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Although the sled has been around for centuries as a mode of transportation, the sport of bobsled racing didn't begin until the late 19th century when the Swiss attached a steering mechanism to a toboggan.
Bobsledding was actually started in Albany, New York around 1897 and was then introduced to Switzerland. The sport became popular among American and British tourists spurring the growth of the sport in winter resorts throughout Europe.
The first racing sleds were made of wood but were soon replaced by steel sleds that came to be known as bobsleds, so named because of the way crews "bobbed" back and forth to increase their speed on the straight ways. They soon realized it didn't work, but the name stuck.
The first organized competition in the new sport was held on the Cresta Run on January 5, 1898, with five-passenger sleds. (Two of the passengers had to be women.) For better steering, they were equipped with four runners, positioned on axles much like the four wheels of a car. With the new design, speeds on the mountainside became dangerously fast, so an artificial bobsled run with a gentler slope was built at St. Moritz in 1902.
About 20 years later, however, the modern sport of bobsledding began to form. Athletes from other sports were drawn to bobsledding. Sportsmen from track and field, handball, basketball, American football and gymnastics were recruited into the sport to deliver an explosive push at the start.
After a hiatus because of World War I, the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et Tobagganning (FIBT) was founded in 1923 to standardize rules so that the sport could be included in the first Winter Olympics at Chamonix, France, in 1924. Only four-man sleds raced there. A five-man competition replaced the four-man in 1928, but the four-man returned in 1932 and has been on the program ever since.
In the early years, there was no such thing as training. Competitors simply bought or rented a sled, started out as a rider and then took the wheel after a few runs. 1952 brought a critical rule change, limiting the total weight of crew and sled. This ended the era of the extreme heavyweight bobsledders. More athletic teams kept up with the changes in sleds and tracks. Now, the world's top teams train for the whole year and usually compete on artificial ice tracks in swift modern sleds, made of fiberglass and steel.
Until the advent of World Cup competition in the mid-1980s bobsled success was determined solely by performance at the Olympics, World and European Championships. Since its inception, however, the World Cup series has added an exciting new dimension to the sport where versatility on different tracks and season-long consistency are rewarded
North America's first artificial bobsled run was built in 1911 at Montebello, Quebec. The first in the United States was built at Mount Van Hoevenberg, near Lake Placid, New York, for the 1932 Winter Olympics, when the two-man bobsled competition was added to the program. World championships for both two-man and four-man bobsleds have been held since 1931. There are now two other tracks in North America---- Calgary, Canada and Park City Utah. There is another one under construction in Vancouver, British Columbia for the 2010 Olympic Games. Including the track being built in Vancouver, there are 14 tracks in the world.
The two-man bobsled was developed in the United States. It was originally made simply by connecting two small sleds with a pivot, which allows the front sled to turn, bringing the second sled with it--much like a tractor-trailer combination. Until the 1950s, American bobsledders were the best in the world, in part because of technological innovations. Bob and Bill Linney in the late 1930s built a two-man sled with a steel plank as the linkage. The plank's flexibility allowed much greater speed through turns. The Linney brothers also built the first sled with side-mounted handles, which allow team members to push a sled to a flying start and then leap aboard just as it reaches the starting line. Bill Linney, in 1946, developed the first all-steel sled with shock absorbers to increase speed.
The U.S. won at least one gold medal in bobsledding at each Olympics until 1952, when they won silver medals in both events. Since then, European, countries especially Switzerland and Germany have dominated international competition. The Swiss have won more medals in Olympic, World and European championships and World Cup competitions than any other nation. East Germany became a major player in the mid-1970's by placing a great emphasis on sled design and construction. And, since reunification, Germany has continued to be successful. Canada, Italy and Austria have also been strong in the past. Female bobsledders returned on the scene in Europe and North America in the 1990's and women bobsledding were added to the Olympic program in 2002.
Despite the fact that bobsledding is a sport that requires ice and that it originated in Albany, it has spread to the rest of the world. Its popularity has spread to nations like Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and, of course, Jamaica. With the inclusion of new teams, the dominance of the top teams is being challenged. At the 1995 World Championships, eight different nations placed in the top ten for the four-man bobsled.
With new artificial tracks built in Nagano, Japan Park City, Utah, and Vancouver, British Columbia, bobsled racing is sliding into what promises to be a bright future.
The first four members of the Jamaican bobsled team were:
The team was selected in September 1987 and first went down a bobsled run that October in Calgary Canada. After a stint in Innsbruck, Austria and Lake Placid, New York, the team made it debut at the Calgary, Olympics in February 1988. Samuel Clayton was replaced by Chris Stokes.
The team is best remembered for crashing on the third run of the four man event and became the subject of the popular Disney movie Cool Runnings.
The team returned to the Olympics in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France where they turned in an average performance. At the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway, the Jamaicans stunned many of their critics by finishing in 14th place, ahead of both United States teams, Russia, France and Italy.
In 2000 and 2001 the Jamaicans won the gold medal at the World Push Bobsled Championships.
The Jamaican Bobsled Team failed to qualify for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, however one former team member Lascelles Brown became a Canadian citizen and won a silver medal for Canada at those Games.
