
	Regions	Landmarks	Lodging	Search
Regions in Italy Region Piemonte > Torino 2006 Olympic Games > Bobsleigh

Information on Beijing, seat of 2008 Olympic Games Beijing 2008

Bobsleigh

XX Winter Olympic Games Torino 2006

Bobsleigh is a winter sport in which teams make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked purpose-built iced tracks in a gravity-powered, steerable sled. In the United States the sport is known as bobsled.

EVENTS: Bobsleigh at the 2006 Winter Olympics will be held in the town of Cesana Pariol (a suburb of Cesana Torinese), Italy from February 13 to February 24.

CALENDAR:

EVENT	DATE	TIME	PLACE
Two Man Bob	Saturday February 18	17:30	Cesana Pariol
Two Man Bob	Sunday February 19	17:30	Cesana Pariol
Two Woman Bob	Monday February 20	17:30	Cesana Pariol
Two Woman Bob	Tuesday February 21	17:30	Cesana Pariol
Four Man Bob	Friday February 24	17:30	Cesana Pariol
Four Man Bob	Saturday February 25	17:30	Cesana Pariol

HISTORY

The sport was invented in the 1880s in St. Moritz, with the opening competition in 1884. The first races were run on snow-covered roads. The first club was formed in 1897 and the first purpose-built track was opened in 1902.

Initially the sled teams were of five or six, this was reduced to two- or four-person sleighs in the 1930s. Ancient sleighs were wood; modern sleighs combine light metals, steel runners, and an aerodynamic composite body. Competition sleighs must be a maximum of 3.80 m long (4-crew) or 2.70 m long (2-crew), both have a maximum width of 0.67 m.

The Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) was founded in 1923 and the sport has been part of the Winter Olympic Games since 1924. Initially just a four-crew event for men, the two-crew sled was added in 1932 and women's bobsled made its Olympic debut at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

The Swiss have been the most successful bobsleighing nation over European, World, World Cup, and Olympic championships. The story of the Jamaican bobsleigh team in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games inspired the film Cool Runnings.

Rules of Bobsleigh:

A modern track should be at least 1500 metres long and have at least fifteen curves, speeds up to 130 km/h are common and some curves can subject the crews to over five gravities.

There are twelve top-level competition tracks in the world:

Igls, Austria. 1,220 m

Calgary, Canada. 1,475 m

Cesana, Italy. 1,435 m

La Plagne, France. 1,507.5 m

Altenberg, Germany. 1,413 m

Konigssee, Germany. 1,250 m

Winterberg, Germany. 1,325 m

Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. 1,350 m

Nagano, Japan. 1,762.3 m

Lillehammer, Norway. 1,365 m

St. Moritz, Switzerland. 1,722 m

Lake Placid, United States. 1,455 m

Salt Lake City, United States. 1,340 m

A crew is made up of a pilot, a brakeman, and in 4-crew two pushers are added. Runs (lauf) begin from a standing start, with the crew pushing the sled for up to fifty metres before moving on board. Races are won and lost in the initial push.

As of 2005, bobsleigh is split into men's and women's events, women compete in two-crew and the men in both two- and four-crew competition. The men's standing is calculated over the aggregate of four runs, the women's over two runs.

The maximum weight, including crew, is 630 kg (4-crew) or 390 kg (2-crew) - metal weights may be added to reach these limits, as the greater the weight the faster the run, until the 1952 weight-limit rule bobsleigh crews tended to be very heavy.

[the text above is derived from Wikipedia and is subject to the GNU licence]