Brazilian Bobsledders Try Out Ticketless Travel

A Brazilian-born bobsledder showed up at Logan International Airport Friday trying to get to the Winter Olympics in Japan.

The problem was, his bobsled was in Italy, his sledding partner was in Framingham, Mass., and he didn’t have money for a ticket. What’s more, Brazil doesn’t even want them to go.

Sound confusing? For Eric Maleson and the airline he was asking for a free ride, it was an Olympic-sized mess.

“We don’t want to beg,” said the 30-year-old Maleson. “But we plan to spend the whole day here until we get support.”

Maleson and his would-be coach, Joe Zammikiel of Yonkers, N.Y., spent much of the day appealing to Continental Airlines for three free tickets to Nagano, Japan, (value: $3,175 per roundtrip ticket).

Calling themselves the first Brazilian national bobsled team, the men brought folders full of paperwork they said would authenticate their claims. They also brought six bags for their trip, but no sled. They said theirs was stuck in Italy; they hoped to borrow one.

“We’re just out of time,” Zammikiel said. “We’re desperate.”

While documents show Maleson and his partner, Ricardo Raschini, have been training for four years and are recognized by an international bobsledding agency in Italy, the men are not recognized by Brazil.

As Maleson and Zammikiel lounged in the airport, Raschini was in an electronics class at ITT Technical Institute in Framingham. Maleson said if the plan worked, his bobsled brakeman would hustle to the airport in time to board the plane.

As of mid-afternoon, the men were coming up empty.