Установление соответствия

Bobsleighing was originated in Switzerland. In the late 19th century, the Swiss first started doing it by attaching two skeleton sleighs together with a steering mechanism added to the front sleigh in order to control the direction. The first bobsleigh races took place in normal snow covered roads whereas the first bobsleighing club was founded in St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1897 and the first specially designed race track was developed outside of St. Moritz in 1902.

Bobsleighing is mostly played in Europe along with North America and Russia because of the proper climate for the icy track. The United States of America, Germany and Switzerland have long been the most successful bobsleighing nations based on their incredibly successful track record in all formats of competitive sports including World Cups and Olympic Championship. Presently, more than fifty countries take part in various international bobsleighing events all over the world.

Bobsleighing is considered the most expensive winter sport as the equipment used in it, including the safety equipment as well as bobsleigh parts, are quite costly. The most important equipment in bobsleighing is the sleigh. Besides this other protective guards are also used. The length of the sleigh must be
a maximum of 3.80 metres (12.5 feet) for four-man sports and 2.70 metres
(8.9 feet) in case of two-man sports. Bobsleigh crews are supposed to weigh heavy to ensure high speed.

In fact, two-man and four-man types of bobsleigh are very much similar. As weight plays a vital role for the speed of the sleigh, four-man sleighs are much faster than two-man types. However, even a simple mistake at the initial push-off or, say, during the steering, on decisions of the driver during the turns may largely affect the final race. The thing is, air passing through the sleigh slows the sleigh down. In order to avoid these drags, wind tunnels are usually added to the sleigh.

One may think bobsleighing is a risky sport but actually not only men are fond of it. Women do it too. In case of women bobsleighing, the sleighs for women were originally very much similar to those of men. But with time so many problems came out as women are shorter than men and many players injured their hips as well as back. These traumas prompted the organizers to change the interior sleigh designs for women bobsleighing. Now women can do it safely and successfully enough.

Bobsleighing competitions gather crowds of people who want to watch their favourite sportsmen compete with one another. However, even though bobsleighing is quite an interesting sport, the risks attached to it certainly cannot be avoided. Till now more than ninety three players have died in crashes or accidents during the game. In order to reduce the chances of accidents and to prevent the risks, officials have made certain rules and regulations about the uses of sleighs and the structure of the track.

There are a lot of risks connected with bobsleighing. Bobsleighers need to wear high tech plastic made helmets in order to prevent head injuries as well as goggles for eyes. Racers wear tight uniforms to increase aero-dynamicity and spiked shoes to gain traction on the ice. The brakeman wears a Kevlar vest in order to avoid third degree burns during the sleigh’s friction with ice. The next bobsleigh doesn’t start until the previous team has left the track because of security reasons.