LEWISTON — Not qualifying for the 2014 Olympics by a hair was really tough, Maine Olympic luger Julia Clukey told Lewiston Middle School seventh-graders Tuesday.
Clukey, 29, a Maine native, competed during the 2010 Olympics. She also is a national champion and has won two silver medals and one bronze in World Cup competition.
But during tryouts in Utah for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, “I came up short in the final run by 13 thousandths of a second. Imagine you miss the game-winning shot,” then it’s in the newspapers “how badly you messed up.”
Even though it was sad not to be in the Olympics a second time, Clukey told students she knew she had to refocus.
A couple of weeks ago she got back on her Fiberglas sled, which streaks down an icy mountain track at more than 80 mph. “We had a final team race at Lake Placid. I won by 6/10th of a second, which is about a mile in the sport of luge. I came back.”
After 116 students studied Olympic athletes under English teacher Susan Grondin’s direction, they got to meet an Olympian when Clukey offered a motivational speech. Her overall message to students was to try different things, find something you love, work hard and go after it, because anything is possible.
How she became a luge champion is an example, she said.
She grew up in Augusta and learned about luge at age 11 when she and a friend read that the U.S. Luge Team was coming to Portland. Youngsters who tried out could get a free shirt.
She wanted a shirt.
She slid down a steep street on a luge sled on Rollerblades. She loved it, and got the free shirt. A couple of months later she received a letter inviting her to try the sport on a real track in Lake Placid. She went, did well and fell in love with luge.
“After my first run, I could not wait to get back at the top of the track,” Clukey said. Two months later, she was invited to join the U.S. development team, “the lowest level in the sport of luge,” but it was an opening.
She made the junior team and competed in Europe. At age 17, she tried out for the senior team, hoping to finish fourth, which would secure her a spot. She came in second, beating out two veterans. She made the World Cup team.
The only thing left was the Olympics. She missed making the 2006 Olympics but made the 2010 team. Recalling the opening ceremony, she said it was “the largest moment in my career, standing in the tunnel with 225 athletes.” It hit her that after years of work, she achieved her goal of representing her country, her state and her family at the Olympic level.
“Hard work is the one thing you own yourself,” Clukey told students. “If you put work into school, sports or a musical instrument, it will pay benefits.”
But in the sport of luge and in life, “you’re going to be sailing along having great results, then something can happen.” It’s important to know how to handle setbacks. “They’re going to happen,” she said.
When she was 19, her father died of a heart attack.
She suffered a knee injury that required surgery in 2009. Shortly after the 2010 Olympics, she started suffering headaches. The diagnosis was Arnold Chiari syndrome, a brain disorder that creates pressure. “Headaches is not something you want going 80 mph down the side of a mountain.”
She underwent brain surgery, which sidelined her for a year. When she came back to luge, 2012-13 was her best year ever, she said. “I won my first national championship, two silver medals at the World Cup level. I came back a better athlete physically and mentally.”
Now she’s happy to be back from Lake Placid, “giving back to kids,” and soon to be involved with the Julia Clukey’s Camp for Girls in Readfield. Clukey also is studying at DeVry University, majoring in civil engineering.
After her talk, one student asked whether she would try out for the 2018 Olympics.
“I haven’t decided,” Clukey said. “I have a lot of other projects I’m passionate about.” She’s been a luger for 17 years, “a really long time.” Clukey said she’ll decide in the next few months.
Q: How do lugers (who streak down mountains on their backs on Fiberglas sleds), steer?
A: “How many of you watch and think, ‘She’s just lying there?'” Clukey said with a smile. If they think that, she’s doing her job.
The sleds are shaped for the athletes and have double suspension systems. “The slightest movement on my sled allows us to go left or right. It’s all with body motion. We go over 80 mph. It’s really important to do subtle movements through the center part of your body.”
Q: “How do you stop?”
A: The sleds have no brakes. “They’re only designed to go fast.” At the end of every track it goes uphill, which slows the sled.
Q: “Are you strapped in?”
A: No. Lugers lie down holding two handles. The force of the speed pushes their bodies into the sled.
Q: Is she nervous as she slides?
A: No, anxious and excited before a race, “never scared.”
Q: What does the training involve?
A: The season runs from Oct. 1 through March, training is done six days a week. “We slide every day,” and also lift weights and do other exercises.
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- Emma Gideon, right, waits for an autograph from U.S. Olympian Julia Clukey who spoke at Lewiston Middle School on Tuesday afternoon about her career as a luger.
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- Julia Clukey asked each Lewiston Middle School student who waited in line Tuesday for an autograph about their interests.
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- U.S. Olympic luger Julia Clukey from Augusta signs an autograph for Bethany Dube after talking to a roomful of Lewiston Middle School students Tuesday. Clukey, who has overcome many hurdles during her career, spoke about perseverance and determination.
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