Why should people watch skeleton?
It's a pure adrenaline rush. You go from standing on the line on top of a mile-long track - usually it's so steep you can't see over the first 50 meters. You start pushing your sled, full-on sprint... And then you have to dive on your sled, calm yourself down from breathing hard and trying to be all out on a sprint, and then you have to relax completely. And relax when you're going 80-plus miles per hour, getting five G -forces, and going on curves where you make one mistake and you're going to be on your butt. And I tell you what, hitting ice going that fast does not feel good. The key to the sport is going down and just finding the fast line. And sometimes the fast line is a line that no one wants to take because it's a scary line. And it's a line that can get you in trouble. But if you get it - man, it feels great.

What does it feel like to go that fast?
Think of the worst rollercoaster you've been on, the scariest around, and multiply that by three or four. My neck - I like to say I have a shaken adult syndrome. My head gets rattled a bit - a headache is a normal thing after going down the track. It's pretty hard on your body, but it's definitely worth the thrill.

What do you think about the Whistler track?
It's not as fast as everyone says - it's faster. The track in Whistler is going to push the human reaction time; it's going to push our sport to the limit. It's a scary track... It's not just fast: it's technical and it's hard... The spectators are going to love watching the sliding sports on that track because it's going to definitely give some good crashes.

How difficult was it to miss out on the Torino Games?
It was a tough journey... I never ever thought doping would be something that I would have to worry about. And that's probably why it happened to me, is because I got complacent and I thought, ‘Well, I'm not a cheater. It's not going to happen to me'... When I first heard the news, I thought, ‘OK, I can beat this'... And I tried my hardest to do that. And I came pretty close. I had won in court. I was put on the Olympic delegation. I was in Torino... And so honestly, two hours before the Opening Ceremony was the first time that I ever thought that I wasn't going to compete. Right when I got the news. Because up to that point, I thought, ‘You know what? I'm an honest athlete. I made a mistake. The system would never let something like this happen.' And unfortunately I was wrong. And it really discouraged me to know that that could happen to an honest athlete. But at the same time, I had to put it in perspective. And I have to remember that it's just a sport. The Olympics are amazing, but it's just still a sport. And I had my life, I had my health, and I had my family and that's all that really mattered in the end.

How satisfying was it for you the next year to come back and win the World Cup?
It was really satisfying. I was number one in the world going into the Olympics - I trained 10 years of my life for that Olympic Games. And to have everything clicking on every cylinder - it's amazing to picture your dream and it's a-whole-nother thing to actually achieve it and be there. And to have that taken away, I could have quit, and part of me wanted me quit. I never felt depression before in my life until after that. And instead I decided to dig down and go out and say, ‘You know what? It's not going to beat me.' And I tried to come out the next year and prove myself. And I had the most successful season of my career.

Can you think about what it might be like to walk into the Opening Ceremony in Vancouver?
I try to stay day-to-day and keep focused on what I need to be doing now, but of course I think about what it's going to feel like to finally get to walk out and know that I'm truly you know, an Olympian and I get to compete for my country. Just to be able to represent my country is going to be amazing feeling. I don't know how to explain it because I haven't really felt it yet. But I know that I'm going to be pretty proud and excited to do that in Vancouver.

Compiled by Lee Ann Gschwind, NBCOlympics.com