Singleton Joins Sports Legends In Japan
Bermuda luge slider and skeleton racer Patrick Singleton was among the Olympians who gathered in Japan this weekend [Mar. 24] to support some 70 young Japanese athletes from the disasters-hit Tohoku area.
At the Tohoku Sports Summit 2013, Mr. Singleton joined such athletics legends as former triple jump world-record holder Willie Banks, nine-time Olympic gold medal winner Carl Lewis and current long jump world-record holder Mike Powell.
The Tohoku region consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region consists of six prefectures: Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi and Yamagata.
The catastrophic March 11, 2011 sub-sea earthquake — its epicentre just a few miles off shore from Tohoku — and the ensuing tsunami inflicted significant damage along the east coast of this region.
One of only three Bermudian Winter Olympians, Mr. Singleton competed as a luge slider in the late 1990s and early 2000s before taking up the skeleton in 2002.
In 1998, Mr. Singleton finished 27th in the men’s singles luge event while he finished 37th in the same event four years later.
He finished 19th in the men’s skeleton event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
He suffered an injury shortly before the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and did not compete.
