Winter Olympics: History Of Luge Racing

In the Winter Olympics: history of luge racing has been both tragic and uplifting. Considered a dangerous sport by some, luge racing has seen the death of two athletes on Olympic tracks shortly before the Olympic Games. In the sport of luge, competitors lie on their backs on a small sled and race down an ice track feet first. They reach speeds of up to 95 miles per hour. They have no brakes and they use their body to steer. They have no protection.

 

Luge racing was first developed in Switzerland in the 16th century, but it wasn't until the 19th century that the first competition was held. The first course was built in Davos, Switzerland in 1879, and the first international competition was held four years later, in 1883. In the first competition, luge athletes raced along an icy road, spanning four kilometers between Davos and Klosters. 

 

The first world championships were held 72 years later in 1955. Just nine years later, luge racing became an Olympic sport at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics. It was during preparations for these Olympic Games that the first luge athlete died on an Olympic track. British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski was killed when he lost control of his sled while practicing on the course just two weeks before the Olympic Games were to start. 

There were three events when luge debuted in 1964: men's singles, women's singles, and doubles. The first man to win a gold medal was Thomas Kohler of Germany, and the first woman to win a gold medal was Ortrun Enderlein of Germany. Josef Feistmantl and Manfred Stengl of Austria were the first doubles team to win a gold medal.

 

By 1980, luge had it's first back-to-back gold medal winners in Hans Rinn and Norbert Hahn of East Germany. The team's double gold medal record would not last for long, however. By 1998, German George Hackl became the first to win three consecutive gold medals. By the time he was finished, Hackl had amassed five Olympic luge medals in total, having also won silver in 1988 and 2002.

 

The same year Hackl won his third gold medal, North American luge athletes also brought home the first Olympic medals. Two teams from the United States won medals in the doubles event when Chris Thorpe and Godry Sheer won silver and Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin won bronze. Germans have historically been dominant in the luge events, and East Germany won 15 of 21 available gold medals between 1965-1988.

The second luge tragedy occurred in 2010 at the Vancouver Olympic Games, when 21-year-old Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed when he was thrown from the luge track on the same day as Vancouver's opening ceremonies. A moment of silence was held to honor him during the opening ceremonies.

 

Resource:

 

http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Sports/All-Sports/Luge/