16.