Olympic sport since 1924
ABOUT
Although the sled has been around for centuries as a mode of transportation, the sport of bobsleigh didn't begin until the late 19th century when the Swiss attached a steering mechanism to a toboggan.
In 1897, the world's first bobsleigh club was founded in St. Moritz, Switzerland, spurring the growth of the sport in winter resorts throughout Europe. By 1914, bobsled races were taking place on a wide variety of natural ice courses.
The first racing sleds were made of wood but were soon replaced by steel sleds that came to be known as bobsleighs, so named because of the way crews bobbed back and forth to increase their speed at the start.
In 1923, the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) was founded and the following year a four-man race took place at the first ever Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, France. A two-man event was added at the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, U.S.A., a format that has remained to the present.
By the 1950s, the sport as we know it today had begun to take shape. As the critical importance of the start was recognized, strong, fast athletes in other sports were drawn to bobsledding. Track and field competitors, rugy players, gymnasts and others who had strength and could deliver a vigorous push at the start were much sought after.
In 1952, a critical rule change limiting the total weight of crew and sled ended the era of the super heavyweight bobsledder and sealed the future of the sport as an athletic contest of the highest caliber.
More athletic crews went hand-in-hand with advances in sleds and tracks. Today, the world's top teams train year-round and compete mostly on artificial ice tracks in sleek high-tech sleds made of fiberglass and steel. Two-man women’s bobsleigh became part of competition program at Salt Lake City in 2002.
Although the sled has been around for centuries as a mode of transportation, the sport of bobsleigh didn't begin until the late 19th century when the Swiss attached a steering mechanism to a toboggan.
In 1897, the world's first bobsleigh club was founded in St. Moritz, Switzerland, spurring the growth of the sport in winter resorts throughout Europe. By 1914, bobsled races were taking place on a wide variety of natural ice courses.
The first racing sleds were made of wood but were soon replaced by steel sleds that came to be known as bobsleighs, so named because of the way crews bobbed back and forth to increase their speed at the start.
In 1923, the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) was founded and the following year a four-man race took place at the first ever Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, France. A two-man event was added at the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, U.S.A., a format that has remained to the present.
By the 1950s, the sport as we know it today had begun to take shape. As the critical importance of the start was recognized, strong, fast athletes in other sports were drawn to bobsledding. Track and field competitors, rugy players, gymnasts and others who had strength and could deliver a vigorous push at the start were much sought after.
In 1952, a critical rule change limiting the total weight of crew and sled ended the era of the super heavyweight bobsledder and sealed the future of the sport as an athletic contest of the highest caliber.
More athletic crews went hand-in-hand with advances in sleds and tracks. Today, the world's top teams train year-round and compete mostly on artificial ice tracks in sleek high-tech sleds made of fiberglass and steel. Two-man women’s bobsleigh became part of competition program at Salt Lake City in 2002.
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