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Now that’s one speedy Osmond
Another photo can be seen here
By Molly Farmer
Mormon Times
Published: Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008
Don Osmond’s first trip down a bobsled track was significant, even though he can’t remember all of it.
“I’d like to say it was memorable, but I actually blacked out about two-thirds of the way down the track,” Osmond said.
The 29-year-old son of singer Donny Osmond was accompanying his friend and now teammate Jeremy Holm in a two-man sled at Olympic Park in Park City, Utah, when the speed, pressure and sharp turns began to affect him. The experience was particularly disconcerting for Holm, who was driving at the front of the sled, because Osmond was manning the brakes.
“Jeremy was tapping me on the helmet with his elbow and I wasn’t coming to until finally he jarred me a good one,” Osmond said.
He awoke shortly after crossing the finish line and pulled hard on the brakes, stopping the sled before it reached the end of the track. The experience was more exhilarating than intimidating for Osmond. He is now a member of Team Holm Racing in both two-man — where he’s a “braker” — and four-man — where he’s a “pusher.”
Osmond said his family may not be known for its athletic ability, but when Holm, who has been bobsledding for about 12 years according to the Team Holm Web site, asked whether he wanted to give the sport a shot, he couldn’t say no.
“I don’t think many Osmonds participate in sports,” he said. “I think most of us are musically inclined. So I thought, ‘I’m going to try this.’ ”
Osmond took up cycling about 16 years ago and said his background with that sport has helped him in training for bobsledding.
He and his teammates train in the evenings three or four times a week. During the offseason, which usually begins at the end of March and lasts until mid-November, they practice sprints to increase their start speed and lift weights to increase their strength. During the bobsledding season, they head to the track in Park City — one of only two tracks in the United States (the other is in Lake Placid, N.Y.) — where they can get three trips down the track in a night.
Osmond is registered with the United States Bobsledding and Skeleton Federation and is eligible to compete in USBSF competitions.
He said the team will compete this season in club and national races, and though none of them have experience at the Olympic level, competing in the 2010 Games in Vancouver is fun to think about.
“Of course it’s a goal. It’s a dream. It’s a wish.”
Osmond said the thrill of the sport appeals to him.
“It really is just a roller-coaster to the extreme. … You’re going nearly 80 miles an hour, sometimes a little faster, and pushing anywhere from three to five Gs on some of the turns.
“I like to go fast. That’s why I took up cycling. That’s why I took up mountain biking. That’s why I have a motorcycle. That’s why I have a few speeding tickets,” he said, laughing.
Because there are only two tracks in the United States and four in all of North America, Osmond said Utah residents should take advantage of the track in Park City to experience the thrill themselves. Even if they aren’t interested in competing, they can go for a trial run at the nearby Utah Olympic Park.
He said his family has been very supportive of his participation in the sport, especially his dad.
“My dad loves it; my mother fears for my life.”
Though the sport is considered dangerous, so far he has acquired only scrapes and bruises that come from piling into a narrow bobsled with three other men, all of whom wear spiked shoes.
“Those spikes on the tip of your shoe are pretty sharp,” Osmond said. “They’re about the same as a thumbtack, and you’ve got about 200 to 300 of them on the bottom of your foot. So when the guy behind you jumps in, if he doesn’t do it right, he can actually claw at your calf muscles.”
The only lasting injury Osmond has acquired came from that first run he took last December, and it is more of a bruise on his ego than on his body.
“I’ve been nicknamed ‘Blackout at the Track.’ “
Marie Osmond and Hoda Kotb Help the American Heart Association Fight Women’s No. 1 Killer
Go Red For Women and NBC Local Media Join to Tell the Untold Stories of Real Women and Heart Disease ;
Marie Osmond and Hoda Kotb Help the American Heart Association Fight Women’s No. 1 Killer; American Heart Association
DALLAS, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — On September 20, the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women is bringing the real faces of women and heart disease into living rooms across the country in a new 30-minute NBC television special, “Go Red For Women presents — Untold Stories of the Heart.” The special will air on NBC’s ten owned-and-operated stations (check your local listings for various times). For every heart, there is a story. Unfortunately, these stories often go untold because women lack awareness of their risk factors and an understanding of the choices they can make to prevent heart disease. This fall, those stories will be told. Read more
Donny and Marie take G-rated show to Vegas
Reuters
Windsor Star 09-09-2008
NASHVILLE - Veteran sibling performers Donny and Marie Osmond are about to begin a 26-week stand in Las Vegas, and Marie Osmond points out that they just might turn Sin City into Sincere City.
The duo will fill the need for a family-friendly variety show in the entertainment mecca, which now is dominated by big production shows a la Cirque du Soleil or single-artist-focused extended runs by one-name stars from Celine to Cher to Elton to Bette.
Their run at the Flamingo Showroom kicks off tonight, with an extension almost a given. The 90-minute show melds multimedia spectacle with Donny & Marie’s extensive repertoire, galvanized by their well-known onstage chemistry.
Marie says, “I think we really appreciate each other professionally, because we grew up together. On a personal level, it’s hysterical because nobody out there has that kind of brother- and-sister thing. We were talking about it: ‘Who is a brother and sister that have been together as long as we have?”‘
Though they’re both Vegas veterans, this run marks Donny & Marie’s first extended engagement in the city in 29 years.
“Donny and I grew up in Vegas, we’ve played every hotel here,” Marie says.
Donny says his first Vegas gig was at the Sahara, opening for Shirley Bassey in the ’60s, and he’s very comfortable in the market. “Even though we are sitting in a recession, and Vegas has been hit a little bit as well, it’s pretty much recession-proof because everybody still wants entertainment, and Vegas in my opinion has become the entertainment centre of the world,” he says.
The idea of reuniting ignited when the pair performed on a TV Land awards show a couple of years ago. The booking may be a natural, but the two singers’ busy solo careers made it tough to nail down. Donny had been tied up with his TV hosting duties for shows ranging from game show Pyramid to Entertainment Tonight, Broadway runs and touring commitments. Marie was wrapped up in Broadway performances, her charitable efforts with the Children’s Miracle Network and, of course, her high-profile run on TV and touring with hit show Dancing With the Stars. Additionally, the performing Osmonds got together for a wildly successful U.K./ European 50th-anniversary tour in May.
It goes without saying that the show is a little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll — and more. “We wanted traditional Vegas, we wanted production, we wanted variety,” Donny says. “I think you have to understand what people expect because of the success of The Donny & Marie Show back in the ’70s, and that is the bulk of our audience, obviously. They want variety.”
And now, given Marie’s run on Dancing With the Stars, they want dancing. “We tease each other back and forth; I’m a better dancer than her,” Donny says. “We put that into the show and it creates that sibling rivalry that’s organic in our relationship, and it works. I’m dripping wet at the end of the show because there’s so much dancing, so much energy involved.”