Competing at the Olympics is a noble cause. You could be a skier, scything through the gates on a slalom course. You could be a figure skater and bring art to life using your grace and poise.
Or you could hurl yourself down a an icy tube in a skintight jumpsuit with very little in the way of brakes astride nothing more than a glorified party platter. Despite the controversy generated by the Canadian advertisement, one thing is indisputable: the courage required to participate.
Thanks to Mathew Mortensen, you can now see first-hand exactly what it looks like. In 2013, he strapped a camera to himself and tried out the Sochi luge track with his teammate. The video has recently been discovered online and his act of bravery has now been watched more than 350,000 times.
Watch: