Some deem skeleton the world's first sliding sport, although luge enthusiasts will beg to differ. But before you cast it off as the latest fashionable fad in winter sports, consider that the sport dates back to the 1880s, joining luge as an offshoot of the toboggan. Or, in other words, an Xtreme Flexible Flyer event.Ĭertainly the prospects of bolting down the icy track - head first, face down and hands back - is alluring to a younger generation. One pundit likened the sport of skeleton to sliding down the icy neighborhood hill on a wooden sled as a youngster - except there are no cars whizzing by at the bottom of the slope that you have to dodge. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation - while luge goes solo with its U.S. In fact, skeleton aligns itself with bobsled nationally - hence, the U.S. Skeleton won inclusion in the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics as a "new" sport after cameo competitions in 19 Games, with bona fide major international competition not starting until the mid-1980s.Īlthough luge and skeleton seem identical except for varying positions of the competitors, the two sports are supervised by separate national governing bodies and international federations. Luge has been an Olympic event for more than three decades and World Cup standard for even longer than that. A pick of one's poison, those who are faint of heart may say.And there you have it - the obvious difference between the Olympic winter sports of luge and skeleton, considered by many as the two most dangerous of the Games.īut the differences don't stop there. Oh, there is one choice - to go either feet first or face first. And all the time on a small, lightweight and rather flimsy sled made out of steel or fiberglass. The idea is to hurtle oneself down an icy, mile-long track and subject oneself to the extremities of physics - speeds of 80 mph, level 5 G forces, hairpin curves.
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