Basically it involves going face-first down an ice track on a sled with no steering device. Athletes have to control the sled using spikes on the tips of their shoes, dragging them in the ice as they speed down the course.

Bobsledding was invented by the Swiss in the late 1860s. In this strange and dangerous sport, teams run alongside a sled as they push it toward a hill, jump inside just before gravity takes over, and compete for the best run times down contoured tracks.

For the four-man there are four athletes: a driver who steers the bobsled down the track, two crewmen who help push the sled at the beginning of the race, and a brakeman who pulls the brakes and stops the sled at the end of the race.

Though the archetypal (male) bobsledder would be around 190cm tall, weigh 105kg, be able to run under 10.5 seconds for 100m, and squat 220kg, any athlete that can push a sled efficiently will be able to find success in the sport.

You need to be a fast runner, and you need to be strong. Even though the track is downhill, when milliseconds count you need every bit of speed you can get. Having strong and fast athletes to push the sled at the top of the track makes it easier.

Although they have the same air force and same speed, the heavier box (box B) will have the greater acceleration. This same air resistance force will have a smaller impact on its acceleration because it has a larger mass. So mass does indeed matter in this case. Actually, the air drag matters quite a bit.

Luge is a unique sport with unique skills, but they are best learned by those with a good base of general skills. In America, where there is not a wide participation base, kids who compete in sports (any sports) will generally have at least some of the athletic skills that will translate well to luge.

“Definitely not easy,” responded Tomasevicz, now in his tenth season sliding, and heading to his third Olympic Games. “I always say that bobsled is a simple idea with a lot of complicated details. Anybody can push a merry-go-round, or push their buddy on sled down a hill.

Elana Meyers is the No. 1 driver on the U.S. team. She started as a brakeman and says that athlete has two jobs — pulling the brakes at the end and pushing hard. A brakeman also needs the gracefulness of a ballet dancer to hop into the sled without pulling it back or slowing it down.

Bobsledders work in groups of up to four people, whereas luge racers either go solo or work in teams of two. Lugers face the elements head on, whereas bobsledders enjoy some protection with their equipment. A bobsled is shaped sort of like a canoe with an extended opening.

While the three sliding sports involve hurtling down the same ice-lined track as quickly as possible, lugers reach the fastest average speeds, sometimes topping 90 mph. In the most recent world championships, the luge winner averaged 81.3 mph, followed by the four-man bobsled (78.7 mph) and the skeleton (71.9 mph).

Modern bobsled races are competitions between two-person or four-person teams. Bobsleds have the same basic components whether they are built to hold two or four athletes.

The steering mechanism consists of two pieces of rope that are attached to a steering bolt and turn the front frame of the bobsled. A driver can pull on the rope with his or her right hand to steer the sled to the right, and with the left hand to steer to the left.

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 straightaways.

Jamaica has also participated in the Winter Olympic Games since 1988, with the Jamaica national bobsleigh team achieving some fame….

The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation cites “up to 150 kilometers per hour” as its speed number, which equates to around 93 miles per hour. But at the 2010 Winter Olympics, one bobsled team clocked in above 95 miles per hour.