Skeleton is a sport. Skeleton is an Olympic sport

Skeleton - a kind of sport, consisting in the descent of a sportsman lying on his stomach on a two-lane sledge over an ice chute. The prototype of a modern sports projectile is the Norwegian fishing ake. The winner is the one who passes the distance in the shortest possible time.

A bit of history

The first information about competitions саночников date from the beginning of the nineteenth century, when in the Swiss Alps British tourists attempted to descend on a sleigh down the mountainous snow-covered slopes. In 1883, at the Swiss ski resort, which every businessman knows today, the first international competitions were organized, reminiscent of today's known sport - skeleton. Pictures from the newspapers of that era show that the sleighs of the nineteenth century were very different from modern ones. A few years later, an Englishman named Child very surprised his colleagues with a new design of a sports projectile. He made it from strips of metal, having a width of about twenty-two millimeters.
It was then that the name "skeleton" appeared, which from the Greek translates as "skeleton", "skeleton". The name got well. Skeleton, which does not have steering, is equipped with a weighted frame length of 70 and a width of 38 centimeters and is mounted on steel skids. By its descent, the athlete, lying down face, manages with the help of special thorns, made on the toes of shoes.

The first competition

Skeleton is very interesting, but at the same time not very common kind of sport. The history of its emergence and development is short. In 1905, for the first time, sport competitions on the descent from the mountains on sleighs were organized outside Switzerland - in the Austrian mountains of Styria. The following year, the first national skeleton championship was held there. Seven years later, in early 1912, a united club of two kinds of sports was created in Germany: hockey and skeleton, and a year later open tournaments began in the same country. In Russia, the winter sport - skeleton - gradually began to spread in the Kaliningrad region. However, the First World War that began began for a long time to slow its development in European states. And only in 1921 near St. Moritz was able to hold an open championship on the descent of a sleigh.

Some features

Skeleton is a very dangerous sport. During the descent the sled is accelerated to high speeds. In comparison with the bobsleigh, the skeleton is subjected to more stringent requirements. The main condition is that the weight of an athlete with sleds in men should not exceed 115, and for women - 92 kilograms. In some cases, the rules allow you to weight the sled with ballast.

According to the rules established more than a century ago, tracks for competitions in a sport such as skeleton, should be adjusted to the required standards. The first quarter of a kilometer of the track must have a design that can provide the truck driver with the acceleration of up to 100 kilometers per hour. The last hundred or one hundred and fifty meters of the distance should be inclined up to twelve degrees. This is done so that, after finishing, the athlete could calmly stop. In addition, on all international toboggan runs where the skeleton competitions are held, the difference in altitude from the starting line to the finishing point should be one hundred and more meters. For comparison, you can imagine that the athlete descends on small sleighs, lying on his stomach in front of his head, at a tremendous speed from the height of the 33-storey building.

Basic Provisions

The International Olympic Rules for the skeleton contain several basic provisions. First, for competitions in this type of sport, it is absolutely necessary to use a bobsleigh toboggan run with a minimum length of 1200 meters, and a maximum of 1650 meters. At the very beginning of the race, the skeleton runer accelerates (the length of the acceleration is 25-40 meters), and then the belly down and head forward quickly falls on the sleigh and practically flies along the track. The athlete must necessarily lie in a given position, stretching his arms along the body.

Debut of skeleton at the Olympics

Everyone knows that skeleton is an Olympic sport. And he debuted at the Winter Games in the same St. Moritz as early as 1928. The first gold medal was then won by United States representative Jennison Heaton. Twenty years later in the same city in 1948 the skeleton was again declared in the program of competitions. Since 1969, the race began to be held in several stages, scattered over a five-month period, since in this case the final result was minimally dependent on climatic conditions.

Skeleton today

The most important step in the history of this sport was his entry into the International Federation of Bobsleigh and Skeleton. In 1982 he passed the first World Skate Championships in St. Moritz. Ten sportsmen from seven European countries took part in it. Skeleton is a sport that is developing now in many countries of the world, including in Russia. They are engaged on four continents. At the end of the last century, the International Skeleton School organized training not only for athletes, but also for coaches in various states. Even special programs were developed.

Skeleton Federation

Along with the World Cup competitions, the International Federation annually conducts the stages of the tournament called the Tyrolean Cup, where young and still inexperienced athletes can try their hand. Skeleton is a sport in which Americans are especially good. So, in 2002 at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City the pedestal was completely captured by the owners, the representatives of the United States took all the prizes.

Competitions on downhill on a sleigh are currently being organized and overseen by the International Sled Federation. Skeleton is a sport that is popular all over the world today. They are engaged in even in such hot countries as South Africa, Australia and Mexico. In Russia, it was actively spread only a few years ago. However, already in 2001, domestic athletes were able to demonstrate bright results at international large tournaments.

Skeleton in our country

In 2002, Ekaterina Mironova - a favorite of the women's skeleton team - took seventh place at the Games in Salt Lake City. And the following year, at the World Championship in this sport, she also won a silver medal and set a new track record for the dispersal. Before the Russian athletes did not have medals in the skeleton. In 2008, Russian Alexander Tretyakov at the World Cup tournament in Igls, managed to establish a track record and win a silver medal. In 2009, he took the first place at the World Cup. At the Sochi Olympics this year, Tretyakov won the gold medal, becoming the first Olympic champion in the skeleton, who managed to win, being in the rank of the current world champion. Russian athletes do not pamper their fans with victories, but the current Olympians have already brought our country two Olympic awards. The second medal for the country - bronze - in women won Elena Nikitina. I would like to hope that the skeleton returned for a long time and seriously. Now, when all the Olympic capitals are building toboggan tracks, there was a certainty that this sport will not disappear any more!