Skeleton is a fast-paced winter sport. Athletes who participate in skeleton slide face first down an icy track on a sled. Skeleton is one of the three sliding sports that are contested at the Winter Olympics, along with luge and bobsled. Skeleton participants are known as sliders. A slider lies on his stomach and steers using only the subtle shifting of his body weight on the sled.
History
Skeleton has existed for many years as a competitive sport. Men's skeleton was contested at the 1928 and 1948 Olympic Winter Games, which were both held in St. Moritz, Switzerland. After a long hiatus from the Olympics, men's and women's skeleton were re-instituted at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Equipment
The equipment used by sliders is unique to skeleton. According to the Whistler Sliding Center -- one of the world's premier sliding centers -- the most important piece of skeleton equipment is the sled. The skeleton sled is heavy and low-profile, consisting of a fiberglass pod mounted onto a steel frame that increases the sled's aerodynamics. The sled glides down the track on two narrow, polished steel runners. There are no brakes on a skeleton sled. Other equipment used by sliders includes helmets, goggles, skin-tight racing uniforms and racing shoes with track spikes.
Objective
The objective of skeleton is to race down an icy track (the same track used by bobsled and luge competitors) in the quickest possible time. Most skeleton tracks are approximately 5,000 feet long and vary in difficulty. A fast start is one of the most important parts of the skeleton run, since only fractions of a second can separate sliders during a competition. While posting a fast time is the main objective for elite sliders, recreational sliders may feel a sense of pride from simply staying on the sled for the duration of a run.
Participants
Both men and women of many nations compete in skeleton at the national and international levels. The U.S. National Skeleton Team is comprised of nine men and seven women. Because of the demanding and dangerous nature of the sport, most skeleton participants are elite athletes training for competition. Some sliding centers allow members of the general public to participate in winter sliding programs.
Venues
Numerous sliding centers around the world -- primarily in Europe and North America -- host sliding events every winter. In the past, skeleton races took place on tracks built from natural ice, but most modern skeleton races take place on tracks with a refrigerated ice surface. According to the International Federation of Bobsleigh and Tobogganing (the sport's international overseeing body), international race courses must drop a minimum specified vertical distance -- usually about 300 to 400 feet -- from start to finish.
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