Mixing
Bobsleigh
 A modern bobsleigh team, the 2010 United States top two-man team | |
| Highest governing body | International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing) |
|---|---|
| Nicknames | Bobsled, Bob, King's Class |
| First played | 1870s |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | None |
| Team members | Teams of 2 or 4 |
| Mixed gender | Yes, but usually in separate competitions |
| Type | Winter sport, time trial |
| Equipment | High-tech sleigh, helmet |
| Venue | Bobsleigh tracks |
| Presence | |
| Olympic | since 1924 |
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Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of two or four teammates make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. The timed runs are combined to calculate the final score.
The various types of sleds came several years before the first tracks were built in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where the original bobsleds were adapted upsized luge/skeleton sleds designed by the adventurously wealthy to carry passengers. All three types were adapted from boys' delivery sleds and toboggans.
Competition naturally followed, and to protect the working class and rich visitors in the streets and byways of St Moritz, bobsledding was eventually banned from the public highway. In the winter of 1903/1904 the Badrutt family, owners of the historic Kulm Hotel and the Palace Hotel, allowed Emil Thoma to organise the construction of the first familiarly configured 'half-pipe' track in the Kulm Hotel Park, ending in the village of Cresta. It has hosted the sport during two Olympics and is still in use today.
International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, also known as FIBT from the French Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing. National competitions are often governed by bodies such as the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation and Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton.
Contents
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Origins
2.2 Competitive discipline
3 Modern era
3.1 Tracks
3.2 Sleighs and crews
3.3 Racing
4 Olympic medal table
5 Fatal incidents
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Etymology
The name is derived from the action some early competitors adopted of bobbing back and forth inside their sleds to increase speed.[1]
History
Origins
The Swiss bobsleigh team from Davos, c. 1910
An East German bobsleigh in 1951, Oberhof track, East Germany
Although sledding on snow or ice had long been popular in many northern countries, the origins of bobsleighing as a modern sport are relatively recent. Its foundation began when hotelier Caspar Badrutt (1848–1904) convinced some English regulars to remain through the entire winter at his hotel in the mineral spa town of St. Moritz, Switzerland. Keeping them entertained with food, alcohol, and activities, he quickly established the concept of "winter resorting". Badrutt has done it because he was annoyed his regular English clientele were only staying at his hotel during the summer months. It only took a couple of years for wintering at Badrutt's St Moritz hotel to become very fashionable in Victorian Britain. But increased numbers led some guests to search for new diversions. In the early 1870s some adventurous English guests began adapting boys' delivery sleds for recreational purposes. However, they soon began colliding with pedestrians in the icy lanes, alleyways and roads of St Moritz.
Guests soon began to invent "steering means" for the sleds. This led to the development of the bobsleigh (bobsled): two cresta's (skeleton sleds) attached together with a board that had a steering mechanism at the front. However, the impetus to steer the sleds permitted longer runs through the town. Longer runs also meant higher speeds on curves. Local sentiments varied about these informal competitions but eventually complaints grew so vociferous that Badrutt was forced to take action. His solution was to build a basic natural ice run for his guests near the town. Badrutt had worked hard to popularize wintering in the mountain resort and was worried customers would stop coming due to boredom. He also did not want to make enemies in the town from locals injured by bobsleds. He opened the world's first natural ice half-pipe track in the late 1870s.
Competitive discipline
Formal competitions started down the natural ice Cresta Run in 1884, which was built in an annual partnership between guests and local people. The run, which is still in operation as of 2014[update], has served as a host track for skeleton at two Winter Olympics (1928 and 1948). As one of the few natural weather tracks in the world, it does not use artificial refrigeration. It is not known how much the original track evolved in the early years as the three sports matured and stabilized. The first club formed in 1897, and the first purpose-built track solely for bobsleds opened in 1902 outside St Moritz. Over the years, bobsleigh tracks evolved from straight runs to twisting and turning tracks. The original wooden sleds[2] gave way to streamlined fiberglass and metal ones.
