Bobsleigh

Olympic team selection - the moment that so many anticipated, perhaps dreaded, has come and passed. And a day that should have been filled with celebration was not. It was filled with silent relief for some and heartbreak and tears for others. Every four years, some people's dreams are realized and some are shattered.

I am part of a team sport. A team sport than needs a group of girls to slide all winter, train harder than they ever have before, carry around hundreds of kilos worth of equipment and slave away all season knowing that in the end, only two brakemen out of six will be standing at the start line of the Olympic games representing their country.

For me, our "team announcement" was one of the hardest weeks I have ever had in the sport. My brakeman, Jenny Ciochetti, has been on my team since my fourth-place finish at the last Olympics. She has survived a lot of rough moments with me and stood by me through a lot.

She helped me learn how to drive my new sled, and after every crash she smiled at me and told me I could do it and we climbed back into the sled. She has held me up during many moments of personal and physical struggle. She has taken care of me and my equipment when we have been broken and injured.

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This summer she suffered two pretty tough injuries that put her far behind in her training. As hard as she fought this winter to catch up, the numbers never showed. Last week, she found out that she will not be riding in my sled at the Olympics. Instead, after so many years of dedication and hard work, she will watching from the sidelines.

I'll be racing with Shelley-Ann Brown, a wonderful and amazing person who I unfortunately have not had the pleasure of racing with very much. I am proud to be her teammate at the Olympics but it has taken some time for me to adjust because it just is not the way I pictured this season to go.

I don't feel excited about the Olympics yet. This winter has been a hard one for me and nothing has gone the way I planned and hoped. It doesn't mean it has all been bad it just means that in typical form, life has thrown many twists and turns in my road to the games.

This will be my second Olympic Games and I feel honored and extremely fortunate. But this blog isn't about me and Shelley, it is for our teammates...For Vero, Heather P, Stepenko, Szabon, Sabrina, Amanda and especially my little Jenny. It is impossible to find the right words to describe how grateful I am to call you teammates.

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Maybe you don't truly hear me when I say that I would not be here, doing this without you guys. I could say thank you a thousand times and it would not make up for everything you have given to our sport and how little you have received in return.

You have helped teach me how to be a better person, a better teammate, and taught me the true meaning of sacrifice and dedication. I believe that true character is shown not in moments of triumph but in moments of failure and bitter disappointment.

Jenny, Spanky, Szab-O, thank you for helping show me how important this lesson is. At these games, at home in front our families, our friends and you, you will be there with us, in my sled, helping us down the track to the very end and I know that no matter what happens in the end, I will do my very best to follow your example of showing humility and grace in both victory and disappointment.

Thank you for everything you have done for our sport, for our team and for me over the last few years.

Love Hels

Helen Upperton is a regular contributor to CTVOlympics.ca in the leadup to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. She won Canada's first ever World Cup gold medal in women's bobsleigh and her fourth place finish at the 2006 Winter Games is the best ever showing by a Canadian female bobsledder. Find out more at www.helsbobsleigh.com