2006 Turin Winter Olympics Blog

Women’s bobsled

Gold Sandra Kiriasis, Anja Schneiderheinze Germany
Silver Shauna Rohbock, Valerie Fleming United States
Bronze Gerda Weissensteiner, Jennifer Isacco Italy

Nordic Combined, Sprint

Gold Felix Gottwald Austria
Silver Magnus Moan Norway
Bronze Georg Hettich Germany

Biathlon, Men’s 4×7.5km Relay

Gold Germany
Silver Russia
Bronze France

NBC will broadcast the women’s hockey gold medal round starting at 1 p.m. today (CST). Canada will compete against Sweden. Will Sweden be able to pull of another upset?

Also being broadcast at that time— women’s bobsledding. Americans Vonetta Flowers and Jean Prahm won the gold in Salt Lake City. Will they have the same success today?

2 Man Bobsled

Gold Andre Lange, Kevin Kuske Germany
Silver Pierre Lueders, Lascelles Brown Canada
Bronze Martin Annen, Beat Hefti Switzerland

Speedskating— 1000m women

Gold Marianne Timmer Netherlands
Silver Cindy Klassen Canada
Bronze Anni Friesinger Germany

Cross-Country Men’s 4×10 km relay

Gold Italy
Silver Germany
Bronze Sweden

Todd Hays, who is expected to contend for medals in the 2 man and 4 man bobsled, has chosen Pavle Jovanovic as his brakeman for the two man. It’s kind of interesting to see choices like this still being announced during the Olympics. But they wanted to wait for their practice runs to make it official.

I was asked yesterday in the comment section whether the Jamaican bobsled team will be making an appearance in the Turin Olympics. This is a really difficult question to answer. Half the sites I consulted said that Jamaica will have two bobsled teams in the Turin Olympics— a 2 man team and a 4 man team. Other sites say they failed to qualify. The official Turin site did nothing to clear up my confusion. The Jamaican bobsledders are listed. But when you look up bobsleigh, Jamaica is not listed as one of the competing teams. After looking up the World Cup points, I think it is highly unlikely that they qualified, but don’t be surprised if I’m mistaken.

Whether Jamaica competes, or not, there are other unlikely countries to field Winter Olympians. Other warm countries with representatives in the Turin Olympics include Algeria, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Greece, Honduras, India, Iran, Kenya, Lebanon, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States Virgin Islands.

Brazilian bobsledder Eric Maleson won’t be piloting a bobsled in next month’s Olympics. But he will be headed to Turin. Maleson is the president of the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation, managing the nation’s Olympic hopefuls in bobsledding, luge, skeleton sled, curling, skating and ice hockey.

The only Brazilian competitors in the Turin Olympics will be the members of the four man bobsled team. They are hoping to improve on the team’s 27th finish at the Salt Lake City Olympics. While 27th may not sound like anything to write home about, it was quite impressive for a first Olympic appearance.

Bobsled is pretty familiar to most of us. If you didn’t know about it before the Jamaican bobsled team, the movie Cool Runnings probably gave you at least a bit of an introduction. The sport involves steering a bullet-like bobsled down a curved mountain track.

The driver steers the sled with ropes connected to polished steel runners. Most drivers wear gloves; some steer bare-handed to have a better feel for the ropes. The crew members can help with the steering by shifting their weight. Since they can’t see during a run, they must learn the timing of each course.

The two- or four-man crews push-start the sled before jumping in. The crewman in front (called the driver) steers the sled, and the man in the back is the brakeman. On the four-man team, the other two are called side-push men. Because gravity and the push start are the only things that power the sled, a good push start is critical.

In the Olympics, you can look for the men on teams of four and two. Women’s bobsledding was added in the 2002 Olympics, and will be back in Turin with the two man (or woman, I guess, in this case) bobsled.

Bobsleds reach speeds of up to 90 miles per hour. Runs take less than a minute. When braking, the crew feels five times the force of gravity.

There are maximum weight regulations for the sleds, including the crew. If a sled weighs in under the weight requirement, they can add weights. It is illegal for the sleds to be heated, and they actually take the sled’s temperature before each run. There is also no lubrication allowed.

If you want a firsthand look at what bobsledding is all about, take a look at this game. I’ve decided I definitely shouldn’t plan on a career in bobsledding after flying off the track several times. Even if you’re great at the game, you should let your sled fly off the track at least once, just to hear the sledders yell “Oh No!”