Tobogganing is one of the oldest winter sports. As a racing sport, it can be traced to the mid-19th Century when British tourists began sledding on the snowbound roads of the Alps. The original form of the sport was the skeleton sleds which were used on the Cresta Run in St. Moritz.
The first racing sleds were made of wood but were soon replaced by steel sleds that came to be known as bobsleighs, so named because of the way crews bobbed back and forth to increase their speed at the start.
Bobsleigh has been an Olympic sport since 1924.
Bobsleigh incorporates two Olympic disciplines — bobsleigh and skeleton.
Bobsleigh in Russi
The development of bobsleigh in Russia started around 1980, when the Committee of Physical Culture and Sport and the Council of USSR Ministers established a national bobsleigh team of the USSR. Simultaneously, bobsleigh sporting societies began to develop.