50 Fun Facts About Bobsleigh

The first bobsleds were built in the 1880s by wealthy tourists from which country?

Wealthy British tourists at Caspar Badrutt's Palace Hotel adapted boys' delivery sleds and toboggans to race down the town's streets.

Where does the name bobsleigh come from?

The bobbing did not really help, but the name stuck to the sport and the sled.

Which hotelier got English guests to winter in St. Moritz, effectively inventing the winter resort?

He was frustrated that his hotel was only busy in summer, and by the 1870s wintering in St. Moritz was fashionable in Victorian Britain.

Why were the early sledders in St. Moritz eventually banned from the public roads?

Badrutt's solution in the late 1870s was to build a natural-ice run outside town near the hamlet of Cresta.

The basic early bobsleigh was made by joining two of what together with a board?

The joined sleds got a steering mechanism at the front, which allowed longer, faster runs through the town.

The first purpose-built track solely for bobsleds opened outside St. Moritz in which year?

The Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz-Celerina officially opened on New Year's Day 1904 and remains the world's only naturally refrigerated track.

The St. Moritz-Celerina track, the world's oldest, is unique among bobsleigh tracks in what way?

It hosted the bobsleigh events at both the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics and is rebuilt from snow and ice every November.

The men's four-man bobsleigh has been contested at every Winter Olympics since the first Games, held where?

Only 39 bobsledders from five nations competed, and the rules allowed a fifth crew member.

Bobsleigh was left out of the Winter Olympics only once, in 1960. Why?

Squaw Valley in California decided a track was too expensive, which cost Eugenio Monti a shot at gold in his prime.

At the 1928 Winter Olympics the four-man bobsleigh was actually contested with how many crew?

Crews were reduced to two or four in the 1930s; before then sleds sometimes carried five or six.

The two-man bobsleigh event was added to the Olympic programme at which Games?

The IBSF, the sport's federation, had been founded nine years earlier in 1923.

Two-woman bobsleigh made its Olympic debut at which Games?

Women's bobsleigh had begun with two demonstration races at Lake Placid in 1983.

Which single-person event was added for women at the 2022 Winter Olympics?

It was added so that men and women would have the same number of bobsleigh events; the sleds all come from a single manufacturer.

Which two nations have been the most successful in bobsleigh across all major competitions?

Since the 1990s the Germans have won more medals than any other nation.

The reported world record speed for a bobsleigh, set at Whistler in 2019, is roughly what?

Ordinary competition speeds exceed 120 km/h, and some curves subject crews to as much as 5 g.

In bobsleigh track design, what is a labyrinth?

Every modern track must have at least one straight and one labyrinth, and ideally at least fifteen curves.

What is the maximum weight, including crew, of a four-man bobsleigh?

Teams add metal weights to reach the limit; before the 1952 rule, crews were simply chosen to be as heavy as possible.

The four-person bobsleigh crew consists of a pilot, a brakeman and how many pushers?

Pushers are picked for sprint speed and strength; the pilot needs the timing and finesse to find the fastest line.

How does a bobsleigh pilot steer the sled?

Only tiny adjustments are needed; at 130 km/h a big movement causes a crash.

For roughly how far does the crew push the sled at the start before boarding?

Grooves in the ice guide the sled through the start area, so the pilot does not need to steer until it leaves them.

How many heats make up a bobsleigh competition at the Olympics and World Championships?

Ordinary World Cup races are decided over two heats; times are recorded to the hundredth of a second.

The Cresta Run in St. Moritz is dedicated to which sliding sport?

Riders go head-first and prone; the run hosted the only two Olympic skeleton events before 2002, in 1928 and 1948.

The 1887 Grand National on the Cresta Run saw a Mr. Cornish pioneer what riding style?

He finished fourteenth after some erratic rides, but by 1890 every competitor was riding that way.

Which of the three sliding sports is the slowest?

The face-down, head-first position is less aerodynamic than the face-up luge ride, and skeleton sleds are steered with the head and shoulders.

The IBSF World Championships in bobsleigh have been held annually since which year?

Since 2002 they have not been held in Winter Olympic years; a two-man event followed in 1931.

At Innsbruck 1964, Italy's Eugenio Monti famously lent what to Britain's Nash and Dixon?

The Britons won gold and Monti took bronze; he became the first athlete awarded the Pierre de Coubertin World Trophy for sportsmanship.

