Sunday Times

Bobsled star via YouTube

- By ALEX PATRICK

● SA’s only World Cup bobsledder had to teach himself the snow sport by watching YouTube videos. Michael Stevens, 40, a double amputee from Rosebank, Johannesbu­rg, now has his eye on building a South African para-bobsled team.

He is committed to ensuring that children like him are fitted with prostheses and to urge them to become involved in sport.

Stevens lost both legs aged 12 when a 33,000-volt shock tore through his body in a freak accident at the Vaal. At the time he was a provincial footballer and cricketer.

He was injured while land-sailing. This is a sport where the sail is attached to a cart on wheels which rolls over sand. He was walking with it in his hands at the time.

The Stevens children did not know new power cables had been installed above where they were land-sailing. The wires touched the top of the cart’s mast while Michael was holding it. Circuit-breakers had not yet been installed and the live wires sent a powerful charge of electricit­y surging through his body.

“I blew up the substation in Vereenigin­g,” he remembers. “But I survived after eight months in hospital.”

Stevens was fitted with below-knee prosthetic­s and continued to attend King Edward VII primary and high schools. He now owns a property investment company.

In 2013 he won a competitio­n giving 20 people a salary for two years to work at a charity of their choice.

He chose Jumping Kids, a Pretoria organisati­on that fits prosthetic­s on disabled children whose parents cannot afford them.

When his two years came to an end, Jumping Kids offered Stevens a full-time job to motivate children to take up sport.

Stevens had always enjoyed kite surfing, rowing and skiing, and last year a friend suggested he take up para-bobsleddin­g.

Not wasting any time, he participat­ed in two World Cups.

In his first race, in Lillehamme­r, Norway, he finished 18th out of 23 competitor­s, and then improved to gain the 16th spot in the second race.

In Oberhof, Germany, he came 15th, then 14th in the two races.

This week he left for New York to take part in the Lake Placid World Cup.

“There is actually no way to practise here [SA]. Not enough snow and the wrong type of snow. I practise by staying fit and watching YouTube videos, especially the point-ofview videos. The trick is to figure out how to shave off the millisecon­ds. The 1.5km track takes under a minute to complete.”

Bobsleddin­g involves making timed runs down an ice-covered chute. Gravity propels the competitor down a narrow, twisting track, and the fastest time wins.

 ?? Picture: Alon Skuy ?? Michael Stevens at the Jumping Kids foundation, an organisati­on that supplies free prosthetic­s to children whose parents can’t afford them.
Picture: Alon Skuy Michael Stevens at the Jumping Kids foundation, an organisati­on that supplies free prosthetic­s to children whose parents can’t afford them.

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