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    Unofficial Olympic Guidebooks: Bobsleigh
    Unofficial Olympic Guidebooks: Bobsleigh
    Unofficial Olympic Guidebooks: Bobsleigh
    Ebook48 pages34 minutes

    Unofficial Olympic Guidebooks: Bobsleigh

    By Kyle Richardson

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    About this ebook

    Nothing quite matches the excitement of the Winter Olympics! This book will be your guide to bobsleigh. Learn about the history of the sport and get a recap on all the drama from Vancouver before the Sochi Games begin. Find out how the format is changing in 2014 and who will likely be the athletes on the podium when the Games are done! Enjoy this book to better understand bobsleigh, how it works and what to look for at the Sochi 2014 Games.
    BONUS: Info on how to become an Olympian!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKyle Richardson
    Release dateDec 18, 2013
    ISBN9781311863287
    Unofficial Olympic Guidebooks: Bobsleigh
    Author

    Kyle Richardson

    Kyle Richardson is an Olympic fanatic. During the 1996 Games he gave himself a bladder infection because he did not want to leave the couch. Overshare? Maybe. Or maybe it is just a preview of all of the amazing Olympic facts that you will find in his guide books. Be brave, buy a book, and find out for yourself.

    Read more from Kyle Richardson

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      Book preview

      Unofficial Olympic Guidebooks - Kyle Richardson

      History

      Bobsleigh was invented by some mad Brits on holiday in the late 1800’s. The tourists had been lured to St. Moritz, Switzerland during the winter by the successful marketing of a hotelier looking to expand the selling season for the rooms, food, alcohol and activities he sold. A year or two later some of his more adventurous guests started adapting boys’ delivery sleds for recreation and began colliding with pedestrians while speeding down the village’s lanes, alleys and roads. Thus, early bobsledders terrorized the pedestrians of St. Moritz until the world’s first natural ice half-pipe track was created for the overall safety of everyone involved.

      Three sports came out of the fiddling of these crazy holidaymakers. Guests began to scheme and invent steering methods for the sleds, which became the luge, bobsleigh (bobsled), and head-first skeleton. Bobsleigh developed as athletes with dynamic strength from other sports were drawn to bobsledding.

      In the beginning, some strategized that fast runners to start the bobsleigh was the key to winning. Others thought that the start speed didn’t matter if the total mass of the participants could get the sled to a top speed. In 1952, the era of super-heavyweight bobsledders came to an end as a total crew and sled weight limit was created. This rebalanced the sport back to an athletic competition.

      Over the years, bobsleigh tracks evolved from straight runs to twisting and turning tracks. Natural tracks were soon replaced with artificial ones for greater ice control and speed. The original wooden sleds were replaced by streamlined fiberglass and metal ones.

      Men’s four man bobsleigh made the program at the first ever 1924 Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix, France. The men’s two man bobsleigh event was added at the 1932 Lake Placid Games. Bobsleigh was not included in the 1960 Olympic program, but has been in every Winter Olympics since. Women officially joined the sport in 1983, with two demonstration races in Lake Placid, New York. Women’s two woman bobsleigh made its Olympic debut at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

      Jamaican Bobsleigh?

      The 1988 Calgary Games saw an unusual entry in the 4-man bobsleigh as snowless Jamaica entered the race. The tropical island had never had an athlete represent them at the Winter Olympics before. The Jamaica team quickly became a fan favorite, largely because of their status position as the ultimate underdog story of the Games.

      Unsurprisingly, the team had very little practice on an actual bobsled track and lacked the proper equipment, having to borrow spare sleds from other countries to compete. In a show of sportsmanship, competing bobsledders gave the novice team guidance and support. The team showed great improvement during the Games as a result of this.

      The final run of the event saw the Jamaican team off to their fastest start yet, getting in sooner and gaining more momentum at the top. Unfortunately, the pilot was

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