North Shore Olympians shine in Turin

When Pymble's Jeremy Rolleston dreamed of representing Australia on the sporting field, he never expected it to be as a bobsleigh driver in the Winter Olympics. 

Rolleston started his sporting career playing for the local Norths and Gordon rugby teams, for the Australian Legends Sevens side, and playing club rugby in Italy.

"I always dreamed of being an Olympian and representing Australia, but the sports I did weren't Olympic sports," says the 33-year-old.

It wasn't until Australian Olympic bronze medallist Kieran Hansen suggested Rolleston try bobsleigh racing that he became involved and after much hard work, found himself back in Italy, this time as a Winter Olympian.

After only six years in the sport, Rolleston's Olympic dream took off when he and brakeman Shane McKenzie won the Challenge Cup in January and qualified for Turin's two-man bobsleigh event. The pair then went on to equal Australia's best ever two-man bobsleigh result.

Finishing 22nd out of 29 sleds, they equalled Jason Giobbi and Adam Barclay's achievement at Nagano in 1998.

Had they been a mere 0.36 of a second faster, they would have made it into the top twenty and qualified for the fourth and final round, but this tease hasn't tainted Rolleston's first Olympic experience.

"I'm stoked! We equalled the best ever Australian result. I did the best I could and this will give me the incentive to keep going with it in the future."

Rolleston's family, who had never seen him bobsleigh before, flew to Turin to support him.

As the pilot for the duo, Rolleston had the job of steering the sled down the 1435-metre track and around 19 corners at speeds of up to 140 kilometres per hour. He was also the least experienced pilot in the field competing, having climbed into the driver's seat last October after six years as brakeman.

"You have to be aggressive to do the sport, but really ice cool to drive."

A chance for Rolleston to represent Australia again in the four-man bobsleigh event was just out of reach after the Australian Olympic Committee unsuccessfully challenged the Brazilian Olympic Committee in a controversial case brought before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Brazilian team member Armando dos Santos tested positive for the steroid Nandralone two weeks before his team qualified for the Olympics. Australia's bobsleigh team finished third in that race and only the top two teams went on to Turin.

Two other North Shore Winter athletes also competed in their first Olympic games. Hannah Campbell-Pegg of Gordon finished 23rd in the Woman's Luge, breaking the 50 second barrier in all four heats and Nick Fisher of Killara recorded a personal best, coming 12th in the freestyle moguls.