The athletes push the bobsleigh reaching speeds of about 40km/h before they jump onto it. Once the crew is loaded, the pilot steers the sled through twisting, high speed turns and straightaways where top speeds can reach over 130km/h. The success of a team hinges on the initial pushing phase, as well as the steering and the materials of the sled (the sled and blades). Maximum sled weight of the combined team and equipment is specified, and the temperature of the runners measured prior to the competition to deter warming.
If the bobsleigh overturns, but all members of the team have passed the finish line inside it, the descent is considered valid.
HISTORY OF THE BOBSLEIGH
In the last two decades of the 19th Century a new phenomenon appeared in the Alps – the bobsleigh – courtesy of British sportsmen who were searching for the extreme version of the toboggan. The first “bobs” were built in 1886 and were raced down icy, winding roads. Bobsleigh clubs were formed, the bobsleigh itself was developed and the need for purpose-built tracks and standardised rules became evident. The name bobsleigh was derived from the way early crews would rock back and forth to try and increase the speed of the sled.
For years it was universally accepted that bobsleigh had originated in Switzerland in the late 1800s. However a few years before the Nagano Games it was discovered that lumber sheds had been raced in Albany, N.Y. in the 1880s and thus perhaps a few years before the sport was started in Switzerland.
The sport’s governing body, the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobagganing (FIBT), was founded in 1923.
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