WINTER OLYMPICS BOBSLEIGH/SKELETON

OLYMPIC SPORT SINCE 1924

BOBSLEIGH debuted at the 1924 Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix and has been contested at every Games since, with the exception of the 1960 Squaw Valley Games, where the event was not held because there was no track. Because of the distance to travel to California, only nine countries indicated that they would enter bobsleigh teams. The Squaw Valley organizers thus decided not to build a bob run and the sport was not held that year. In 1924 and 1928, only the four-man event was held. In fact, at the 1928 Games, the four-man event was contested as a five-man event. The two-man event was added at the 1932 Lake Placid Games. Women will compete for the first time at the Salt Lake Games.

Only men have competed in the sport of bobsleigh at the Olympic Games until 1998. In October 1999, women's bobsleigh was added to the Olympic Winter program and women will compete at Salt Lake City in 2002 in the two-woman event.

COMPETITION
Bobsleigh consists of three events in the Olympic program. Men and women compete in two-man/two-woman, and skeleton events. Men also compete in four-man.

There are slight differences between the men's and women's competitions.

The men's Olympic bobsleigh competition lasts over two days, with two runs staged on each day. The competition consists of four runs timed to 0.01 seconds. The final standings are determined by the total time over the four runs; the winner is the sled with the lowest aggregate time. If two teams complete the competition in a tie, they are awarded the same place.

The women's Olympic bobsleigh competition consists of two runs staged on the same day. Both runs are timed to 0.01 seconds and the final standings are determined by the total time over the two runs; the winner is the sled with the lowest aggregate time. If two teams complete the competition in a tie, they are awarded the same place.

VERIFIED FEB 25, 2002

SKELETON returns to the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City after a 54-year absence. The 2002 Games will mark skeleton's third Olympic appearance. Skeleton was contested in 1928 and 1948 Winter Games, both of which were held in St. Moritz, where skeleton was founded in the late 1800s. While only men's skeleton was contested in 1928 and 1948, men's and women's events will be on the program for Salt Lake.

Considered the world's first sliding sport, skeleton originated in the Swiss town of St. Moritz in the late 1800s. The first competition was held in 1884. Riders raced down the road from St. Moritz to Celerina, where the winner received a bottle of champagne. It wasn't until 1887 that riders began competing in the prone position used today. The sport took its name in 1892, when a new sled made mostly of metal was introduced. People thought it looked like a skeleton.

The sport's governing body, the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et Tobagganing (FIBT), was founded in 1923.This competition has been part of the official program since the 1st Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix Mont Blanc in 1924.

Of the six medals awarded in the skeleton, the United States has won three of them. Brothers Jennison and John Heaton of the U.S. won the gold and silver medals, respectively, at the 1928 Games. Twenty years later, John Heaton repeated as silver medalist -- he was 19 when he won his first medal, 39 when he won his second. The 1948 Olympic champion was Nino Bibbia of Italy.

COMPETITION
Olympic skeleton events consists of two runs timed electronically to 0.01 seconds. The two runs are contested on the same day and the final standings determined by the aggregate time of the two runs. If athletes complete the competition in a tie, they receive the same award.

VERIFIED FEB 18, 2002

k i a t . n e t