Everything bobsled related

Cadence Kang
Mar 5
4 min read

With the Winter Olympics making headlines, I thought it was fitting for a sports-related article. Not just any sport, but bobsledding in particular.

Everyone knows and loves the movie Cool Runnings, and if you don’t get cultured! Personally, it is one of my family’s favorites, with fun characters and heartfelt story lines. Though I’ve always wondered about the history of bobsledding, and how factual the movie really is. This article will answer any questions you might have.

History of Bobsledding

The sport was founded in 1897, and in 1889, the first games were held in St. Moritz, which is known for its skiing. Groups of racers slid down the snowy slopes in their wooden sleds and steel blades. The name (as you can guess) was from how the athletes looked while sledding: they looked like they were bobbing. As time went on, the game quickly got popularized, and in 1923, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation was founded. Shortly after, in 1924, the game was introduced to the Olympics, where even more attention was brought to it. From there, the sport was modified, and soon enough, it resembled the current-day rules.

What is it?

If you've watched the sport on your TV, you might think you understand the game, but really, there are a lot of moving pieces that go into the match. The basic scoring system consists of four runs where each team completes four races down the track over the span of two days. The times are added, and whoever has the lowest or fastest time wins. If the times are equal, all of the athletes who are tied will receive the medal.

That's the basics, but every single person on the sled has a unique set of skills. When it is a four person competition, there is one pilot (the person in front) and three push athletes. When there are two people, there is one pilot and one push athlete. And during a monobob, which is where only one woman is in the sled, they have to do both the braking and steering. When it starts, all four athletes are sprinting on the ice for as much momentum as possible, then one by one, from front to back, the bobsledders will hop into the sled. At this point, the sleighs are moving around 90 mph. And from there, the scoring system is applied.

Cool Runnings

Then in 1993, Disney released the box office hit Cool Runnings. The beloved movies (especially by my family) brought even more attention to the sport. At that point bobsledding had been part of the Olympics for 60 years, so there were fans, but after the movie dropped, even more eyes wandered over to the sport, especially the Jamaican team. But how true was this picture-perfect story?

In fact the famous Calgary crash was true, but that's about it. The way the team banded was not true, and sadly, the team did not pick up their sled and march over to the finish line. Despite these inaccuracies, this movie still had such an amazing storyline and heartfelt characters that everyone loves! Plus it also shed lots of light on the sport itself.

Iconic Bobsledders

The names Steven Holcomb and Vonetta Flowers might ring a bell. Holcomb was the one, along with his team, to win gold in the Olympic games in 2010. This historic event broke the long 62 year drought in Bobsledding for the U.S. Before that he competed in the 2006 Olympics where he won a silver medal, and a couple years later in 2014 he won another one. Sadly, he had to end his career early due to an eye issue, and in 2019 he passed away.

Vonetta Flowers has also made trailblazing accomplishments in the bobsledding field. She was the first black athlete to win an Olympic winter gold medal. But the way she got that medal was very unexpected. She came from a background of sports, specifically running. Her dream was to be an olympian in track and field, but sadly these dreams didn't come true. Little did she know that this would be for the best, because this led to her bobsledding journey. In the days after the olympic trials her husband picked up a flyer for bobsledding recruitment, and they jokingly tried it out. From there she got on and soon enough with Jill Bakken she made history.

2026 Winter Olympics-

This winter olympics Germany dominated with 8 medals in total (3 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze). Behind them comes the USA with 3 medals (1 gold, 2 bronze) and in third place is Switzerland with 1 bronze. Germany dominated in 2-man sleds, wiping out all the medals. They also showed their strengths in the 4-man and 2 women, by winning gold and silver medals in both. Luckily for us, the US won both gold and bronze in the women's monobob. And Switzerland won bronze in the 4-man. I guess we’ll see how next year pans out for bobsledding!