In a way, I didn't really look for luge.
In fact, it seems like it was the other way around.
I was 16 at the time, barely over the minimum age
to be able to do the sport.
This is the local luge, as we call it.
This is how we practice over here in the Himalayas.
(SHIVA KESHEVAN 5 TIME LUGE OLYMPIAN)
That's our favourite spot right here,
the Rohtang Pass highway.
It's no perfect life,
but you still put up with it, because you're doing this
for something you love.
(FAR FROM HOME PRESENTED BY BRIDGESTONE)
(6 UNLIKELY STORIES OF OLYMPIC HOPE)
(MANALI, INDIA)
So we have some from the first Olympic Games in Nagano.
16 years old.
That was a very overwhelming experience for me,
to enter that stadium and feel the gaze of the world on you.
That was the first time I felt,
"OK, I'm not doing this for myself,
"I have a responsibility here."
After that I competed in Salt Lake City, in 2002.
2006 I competed in Torino.
2010 I went to Vancouver, then 2014 in Sochi Games.
Now I'm trying to qualify and compete in PyeongChang.
My first Games was in '98, and I still haven't received
a single Rupee from the sports federation.
All the sports associations are based in Delhi, in the plains,
where people have no idea even what snow is.
So these are the two magazines.
(VIVEK MUKHERJI, MANAGING EDITOR, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED)
I work for Sports Illustrated, the India edition.
We have written about him, Shiva, for quite a long time.
We call him one in a billion, and actually he is,
in the truest sense of the word.
India's got about 10 medals in winter sports,
and all 10 belong to him.
He chose to compete under the Indian flag,
despite knowing the problems he had to deal with.
The development of winter sports has been much slower
than what I originally expected.
My wife, Namita, she was so supportive.
She said, "Let's make this happen together."
She quit her job, and we started going out
approaching companies.
It became a shared dream.
I was pushing him
and he was doing what he loves doing.
We approached I think 100 companies,
before the first one said, "Yes."
I've always believed in him. I still do.
There's my old home-made sled.
Me and Yan, my friend from France, we made this together.
All hand laid fiberglass.
I remember before the Torino Olympics,
I was trying to spray paint it, just before the Games.
I did a terrible job of it,
but eventually it ended up all right.
For one of the games, I actually had to do
an online crowdfunding campaign to fund my training.
And we said, "Whoever's going to support me,
"we're going to put their name on my suit."
So I had a suit with tens of thousands of names on it.
That felt great, I felt like, there are so many people
who actually support me, I didn't realise it.
And so I felt like I belonged to something bigger.
When it was just me and Namita, we were care free,
we were travelling the world.
Even though there were a lot of hardships,
we did what we loved, so there were never any complaints.
Now, things are a little more complicated
because I have a daughter.
Come, let's go get the eggs.
Come, come, let's go get the eggs, OK?
I'm going to be away for 5 or 6 months, and I'll see them for
just 2 or 3 days during this entire period.
That is something that pains me a lot,
but also now I know that I'm not just competing for myself,
there's also my daughter. I want her to look back
and say, "OK, my Dad did this." And maybe she can be
proud of it, and she can get some inspiration from it.
So the reason I'm doing the sport is slightly changing.
- OK? - Thank you, Malai.
Thank you, Malai, thank you.
Shiva is a fantastic father.
For him, his family is important.
It gives me a lot of confidence,
when I know that I'm important to him as a wife and the mother
of his child,
and that our daughter is important to him as well,
very important. Everything he does, I know he's thinking
of his family.
We know this is the last Olympics, possibly.
Possibly the last Olympics.
So we know we have to work through this as well,
and this will be over as well,
but I am trying to tell him, live each moment and
enjoy it, and we'll be here waiting for you.
We'll be at the finish line cheering for you.
- Good luck, good luck. - Thank you.
(LAKE PLACID, USA)
We'll begin with our men's Nation's Cup Race
here in snowy Lake Placid.
Shiva, 2 minute warning for our Nation's Cup Race.
Now through 10, down through the labyrinth,
through the bend, slide in the chicane.
And Shiva Keshavan will be through and down
with a time of 53:01:0.
That was a bad run.
Horrible run.
Not enough edge, too cold.
I wanted to give this track a last personal best.
It wasn't to be today, luck wasn't on my side.
(SHIVA KESHAVAN IS NOW COMPETING
(IN HIS SIXTH OLYMPIC GAMES.)
(PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA)
India, represented by Shiva Keshavan.
Keshavan is appearing at an incredible
sixth Winter Olympics.
His record goes back to his first Games
in 1998 in Nagano, when he was just 16 years old.
Keshavan, President, Keshavan, President.
He has no big support by sponsor from Federation,
so we are the only support for him.
Main support.
So we go anywhere he races.
It's everyone together, they feel it
everyone, and it's a lot, so it's, there's responding,
and it's something which everyone
wanted to do till the end.
So we'll follow him forever.
My daughter's going to be here to watch.
So, a lot of my friends and family,
they never saw me slide,
saw me compete, so...
Will be a good group out here.
Going to be nice to perform for them, you know?
You have the last training run,
and now it's just four more runs.
Four more runs for me, that's it.
I think I've done my thing, maybe I have
another role to play in luge as a coach.
Get some kids, let them go further.
And I hope that my journey can be an example
for many, many other people
that never went on the beaten path.
I just went on what I thought was good for somebody
born and brought up in my circumstances.
The sixth Olympic Games.
Growing up in the Himalayas,
he made sleds out of wood with bearings for wheels.
The Olympics have given me
a very deep perspective of life,
and the Olympics really brings this out.
Every story which is so special.
I was the first person in my country to do this.
And now, I can be the person to steer
the future generations of my country on a certain path.
My journey is just the first step
in a long, long run for Indian sports.
Everybody thinks they have to give you advice.
You know what you want, and you have to follow
your own convictions.
Which is why it's important to be true to yourself.
And I think there's one great thing that sport
and the Olympic Games has taught me.
If what you're going for, if what you want,
is important enough to you,
it'll be worth making those sacrifices.
The journey and the battle is always against yourself.
Shiva, Shiva, Shiva!
It's never against anybody else.
(PYEONGCHANG 2018 MARKED SHIVA'S LAST OLYMPICS.)
(HE IS NOW BACK HOME, IN MANALI, FINDING THE NEXT)
(GENERATION OF INDIAN LUGE ATHLETES.)
(FAR FROM HOME PRESENTED BY BRIDGESTONE)
(6 UNLIKELY STORIES OF OLYMPIC HOPE)