Eugenio Monti finally won Olympic gold in both the two-man and four-man events in 1968 at what age?

He was the first non-German to do the double at one Games, and had switched from alpine skiing after wrecking both knees in 1951.

Eugenio Monti competed in which sport before a 1951 injury pushed him into bobsleigh?

The Flying Redhead had won Italian titles in slalom and giant slalom before tearing ligaments in both knees.

Four-time Olympic champion Kevin Kuske of Germany competed in what before bobsleigh?

He won a 4x100 m bronze at the 1998 World Junior Championships before spending 1999 to 2018 pushing for pilots such as André Lange.

Francesco Friedrich tied for 2018 Olympic two-man bobsleigh gold with a pair from which country?

Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz shared the podium's top step; Friedrich then won the four-man outright.

Who is Francesco Friedrich's long-time brakeman, with whom he won two-man gold in 2018 and 2022?

Friedrich is the most successful athlete in IBSF World Championship history, sweeping both events every year from 2017 to 2021.

Kaillie Humphries won Olympic bobsleigh gold for which two countries?

She won two-woman gold for Canada in 2010 and 2014, then monobob gold for the US in 2022 two months after becoming a citizen.

Before bobsleigh, Kaillie Humphries competed in which sport until she was 16?

She quit after breaking both legs in separate crashes and started as a brakewoman in 2002.

After the 2022 Games, what distinction did American Elana Meyers Taylor hold in bobsleigh?

Her five medals from 2010 to 2022 are three silvers and two bronzes.

Holcomb's four-man win at Vancouver 2010 was the first US Olympic gold in the event since when?

He piloted the four-man sled nicknamed Night Train while battling the degenerative eye disease keratoconus.

What was the nickname of Steven Holcomb's four-man sled?

His two-man sled was Night Hawk; together they took 12 golds across the Olympics, worlds and World Cup standings.

The Jamaican bobsleigh team made its Olympic debut at which Games?

They crashed on the third of four runs in the four-man event and had to borrow basic equipment from other teams.

At Lillehammer 1994 the Jamaican four-man bobsled team stunned critics by finishing where?

They beat the United States, Russia, Australia and France; in 2000 they won the World Push championships in Monaco.

In Cool Runnings, which actor plays the disgraced former bobsledder who coaches the Jamaican team?

It was the last of his films released in his lifetime, and the score was by Hans Zimmer.

The theme song of Cool Runnings was a cover of I Can See Clearly Now by which artist?

It reached number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the film grossed nearly 155 million dollars worldwide.

How does the real 1988 finish differ from the famous sled-carrying scene in Cool Runnings?

The film's slow-building standing ovation was invented for the screen.

In Cool Runnings, sprinter Derice Bannock recruits his friend Sanka Coffie, who is a champion in what?

Sanka is played by Doug E. Doug; the film was shot in Kingston, Discovery Bay and Calgary in early 1993.

At which St. Moritz hotel were the Victorian tourists staying when they built the first bobsleds?

The early sleds were adapted from boys' delivery sleds and toboggans, and evolved into today's bobsleighs, luges and skeletons.

In which decade were bobsleigh crews cut down to two or four people from as many as five or six?

Until a weight limit arrived in 1952, crews also tended to be very heavy to maximise speed.

How much g-force can some curves on a modern bobsleigh track subject the crew to?

Tracks are ideally 1,200 to 1,300 metres long with at least fifteen curves, and speeds can top 120 km/h.

In which year was the international federation now known as the IBSF founded?

Four-man bobsleigh appeared at the first Winter Olympics a year later, and the two-man event followed in 1932.

Women's bobsleigh competition began in 1983 with two demonstration races at which track?

One race was held in February and the second during the World Cup races that March; Olympic status took another 19 years.

Ideally, a modern bobsleigh track should have at least how many curves?

Rules also require at least one straight and one labyrinth, and the surface is concrete coated with ice.

What is the maximum weight of a two-woman bobsleigh, including its crew?

Two-man sleds may reach 390 kg and four-man sleds 630 kg, with metal ballast added to hit the limit.

Which company is the IBSF's sole-source builder of the articulated monobobs required since 2020–21?

The two-section sleds must weigh at least 162 kg empty and no more than 247 kg with the athlete, implying an 85 kg athlete limit.