WHOOOSSHH!!!!

Undaunted by speeds of up to 70 mph, Cammy Myler '92 slides toward an Olympic medal.

Cammy myler '92 is about to Experience perience the roller-coaster ride of her life. Standing atop a steeply sloped hill carved out of solid ice, she perches herself inside the 48-pound fiberglass shell that is to be her home for the next 38 seconds. As she gets ready to slide through the 11 serpentine curves of a 2,429-foot track in Lake Placid, New York, speed is the only thing on her mind. She is America's top female on a luge, and she is on course to win a medal in the Olympic Games.

A luge is the European version of a Flexible Flyer.

Well, actually, Myler objects to this analogy. While a sledder sits or lies belly down like a slug, the slider (to call someone a "luger" is poor luging usage) lies on her back and controls her direction with infinitesimal movements of the feet and shoulders. Two parallel steel runners cut through the icy downhill track at unsledlike speeds of up to 70 miles an hour.

No American has ever won an Olympic medal in the sport, but luge pundits say Myler may be the first. Her most serious competition will come from the unified German team. The East Germans finished 1-2-3 in the women's races at Calgary, and have won 34 of 63 Olympic medals since the sport was first introduced at the 1964 Innsbruck Games. Although the Germans will still be the team to beat in Albertville, France, unification has dismantled the East German "sports machine" that has dominated the Olympics for decades.

At Dartmouth, Myler has successfully juggled the time commitments required by the luge and her studies as a geography major. To accomplish the balance, she is attending Dartmouth on an six-year schedule, having matriculated in 1988. {She won't graduate until after the next Games.) Myler says the breaks actually help her studies. "When I'm at school, I can dive right into it," she says. "I get pretty excited having been away from Dartmouth for three terms in a row."

Cammy ler is a modest person. She isn't eager to brag about her many other accomplishments. Nonchalantly, she says that she participates in "a few" other sports. It takes a Herculean effort to make her divulge that she has competed or participated in kayaking, archery, orienteering, horseback riding (even Olympic athletes have to take PE at Dartmouth), biking, weightlifting and crew.

But it is clear where her first love lies. Her luging skills make her Dartmouth's best shot at an Olympic medal in February. "I don't like to make predictions, but I'd be happy with a top-three finish," she says with characteristic understatement. If all goes well in Albertville Myler's competition will be in for some tough sledding.

Myler's opponents are in for toughsledding. She may be Dartmouth'sbest hope for an Olympic medal.

Jonathan Douglas '92 thinks he oncereached 20 miles per hour on a Thayertray down Freshman Hill, For those whoseek bigger thrills, the U.S. LugeAssociation (518/523-2011) offers luging clinics every winter.