Originally called tobogganing, skeleton was invented in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in the late 19th century. It was an event in the Winter Olympic Games in 1928 and 1948 and again in 2002 at the Salt Lake City games.

The allure of competing in the Olympics was the motivation Pain needed to begin his career in skeleton.

Pain, who stands 6-foot-3, originally tried high jumping in an effort to compete in the decathlon. Unfortunately for Pain, high jumping was not his forte. Next, he tried bobsledding, but he was neither a fast enough nor explosive runner to be a championship level bobsledder. His lanky frame is not ideal for the skeleton either, but he makes it work.

Regarded as the most successful male athlete in the history of the Canadian skeleton program, Pain has compiled a lengthy list of accomplishments throughout his 11-year amateur career. Among his most notable achievements, Pain is a three-time World Championship medalist who became just the second Canadian to win gold at the event during his second trip to the podium in 2003.

Pain graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1994 with a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture degree. He worked in Vancouver for the summer of 1994 as a partner in a landscape design and build company before moving to Calgary.

In the summer of 1995 Pain began working for a major landscaping company in Calgary for Peter Holmes, and in 2002, Pain started his own company, Designscapes.

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