Whistler British Columbia Canada

The tradition of Olympic bobsleigh competition continues with the upcoming exciting Winter Games of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Two man, four man, and women’s competition comes to Vancouver to show the whole wide world what the most efficient and fastest executed bobsleigh run will be. The scrape of the sharp steel bobsleigh runner, the sharp bark of a starting gun, and the encouraging cheering of Olympic spectators will underline the split second opportunity to get the Bobsleigh gold in the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Decades of competition have shorn bobsleigh of its lighthearted Alpine recreational appeal and narrowed its sporting purpose to a determined finish with seasoned competitors. The torso-leaning skeleton downhill and the feet-first luge event are fairly acrobatic compared to the more sedate bobsleigh tradition. But in Olympic Games, there are only a few seconds for each reaction to the course, elements, and conditions before the competition is over.

Bobsleigh events most closely mimic formal passenger rides on sleds. The mechanism to steer and brake, from a seated position versus the (front or back) prone luge or skeleton events, defines the bobsleigh challenge. At the Olympic factor completing the run at top speed without sacrificing seconds to conditions or steering or weight shift dynamics becomes paramount within the course run. Experience, training, and reaction to current conditions becomes the differentiating factor in Olympic bobsleigh runs.

The bobsleigh competition challenges similarly trained and experienced sledmen to complete the course using a career’s worth of physical training, observation, flexibility, and strategy to shave milliseconds. to a timed millisecond. The women’s bobsleigh competition balances different physique types against larger weight or smaller height variables in executing speed and ice course agility through to the finish.

Unlike Olympic skeleton and luge sliding, bobsleigh demands the most particular athletic tone and muscled coordination from a team working with a steered apparatus at speed with steel runners and aerodynamic fiberglass on the molded bobsleds. Wind resistance will contain speed, the gravity of the slope or curve will retard speed on the course, and conditions of ice and air temperature will affect the bobsleigh competition outcome strongly.

Skeleton events task skis against ice with human elements in between, and luge events focus on gravity driven motion against time. The elements of ice and snow on the human body, as well as the rapid speed at which the bobsleigh event takes place, as well as the relative experience and daring of the competitors, is what makes bobsleigh competition so entertaining to watch. The Whistler Sliding Center in Vancouver Canada will host the 2010 Olympic bobsleigh championship.

Bobsleigh sleds were devised when winter Alpine tourists adapted delivery sleds for downhill runs in the snow. Wood type sleds and constructions eventually became the super designed fiberglass and steel bobsleighs of today. A driver in the two man or four person bobsleigh heat determines the steering which affects speed and course timing completion efficiency. Four person teams must overbalance for steering and straightaway speed sledding efficiency.

Bobsleigh competition separates amateurs from champions almost from the starting blocks. The half or fourth of the bobsleigh team must be able to shift the sled into rapid action and sustain this speed and increase it, while accelerating themselves running in the snow and jumping into the sled. The bobsleigh competitor will have to have experience gaining traction and running quickly in all kinds of ice and snow.

This is just a warmup for the overall challenge of bobsleigh racing, to get the best speed performance for time out of the given course, equipment, and conditions. Variables of temperature, wind, ice condition, and course difficulty can test any bobsleigh competitor’s mettle. The added pressure of competing at the Olympic level in a milliseconds on a dangerous icy course at breakneck speed is the combination of exciting dynamics that make watching bobsleigh runs at Olympic competitions popular events.

The running start arrests the competitor in a seated position while completing the timed run through the course. The sled is braked after completing the timed set of distance markers. The athlete for bobsleigh competition must be strong enough to control the sled, but lithe enough to balance their weight, and yet communicate via words or actions the need to conform with other person or three people how to maneuver physically to win a medal.

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