Skeleton - a sport, which consists in the descentlying on his stomach on the dvukhpolozyevyh sleigh athlete on the ice chute. The prototype of a modern sports equipment is the Norwegian fishing ake. The winner is the one who goes the distance in the shortest possible time.
A bit of history
The first information about the competition lugedating back to the beginning of the nineteenth century, when in the Swiss Alps, British tourists attempted to go down to the sled down mountain snow-covered slopes. In 1883, at the Swiss ski resort, which every businessman knows today, the first international competitions were organized, reminiscent of the skeleton sport known today. Pictures from the newspapers of that era show that the sledges of the nineteenth century were very different from the modern ones. A few years later, an Englishman named Child strongly surprised his colleagues with a new design of sports equipment. He made it out of metal bands having a width of about twenty-two millimeters.
Именно тогда и появилось наименование «скелетон», what is translated from Greek as "skeleton", "skeleton". The name stuck well. The skeleton, which has no steering, is equipped with a weighted frame with a length of 70 and a width of 38 centimeters and mounted on steel skids. The athlete, who is lying face down, controls his descent with the help of special spikes made on the toes of his shoes.
First competition
Скелетон является очень интересным, но в то же time is not a very common sport. The history of its origin and development is short. In 1905, for the first time, sports competitions on descent from the mountains on sleds were organized outside Switzerland - in the Austrian mountains of Styria. The following year, the first national skeleton championship took place there. Seven years later, in early 1912, a joint club of two sports was created in Germany: hockey and skeleton, and a year later, open tournaments began to be held in the same country. In Russia, the winter sport - the skeleton - gradually began to spread in the region of Kaliningrad. However, the outbreak of the First World War for a long time slowed down its development in European countries. And only in 1921, near St. Moritz managed to hold an open championship on sledging.
Some features
Skeleton is a rather dangerous sport.During the descent the sled accelerates to high speeds. In comparison with the bobsled to the skeleton impose more stringent requirements. The main condition is that the weight of an athlete with a sled for men should not exceed 115, and for women - 92 kilograms. In some cases, the rules are allowed to weight the sled with ballast.
According to the rules established more than a century ago,tracks for competitions in such a sport as a skeleton should be adjusted to the required standards. The first quarter of a kilometer of the route should be of such a design that can provide the sledger with acceleration up to one hundred kilometers per hour. The last one hundred or one hundred and fifty meters distance should have a slope of up to twelve degrees. This is done so that, having finished, the athlete can safely stop. In addition, on all international toboggan runs where skeleton competitions take place, the height difference from the starting line to the finish point must be one hundred or more meters. For comparison, one can imagine that an athlete descends on small sleds, lying on his stomach in front of his head, at tremendous speed from a height of a 33-storey building.
Basic Provisions
In the International Olympic Rules regardingThe skeleton contains several key points. Firstly, for competitions in this kind of sport, it is necessary to use a bobsleigh toboggan track with a length of at least 1,200 meters, and a maximum of 1,650 meters. At the very beginning of arrival, the skeleton runner accelerates (acceleration length is 25-40 meters), and then with his stomach down and head first he quickly lies down on the sleigh and practically flies along the track. The athlete must lie in a given position, stretching his arms along the body.
Skeleton Debut at the Olympics
Everyone knows that the skeleton is an Olympic speciessport And he debuted at the Winter Games in the same St. Moritz already in 1928. The first gold medal was then won by the representative of the United States Jennison Heaton. Twenty years later, in the same city in 1948, the skeleton was again declared in the competition program. From 1969, races began to be held in several stages, scattered over a five-month period, because in this case the final result was minimally dependent on climatic conditions.
Skeleton today
The most important step in the history of this sportIt was his entry into the International Federation of bobsled and skeleton. In 1982, the first World Skeleton Championships was held in St. Moritz. It was attended by ten athletes from seven European countries. Skeleton is a sport that is developing now in many countries of the world, including Russia. They are engaged in four continents. At the end of the last century, the International School of Skeleton organized training not only for athletes, but also for trainers in various states. Even special programs have been developed.
Skeleton Federation
Together with competitions for the World CupThe International Federation annually holds 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 hosts, representatives of the United States took all the prizes.
Downhill sledding competitions incurrently organizes and oversees the International Luge Federation. Skeleton is a sport popular all over the world today. They are engaged even in such hot countries as South Africa, Australia and Mexico. In Russia, he received active distribution just a few years ago. However, already in 2001, domestic athletes were able to demonstrate brilliant results at major international tournaments.
Skeleton in our country
In 2002, Catherine Mironova - women's favoriteSkeleton team - ranked seventh at the Games in Salt Lake City. And next year, at the World Championships in this sport, she won a silver medal and set a new track record during acceleration. There were no medals in the skeleton of Russian athletes before. In 2008, Russian Alexander Tretyakov at the tournament of the World Cup stage, held in Igls, also managed to set a track record and win a silver medal. In 2009, he also took first place in the World Cup. At the Sochi Olympics this year, Tretyakov won the gold medal, becoming the first Olympic champion in the skeleton, who had a chance to win, being at the rank of the current world champion. Russian athletes do not really spoil their fans with victories, however, the current Olympians have already brought two Olympic awards to our country. Elena Nikitina won the second medal for the country - a bronze one - for women. I would like to hope that the skeleton is back for a long time and seriously. Now, when toboggan runs are being built in all Olympic capitals, there is a confidence that this sport will not disappear anymore!
