SUMMIT PARK, Summit County — A bright yellow bobsled will bring a flash of the tropics to Utah Olympic Park next week, when the "Frozen Banana" takes to the track.
The sled is the prize possession of the Brazilian bobsled team, and its entry in the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games is a matter of immense pride to South America's most populous country.
Brazilians are so excited about their bobsled and luge teams' participation in the Olympics that the country is issuing its first-ever winter sports stamps, said bobsled pilot Eric Maleson, 34, of Rio de Janeiro.
Maleson and the rest of the bobsled team were at Summit Park on Wednesday while their sled was undergoing some last-minute primping at Maedel's Body Shop.
Brazilians will be eagerly watching the Winter Games on television, said Alexandre Dias Lopes, the team's physical therapist. "There are three channels in Brazil. They are transmitting the competition live," he said.
Do the Latin Americans find it a shock to race in a cold, snowy place like Utah? "I don't know it's a shock, but different," Lopes said.
"They are always training inside. . . . When they go to the track, they feel the snow." But they are coping with it fine, he added.
While a cameraman/reporter for a Brazilian TV station filmed them, team members demonstrated their style. Sitting in the Frozen Banana in the snow outside the body shop, they leaned their heads from side to side and made swishing sounds, as if hurtling around curves.
Did the team regret missing Carnival back in Brazil? No, said Maleson, "We have our carnival here on ice."
But it's not as crazy as in Brazil, is it? "Oh, we make it crazy," he replied.
"A lot of parties," grinned Edson Bindilatti, Sao Paulo, one of the sled's pushers.
A year ago, the team did not have enough experience to compete in a World Cup race at Utah Olympic Park. But park organizers were "very nice" and allowed the team to practice at the track, Maleson said.
"I think it's a very state-of-the-art track. It's not very technical, but it's very fast, very fast."
In the year since, the Brazilians raced at Winterberg, Germany; Calgary, Canada, and Lake Placid, N.Y. They barely gathered enough points in Europa Cup and America Cup competition to qualify for the Games — and they won two bronze medals along the way.
With their acceptance into the Olympics, "we are an overnight success in Brazil. People are very excited," Maleson added. "This is the first time a Brazilian bobsled team qualifies for the Olympics."
He doesn't expect to win a medal. "But I think we're gonna surprise a lot of people. . . . We came here to compete."
Maleson is the president and founder of the Brazilian Bobsled, Skeleton & Luge Association. Asked why he got involved in the sport, he said, "Because bobsledding's the Formula One on ice," referring to the famous race cars.
"I always loved car racing, so this is a dream come true."
Others on the team are brakeman Cristiano Paes; pusher Matheus Inocencio and alternate Rodrigo Palladino, all from Sao Paulo.
At the body shop, the sled was getting a few minor repairs.
"We're taking care of a few cracks and just basically sprucing up the sled to get it ready," said Chad Knaras, the shop's owner. Cracks in the fiberglass will be fixed and "there are weight issues that need to be addressed."
The body shop also is taking a look at the Frozen Banana's glossy finish. "The paint has to be smooth," Knaras said. "Otherwise, it's a drag on the sled."
E-mail: bau@desnews.com