Todd Hays

Todd Hays (born May 21, 1969) and raised in Del Rio, Texas is an American bobsledder who competed from 1994 to 2006. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he won the silver medal in the four-man event at Salt Lake City in 2002.

Hays also won two medals in the four-man event at the FIBT World Championships with a silver in 2003 and a bronze in 2004. He finished third four times in the Bobsleigh World Cup, earning them twice in combined men's (2003-4, 2005-6) and once each in the two-man (2005-6) and four-man events (2003-4).

Prior to his bobsleigh career, Hays also was involved in American football and kickboxing. This included playing linebacker for the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma for which he was part of the team that defeated San Diego State University in the Freedom Bowl in 1991. He also is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Hays played two seasons with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League before switching to kickboxing where he became national champion in 1993.

Todd Hays competed in the 1995 Vale Tudo Freestyle Fighting Championship in Japan. Winning his first bout against Koichiro Kimura via submission, Hays was set to face Rickson Gracie in his second fight of the tournament. However, he had sustained an injury to his shoulder which caused him to decide to leave the tournament. Todd is featured in the film Choke: Rickson Gracie, a documentary of the Brazilian fighter's preparation for the 1995 Vale Tudo tournament. In it, he explains how he had chosen to enter the tournament in Japan and fight under this rule set to make money, as he wanted to be able to finance his true dream; to compete in the Olympics as a bobsledder.

Hays retired from bobsleigh after the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and returned to coaching football in the United States. In 2008, Hays attempted a comeback in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. On 9 December 2009, Hays sustained an injury during practice at the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Winterberg, Germany. Medical personnel for the US Bobsleigh Team evaluated Hays' condition in Lake Placid, New York and stated Hays suffered from an intraparenchymal hematoma which was originally suspected to be a concussion. The doctors in turn forced Hays into retirement to avoid any further brain damage.