What Makes Skeleton a Mysterious Olympics Sport

//What Makes Skeleton a Mysterious Olympics Sport

What Makes Skeleton a Mysterious Olympics Sport

 

There couldn’t be a better name for the most frightening and haunting Winter Olympics sport than “skeleton”.  In skeleton, racers maneuver headfirst on an icy hill using a metallic sled. Although it’s scary, not only men but women take part in this race, making it a unisex sport. It is hands-down as terrifying as its name sounds. But, watching a man slide up to 90 miles per hour along the walls of an ice track with the face only one inch off the ice can be fun.

 

As an Olympic athlete, I, Akwasi Frimpong remember maneuvering headfirst on the Olympic ice track. While we are familiar with what to expect from sports like skiing and ice skating, Skeleton remains a mysterious tale. Here’s a pocket guide that includes everything you need to know about Skeleton:

1.  Different from Bobsledding:

 

Although bobsledding and luge both are done on a sled, skeleton is far different from them. In Skeleton, players go down headfirst with their face just a few millimeters away from the ice, unlike bobsledding, where sliders don’t go headfirst and face-down. Skeleton sleds have no brakes, which means that sliders have to control everything with their own body while sliders in bobsledding and luge have brakes installed in their sleds to help them control.

2. The Origin of the Name “Skeleton”:

 

As the name suggests, the sled used by the racers to slide looks like a skeleton that gave birth to the name of this sport. The sport originated from St. Moritz, Switzerland, in late 1800 as a variant of a British sport “Cresta”. The very first skeleton racetrack, recognized as the “Cresta Run,” was created in St. Moritz in 1884. Then the Winter Olympics were hosted in the Swiss city for the first time, marking the inauguration of a Skeleton event where it got featured in the Olympics Sports. Skeleton returned to the Olympics in 1948 in St. Moritz. However, it wasn’t a regular Winter Olympics sport until 2002 in Utah, United States.

3.  Fastest Wins the Race:

 

Contrary to the famous saying “slow and steady wins the race”, the fastest racer wins the race in Skeleton. The first person to cross the borderline in the shortest period wins the Olympic Skeleton race. Correct time calculation is a crucial factor when it comes to the Skeleton race.  Racers try their level best to slide swiftly at the start while dodging any steering during the race. A complete skeleton slide usually lasts only a few seconds.

 

Being Ghana’s first Skeleton Olympian, I can proudly say that my journey of representing Africans in the Olympics is an inspiration for everyone interested in sports. I encourage you to shop my hope of a billion collection, a paradigm of success for all of you.

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By |2021-11-02T12:08:44+00:00November 2nd, 2021|Blog|0 Comments

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