T. Vok, Sports Inventor

We slept in the belly of the volcano, and it was our most triumphant moment. Press coverage was through the roof, and our new sport looked ready to take off; television companies were sniffing around it, Atari had set up a meeting to discuss licensing a game for their 2600 console and the well-respected actor Tim Curry appeared on television wearing one of our promotional polo shirts.

So what went wrong for Extreme Sleeping?

Well, the demise of my business partner was the first wobble. The eruption took us by surprise, so deeply were we sleeping. It seems the week of snoozing stage-side at a rock music festival in Denmark had somewhat deadened us to noise and vibration. Without earplugs even, we slept until the volcano was fit to burst. Harold was the first to wake, and he slapped my face until I joined the land of the living. The terror across his face was matched by the fierce throbbing of my cheeks – the man did not slap by halves.

“We’ve got to get out”, he said. That much was obvious, and yet – this could have been the turning point. Would our sport still be respected if we left now? We were possibly safe in our chamber; there was a good chance that the lava would leave us untouched, and we had enough oxygen to ignore the fumes until morning. My mind was set – I would sleep through this, even if it killed me.

Harold lacked my conviction, and he headed to the surface. I envied him a little, although I also felt proud – this would leave me the undisputed champion. I would hold the belt, alone.

In the end, it was Harold who made the wrong decision. The eruption swallowed him whole, lava covering him in seconds. My chamber remained safe. I dreamed of rabbits and sunshine. But it wasn’t Harold’s death that signalled the end for Extreme Sleeping, at least not directly. The sponsors were prepared to use his death for publicity; to hold him up as a martyr to the sport.

My decision to use his petrified body as the world championship trophy was the final straw. The papers called it “distasteful”. I thought it was a fitting tribute to the co-founder of a promising new event. But the world was not ready. Not yet.