The Olympian who went on loads of TV game shows to fund his dream

But aside from these interesting facts, Toby's an athlete currently in South Korea as part of the four-man British bobsleigh team at the Winter Olympics. He and his team-mates are pretty good. In fact, in November they won silver at the World Cup in Whistler. 

Yet when you see him whizzing round the course you may wonder why is it he seems so familiar? Maybe it's because he has been a contestant on three, yes THREE, TV game shows.

Toby needed to raise funds to achieve his dream of becoming a winter Olympian and because training takes up a lot of his time, holding down a regular 9-5 was pretty difficult. So, he took the logical next step and applied to be on game shows. Not only did they provide opportunities to win cash but they also allowed the 6'4" athlete a chance to show off his athleticism. 

It worked. Not on his first outing - on ITV's The Cube he left empty handed. But he put it behind him and headed to Channel 4's Deal or No Deal and fared much better. 

Here he is making his entrance...

After a tough start, things started looking up and he showed off the dance moves he mentions in his Twitter bio (see above). 

And he walked away with £12,000 for the South Korea fund...

Finally he appeared on BBC's Can't Touch This - a game show where contestants make their way around an assault course.

This was by far the most physical of the TV competitions and involved Toby being fired 40 feet into the air out of a cannon. If anyone's got the skills for that kind of challenge it's got to be a bobsleigher. He landed safely, and quite possibly became the first athlete whose journey to the Olympics has been made partly by cannon. 

Toby's not the only athlete who's found unusual methods of financing their trips to the podium. His fellow Winter Olympians, the Norweigen men's curling team, have part-financed their trip by being sponsored to wear flamboyant trousers. At the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics they impressed all with their bright wardrobe and it soon became  a 'thing' . This time round they picked up a sponsorship deal. 

Back in 2005 American shot putter, Adam Nelson auctioned himself on ebay as a way to help finance his sport. 

But perhaps one example athletes might not want to follow is that of New Zealand taekwando athlete Logan Campbell. In the run up to the 2012 games it was reported that he was planning on financing his trip by opening a brothel. New Zealand's Olympic Committee were reportedly not impressed and apparently threatened him with legal action. He did make it to the games after opening a 'high-class escort agency' but exited after the first round.