The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (FIBT) was founded in 1923. Men's four-man bobsleigh appeared in the first ever Winter Olympic Games in 1924, and the men's two-man bobsleigh event was added in 1932. Though not included in the 1960 Winter Olympics, bobsleigh has featured in every Winter Olympics since. Women's bobsleigh competition began in the US in 1983 with two demonstration races in Lake Placid, New York, one held in February and the second held during the World Cup races in March 1983. Women's two-woman bobsleigh made its Olympic debut at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Bobsleigh is also contested at American, European, and World Cup championships.
Germany and Switzerland have proven the most successful bobsleighing nations measured by overall success in European, World, World Cup, and Olympic championships. Since the 1990s Germans have dominated in international competition, having won more medals than any other nation. Italy, Austria, United States and Canada also have strong bobsleigh traditions.
Bobsleighs can attain speeds of 150 km/h (93 mph), with the reported world record being 201 km/h (125 mph).[3]
Modern era
Tracks
Altenberg track, Germany
Modern tracks are made of concrete, coated with ice. They are required to have at least one straight section and one labyrinth (three turns in quick succession without a straight section). Ideally, a modern track should be 1,200 to 1,300 metres (3,900–4,300 ft) long and have at least fifteen curves. Speeds may exceed 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph), and some curves can subject the crews to as much as 5 g.
Some bobsleigh tracks are also used for luge and skeleton competition.
Some tracks offer tourists rides in bobsleighs, including those at Sigulda, Latvia; Innsbruck-Igls, Austria; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Whistler, British Columbia, Canada; Lillehammer, Norway; Cesana Pariol, Italy; Lake Placid, US; Salt Lake City, Utah, US and La Plagne, France.
Sleighs and crews
Team USA on a wall, Shauna Rohbock (pilot) and Valerie Fleming (brakes) during their 2006 silver run on Cesana Pariol, Italy
Modern day sleighs combine light metals, steel runners, and an aerodynamic composite body. Competition sleighs must be a maximum of 3.80 metres (12.5 ft) long (4-crew) or 2.70 metres (8.9 ft) long (2-crew). The runners on both are set at 0.67 metres (2.2 ft) gauge. Until the weight-limit rule was added in 1952, bobsleigh crews tended to be very heavy to ensure the greatest possible speed. Nowadays, the maximum weight, including crew, is 630 kilograms (1,390 lb) (4-man), 390 kilograms (860 lb) (2-man), or 340 kilograms (750 lb) (2-woman), which can be reached via the addition of metal weights. The bobsleighs themselves are designed to be as light as possible to allow dynamic positioning of mass through the turns of the bobsleigh course.[4]
Although bobsleigh crews once consisted of five or six people, they were reduced to two- and four-person sleighs in the 1930s. The crew has a pilot, a brakeman, and pushers. Athletes are selected based on their speed and strength, which are necessary to push the sleigh to a competitive speed at the start of the race. Pilots must have the skill, timing, and finesse to steer the sleigh along the path, or "line", that will produce the greatest speed.
In modern bobsleighs, the steering system consists of two metal rings that actuate a pulley system located in the forward cowling that turns the front runners. For example, to turn left, the pilot would pull the left ring. Only subtle steering adjustments are necessary to guide the sled; at speeds up to 80 miles per hour (130 km/h), anything larger would result in a crash. The pilot does most of the steering, and the brakeman stops the sled after crossing the finish line by pulling the sled's brake lever.
Women compete in women's bobsleigh (which is always two-woman) and men in both two and four-man competitions.[5] Women were confirmed as being able to compete in any four-"man" bobsleigh event, as from 25 September 2014, either as part of a mixed-sex team or an all-female team.
