Eric Bernotas AKA Dr. Gravity (born August 5, 1971) is an American former skeleton racer who has competed since 2002. He won three medals at the

FIBT World Championships The IBSF World Championships (known as the FIBT World Championships until 2015), part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since FIBT World Championships 1930, 1930. Starting with 2002, no Wo ...

with two silvers (Men's skeleton:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, Mixed team: 2007) and a bronze (Mixed team:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Early life and education

Bernotas is from

West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,671 at the 2020 census. West ...

. He was educated at

Malvern Preparatory School Malvern Preparatory School, commonly referred to as Malvern Prep, is an independent, all-boys Catholic middle school and college preparatory high school in Malvern, Pennsylvania, within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The school is operated by O ...

and

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

, where he was a member of

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1852. The fraternity has over ninety chapters at accredited four-year colleges and uni ...

and graduated in 1994.

Athletic career

Bernotas discovered the sport by accident in 2001, after he got lost and ended up at the Lake Placid sledding track whilst driving through the

Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains ( ) are a massif of mountains in Northeastern New York (state), New York which form a circular dome approximately wide and covering about . The region contains more than 100 peaks, including Mount Marcy, which is the hi ...

. Bernotas competed in two

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

, earning his best finish of sixth in the men's skeleton event at

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. His best overall seasonal Skeleton World Cup finish was second in the men's event in 2006-7. Bernotas earned a medical waiver to compete in the 2009-10 Skeleton World Cup season following a leg injury suffered during training. He took a total of twelve medals in his World Cup career. In addition he won four US national titles in skeleton. In March 2011 the

United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation USA Bobsled/Skeleton (USABS) is the official sports governing body, national governing body (NGB) for Bobsled and Skeleton (sport), Skeleton in the United States. It serves as the United States, American representative for the International Bobsl ...

announced that Bernotas had retired from the sport after a ten-year career. After retiring from competition he became a coach, serving as head coach of the Australian skeleton team from July 2011 to July 2014, when he became the coach of the British World Cup skeleton team.

Personal life

In February 2006, he appeared on ''

The 700 Club ''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, p ...

'' where he talked about being a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and how his faith plays into his sports career. He said, "God presented this opportunity to me," Eric says. "I believe we all have desires and dreams about things we would like to do. I think wonderful things can be done with pursuing our dreams if we allow the Spirit to work within us. When we take the proper steps and do our best to make the right decisions, there’s a purpose behind what we’re doing. Our dreams are just one awesome way to do what we love and at the same time do God’s work."Eric Bernotas: Dreaming of Torino - The 700 Club
/ref> Bernotas has

Tourette syndrome Tourette syndrome (TS), or simply Tourette's, is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Common tics are blinkin ...

and has experienced

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

and depression.

References

Other sources

2006 men's skeleton results

"USA Names 2009-2010 World Cup Teams"
International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation. 26 October 2009. Accessed 27 October 2009.

- accessed 17 January 2010. * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070929091457/http://sports123.com/bob/xw-bst.html Mixed bobsleigh-skeleton world championship medalists since 2007

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernotas, Eric 1971 births American male skeleton racers Living people Olympic skeleton racers for the United States Sportspeople from West Chester, Pennsylvania People with Tourette syndrome Skeleton racers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Skeleton racers at the 2010 Winter Olympics American sports coaches Sports coaches from Pennsylvania Christians from Pennsylvania 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen