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Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of two or four teammates make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled. The timed runs are combined to calculate the final score. The various types of sleds came several years before the first tracks were built in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where the original bobsleds were adapted upsized luge/skeleton sleds designed by the adventurously wealthy to carry passengers. All three types were adapted from boys' delivery sleds and toboggans. Competition naturally followed, and to protect the working class and rich visitors in the streets and byways of St Moritz, bobsledding was eventually banned from the public highway. In the winter of 1903/1904 the Badrutt family, owners of the historic Kulm Hotel and the Palace Hotel, allowed Emil Thoma to organise the construction of the first familiarly configured 'half-pipe' track in the Kulm Hotel Park, ending in the village of Cresta. It has hosted the sport during two Olympics and is still in use today. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, also known as FIBT from the French ''Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing''. National competitions are often governed by bodies such as the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation and Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. ==History== Although sledding on snow or ice had been popular in many northern countries, bobsleighing as a modern sport originated relatively recently. It developed from two crestas (skeleton sleds) attached together with a board and with a steering mechanism attached to the front cresta. The sport had humble beginnings, starting when the successful marketing of hotelier Caspar Badrutt (1848–1904) enticed English tourists were to stay over the winter in the mineral spa town of St. Moritz, Switzerland. Badrutt, annoyed with the limitations of a season of a mere four months for the rooms, food, alcohol and activities he provided, successfully "sold" the idea of "winter resorting" to some of his English regulars. In the 1870s some of his more adventurous English guests began adapting boys' delivery sleds for recreation and began colliding with pedestrians while speeding down the village's lanes, alleys and roads. The name of the sport appeared when competitors adopted the technique of bobbing back and forth inside the sled to increase its speed. This had both short- and long-term outcomes: in the short term the guests began to scheme about and invent "steering means" for the sleds, which became the luge, bobsleighs (bobsleds), and head-first skeleton. Long term, after a couple of more years of happy pedestrian peril, Badrutt built a special track for their activities—the world's first natural ice half-pipe track in about 1870. Still in operation , this has served as a host track during two Winter Olympics. As one of the few natural weather tracks in the world, it does not use artificial refrigeration. Badrutt's satisfied guests eventually enabled him to build the Badrutt's Palace Hotel, while holding onto the popular Krup Hotel (which catered to different clientele) and brought competition in as winter tourism in alpine locales became very popular. The first informal races took place on snow-covered roads. Formal competitions started in 1884 at St. Moritz. It's not known how much the original track evolved in the early years as the three sports matured and stabilized. The first club formed in 1897, and the first purpose-built track solely for bobsleds opened in 1902 outside of St Moritz. Over the years, bobsleigh tracks evolved from straight runs to twisting and turning tracks. The original wooden sleds〔("Rounding The Zigzag Turn Of A Bobsleigh Run", April 1932, Popular Science ) photo of wooden bobsleigh used in early 1930s〕 gave way to streamlined fiberglass and metal ones. The ''International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation'' (FIBT) was founded in 1923. Men's four-man bobsleigh appeared in the first ever Winter Olympic Games in 1924, and the men's two-man bobsleigh event was added in 1932. Though not included in the 1960 Winter Olympics, bobsleigh has featured in every Winter Olympics since. Women's bobsleigh competition began in the US in 1983 with two demonstration races in Lake Placid, New York, one held in February and the second held during the World Cup races in March 1983. Women's two-woman bobsleigh made its Olympic debut at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Bobsleigh is also contested at American, European, and World Cup championships. Germany and Switzerland have proven the most successful bobsleighing nations measured by overall success in European, World, World Cup, and Olympic championships. Since the 1990s Germans have dominated in international competition, having won more medals than any other nation. Italy, Austria, USA and Canada also have strong bobsleigh traditions. Bobsleighs can attain speeds of , with the reported world record being . However, the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation repeatedly rejected this record due to lack of documentation. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「bobsleigh」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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