Deen briefed for battle
LAMIN DEEN has had the perfect captain from whom to take his lead in the countdown to the four-man bobsleigh which starts today. It has been 20 years since Britain last had a podium to celebrate in the sport, Sean Olsson leading the four-man team to bronze at Nagano 1998. Although Britain’s four-man crew in Sochi 2014 are still waiting for their retrospective bronze to be ratified following the Russian doping scandal. Like Olsson, Deen is the pilot of his crew. And also like his predecessor, Deen comes from a military background, serving with the Grenadier Guards in Bosnia and Kosovo.
“I speak to Sean quite often because he was in the military as well, the Parachute Regiment,” said Deen. “It’s good to get his views on how he dealt with the Olympic Games and everything that goes with it.
“To this day his attention to detail is instilled in my head about how he ran his crew.”
From standing guard outside Buckingham Palace to helping set a world speed record, Deen is a man who relishes responsibility.
Last November he was part of the British quartet who clocked a new top speed of 92mph on the way to World Cup silver in Whistler, while the other British crew at these Games – piloted by Brad Hall – won bronze a week before them. Across the six training runs this week, however, neither has hit top gear. Deen’s crew has finished in the top 10 in just half of their runs.
“We’ve broken it down. First of all we need to be within the top-five starters in the world, so we need to be up there on the push start,” he said.
“The guys, and myself, are pushing well and we’re driving well.
“Just being on the outside gives you more to fight for because we’re a fighting crew. We can defend when we need to but we always like to fight.”