The bobsled and skeleton races on tap for February's Winter Olympics will feature both first-time excitement and a long history.
In a way, skeleton has been around as long as daredevils have blasted down slopes on small sleds, careening along on their stomachs, braving the ice in a thrilling head-first ride. But in terms of Olympic events, skeleton was included in only two previous Winter Games, those of 1928 and 1948, both in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Bobsled is both the oldest and newest Winter Olympics sport. Men's bobsled has been around since the first Winter Games, held in Chamonix, France, in 1924, but next year's Games will be the first for women's bobsled.
The Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games also will feature the first Olympic competition by women skeleton sliders.
Both organized skeleton and bobsledding date to around the 1880s. Skeleton racing began in St. Moritz, according to the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, based at Lake Placid, N.Y., which guides both sports in this country.
Back in the late 19th century, both genders would ride small sleds down the cold slopes of the St. Moritz resort to the town of Celerina. The prize was a bottle of champagne, says the federation.
The international organization governing bobsled and skeleton, the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT), based in Milan, Italy, relates one story in which an Englishman named "Mr. Childs" introduced a steel sled that was ridden head-first, not much more than a frame on runners.
Or maybe not. Here's the story as relayed by the U.S. Olympic Committee:
"The early details of the history of skeleton sliding and bobsledding is widely disputed. One such account credits the first metal skeleton sled to an American tourist, Stephen Whitney, in 1888."
The name supposedly is a description of this bare-bones sled. Another story is that skeleton is a mispronunciation of the Norwegian word "kjaelke," a sled used on ice.
Bobsledding's origins are lost in history. One story is that the bobsled was invented when two small skeleton sleds were tied together, making the second bob along behind.
In the late 1880s in Albany, N.Y., lumberjacks used to race their lumber sleds, says the U.S. Olympic Committee. This might be the start of bobsled racing. "At that time, the sport also became popularized in Swiss winter resorts," says the U.S. federation.
At first, bobsleds were steered by pulling on ropes, and the sleds had no brakes. They were stopped by use of a garden rake.
The world's first bobsled club was founded in St. Moritz in 1897, and the FIBT says that spurred the growth of the sport in winter resorts throughout Europe.
Since 1924, bobsled athletes have competed in every Winter Games except one. According to the U.S. Olympic Committee, the organizers of the 1960 Games in Squaw Valley, Calif., refused to build a track and the sport was removed from the Olympic schedule.
The FIBT was founded in 1923. But skeleton racing faded from popularity until the late 1970s, when the sport began to pick up adherents in Europe. Today, athletes from more than 30 countries race in the World Cup, Europa Cup, America's Cup, the Olympics and other organized events.
The 1924 Winter Games featured four-man bobsled, while two-man sledding began in the 1932 Lake Placid Games. During the 1928 Winter Games, for the only time, a five-man sled was used.
In both the 1928 and 1948 Games, Americans won medals in skeleton, at the time called "men's open frame toboggan." They were brothers Jennison Heaton (gold, 1928) and John Heaton (silver in both in 1928 and 1948.)
No American has won a medal in bobsled since the 1956 Cortina (Italy) Winter Games, when Art Tyler and his team took a bronze in four-man bobsled, says the committee.
Men compete seated in four- and two-man sleds. Women's sleds carry two athletes. Bobsled and skeleton runs are the same length for both genders. The track at the Utah Olympic Park, Bear Hollow, is 4,397 feet long.
With a vertical drop of 401 feet to the lowest spot on the track, athletes can whip along at nearly 80 miles per hour. For skeleton sliders with their helmets only inches from the ice, or bobsledders crouching in the sled as it flies up on the curves, the run is an extreme experience.
It's nearly as thrilling for spectators watching the athletes flash by.
The inclusion of skeleton and women's bobsledding as Olympic events "has been a long time coming," said Matt Roy, executive director of the U.S. federation, in an Internet posting.
"Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard for this."
E-MAIL: bau@desnews.com