Daily Mail

How bobsleigh Briton chased Olympic dream ...one TV game show at a time

- From David Williams In Pyeongchan­g

OLYMPIANS, when asked how they achieved their dream, usually talk of relentless hard work and sacrifice.

Surely never in the event’s long history, however, has a game show appearance alongside Noel Edmonds helped inspire sporting greatness. But when Toby Olubi scooped a £12,000 prize in Deal Or No Deal, it propelled him to an even bigger reward – a place in the British bobsleigh team at this month’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchan­g.

Struggling to survive on his meagre funding as he trained five days a week, the former supply teacher had to find more creative ways to make ends meet.

After extensive research, Olubi, 31, settled on an unorthodox solution – TV game shows. As well as outsmartin­g the banker on Channel 4’s Deal Or No Deal in 2016, there was a less successful turn on ITV’s The Cube, presented by Phillip Schofield, where he blew a £10,000 prize.

And careering down the bobsleigh course at terrifying speed should be nothing to a man who also turned himself into a human cannonball for BBC show Can’t Touch This. Last month Olubi’s efforts paid off when he was named in the ten-man British bobsleigh team, which is expected to compete for medals, having been part of a squad that set a new speed record of 92mph.

His story recalls the film Cool Runnings about the Jamaican amateur bobsleigh team’s madcap schemes to raise the money to reach the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Indeed Olubi has said the movie was his only frame of reference to the sport until 2013, when his powerful 6ft 4in, 17st 8lb frame attracted the attention of scouts.

The bobsledder, from south London, said: ‘Going 92mph in a bobsleigh is scary, but being shot out of a cannon is much worse. I don’t think I’ve felt that scared – or that airborne – in my life.’ He also admits to ‘never feeling as nervous’ as when he gambled his winnings on Deal Or No Deal.

Bobsleigh is funded by UK Sport and the National Lottery but Olubi receives only a nominal salary. Items such as ice spikes – specially developed shoes – cost £300 alone and athletes must also cover the cost of travel, equipment and accommodat­ion.

After narrowly missing out on Sochi due to injury four years ago, Olubi was determined not to be left behind this time. He said: ‘ TV game shows stuck out. A lot of people have to support themselves through other means. It’s especially true in a sport like bobsleigh. Where there’s a will there’s a way, and this is the way I’ve chosen.’

 ??  ?? Eyes on the prize: Toby Olubi won £12,000 after outsmartin­g the banker
Eyes on the prize: Toby Olubi won £12,000 after outsmartin­g the banker
 ??  ?? Having a ball: On the ITV game show High flier: Olubi as a human cannonball
Having a ball: On the ITV game show High flier: Olubi as a human cannonball

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