Racing
USA-1 in heat 3 of 4-man bobsleigh at 2010 Winter Olympics, 27 Fevruarb 2010
Individual runs down the course, or "heats", begin from a standing start, with the crew pushing the sled for up to 50 metres (160 ft) before boarding; though the pilot does not steer, grooves in the ice make steering unnecessary until the sled leaves the starting area. While poor form during the initial push can lose a team the heat, it is otherwise rarely, if ever, decisive. Over the rest of the course, a sleigh's speed depends on its weight, aerodynamics, runners, the condition of the ice, and the skill of the pilot.
Race times are recorded in hundredths of seconds, so even seemingly minor errors – especially those at the beginning, which affect the remainder of the heat – can have a measurable impact on the final race standings.
The men's and women's standings for normal races are calculated over the aggregate of two runs or heats. At the Olympic Winter Games and World Championships, all competitions (for both men and women) consist of four heats.
Olympic medal table
Vonetta Flowers (left) and Jill Bakken power up in the push zone for their 80-mile-per-hour (130 km/h) ride down the Winter Olympic bobsledding track. Bakken, the driver, and Flowers, the brakeman, won the first gold medal presented in Olympic women's bobsledding (2002).
Fatal incidents
| No | Competitor | Year | Track | Section | Race | Event | Vehicle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jules van Bylandt | 1907 |  Cresta Run | Practice run | skeleton | |||
| Oberüberl | 1911 | Practice run | 5-man sled | ||||
 Karl Gerloff | 1933 | Oberhof | Practice run | 4-man sled | |||
| Rudolf Gerloff | 1933 | Oberhof | Practice run | 4-man sled | |||
| Reto Capadrutt | 1939 |  Cortina d'Ampezzo | Practice run | World Championships 1939 | 4-man sled | ||
 Max Houben | 1949 |  Lake Placid | Shady corner | Practice run | World Championships 1949 | 2-man sled | |
| Felix Endrich | 1953 | Garmisch-Partenkirchen | Bayernkurve | Practice run | World Championships 1953 | 4-man sled | |
| Sergio Zardini | 1966 | Lake Placid | Zig-Zag Curves | Practice run | 4-man sled | ||
| Toni Pensperger | 1966 | Cortina d'Ampezzo | Practice run | World Championships 1966 | 4-man sled | ||
 Josef Schnellneger | 1970 | Königssee | Practice run | Austria-Cup | 2-man sled | ||
 Luis López | 1971 | Cervinia | Practice run | World Championships 1971 | 2-man sled | ||
| Giuseppe Soravia[6] | 1980 | Igls | Finish | Practice run | 4-man sled | ||
| James Morgan[6] | 1981 | Cortina d'Ampezzo | Finish | Practice run | World Championships 1981 | 4-man sled | |
 Imand Karlsons [6] | 1982 | Igls | Training session | Training | 2-man sled | ||
 Daniel Oaida[6] | 1989 | Altenberg | Curve 4 | Training session | Training | 4-man sled | |
| 41 | Peter Förster | 1990 | Altenberg | Finish | Training session | Training | 2-man sled |
| 42 | Yvonne Cernota[7][8] | 2004 | Königssee | Echowand | Training session | Training | 2-man sled |
See also
- Luge
- Cool Runnings
- List of Bobsleigh World Cup champions
References
^ "bobsledding (sport) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2014-02-21..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ "Rounding The Zigzag Turn Of A Bobsleigh Run", April 1932, Popular Science photo of wooden bobsleigh used in early 1930s
^ "Bobsleigh Activity | TeamsOnTour.com". www.teamsontour.com. Retrieved 2016-11-24.
^ Niller, Eric (4 February 2014). "U.S. Olympic Team Gets BMW Bobsleds". Discovery News. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
^ "FIBT the international home of Bobsleigh and Skeleton Sports". Retrieved 3 February 2010.
^ abcd Hamburger Abendblatt article, accessed December 2010
^ "Yvonne Cernota crashes during training run".
Stern.de (German)
^ "Cernota killed in training accident". CBC News. 2004-03-12. (German)
External links
Media related to Bobsleigh at Wikimedia Commons
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