Bobsled champion Randy Will, injured Saturday on the track at the Utah Olympic Park, is sick, angry, reluctant to slide again — but doesn't know whether he will sue.
A spokeswoman for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee said SLOC president Mitt Romney is concerned and called Will on Monday to see how he was doing. Will's loss of income and medical bills will be covered by SLOC's Workers Compensation Fund insurance, she said.
The three-time Olympian was guiding a bobsled with paying passengers when he slammed into a two-by-four at face level. Will was knocked unconscious, suffering a concussion, and the bobsled overturned.
Will and passenger Sylvia Mabey, who also was injured, were hospitalized and later released. Two others declined medical treatment.
"My concerns are my health," Will told the Deseret News on Tuesday. The 37-year-old was interviewed by telephone at his home in West Jordan.
"I mean, my head is just splitting right now. I've got a lot of nausea, and I'm just not feeling good." He has been vomiting and his eyes do not focus properly. He is unable to drive and is worried about his ability to cook at the restaurant he owns, Nevole's Pizzeria, West Jordan.
The injury has made him uncomfortable and slower when he tries to cook, he said. The restaurant is closed, as an result of his injury.
"I'm angry, yes, because it hurts, and I'm laid up for quite a while. I don't know how long," he said. "And I'm angry about what it's done to my family."
His first reaction to the accident was that he would not guide a bobsled again.
"I'm feeling reluctant, only because I almost got my head taken off," Will added. As with a rider who is thrown from a horse, he realizes, the best response probably would be to get back on. But that will not happen for a long time, he added.
Another concussion "could cause a fatality," he said.
"I love my family so much, I just want to spend time with them."
He is concerned about the effects on his children, ages 2 and 6, and on his wife, Lori.
"My wife was in tears that night in the hospital, saying, 'I'm not ready to be a widow yet,' " he recalled. That did not happen, "but it could have, and that's what's scary about it."
Lori Will has been supportive of his racing career ever since he began bobsledding, and she's seen him through high and low points. But this time, when she got a call from the Utah Olympic Park with the news that he had been hurt, "she finally had enough."
Romney was "very good" after the accident, Will said.
"He saw the problem, and he immediately implemented a safety structure that has to happen before any sleds go down the hill now, which is smart," Will said. These rules require that a person walk through the entire mile-long bobsled track, checking that it is cleared, before a sled runs.
Will said he thinks such a check should have been automatic "every single time" a bobsled ran since the track opened in January 1997.
Other accidents have occurred around the world, where bobsleds hit obstructions. "We should have learned ahead of time," he said.
The argument could be made that a bobsled pilot assumes a risk, Will added. He is prepared to assume the risk of guiding the bobsled properly, looking out for those seated behind him. "Well, I don't assume the risk of something left in the track of that magnitude, a 2-by-4 straight across at helmet level."
Will was in Winter Olympic Games in 1988, 1992 and 1994. He has won numerous medals in World Cup competitions, and was national champion several times. In 1994, he was ranked third in the world. Bobsled racing has been "a huge part of my life," he said.
Asked whether he is considering legal action, he replied, "I am going to take that one day at a time. I don't know. I don't know if there is any recourse to that or not. Right now I'm just trying to heal."
Will said his doctors don't know when his headaches and dizzy spells would end.
The physician said he had suffered quite a concussion, and that he could suffer from a post-concussion syndrome similar to that affecting football players who have head injuries.
"They said it could last two months, it could last six months."
SLOC spokeswoman Caroline Shaw said the organizing committee takes the position it must ensure that the bobsled track is safe. "The accident was due to human error," she said.
The policy that someone must walk the track before the start of each sledding session takes effect immediately, she added.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com