The luge events have been a competition discipline at the Winter Olympics since the 1964 Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck, with both a men’s and women’s singles event as well as a doubles event in both categories. Over the years the luge events have been dominated by the Germans, winning 65 Olympic medals in 36 events.

Over the years the luge has considerably increased in speed, from the days when the fastest speeds were reaching up to 90km/hour to now where the speeds reach over 140km/hour and the G-forces can reach over 5G.

Many people over the years often ask the question “What is a luge?” A luge is pod constructed of molded fiberglass, which is designed to match the contours of the sliders body. The luge pod sits on two metal runners called ‘steels’ which curve upwards. The steels are attached to ‘kufens’ at the front of the sled which allows for the turning of the pod. The kufens and steels are longer on the doubles pod. In the case of the luge pod there are no brakes for the slider to stop, in order for the slider to stop or slow down they must drag their feet along the icy track and grab on to the kufens, thus allowing them to stop. All luge pods used in competition are allowed a maximum sled thickness of 120mm and a maximum sled width of 550mm. The luge pod cannot stretch past the competitor’s shoulders or knees and the sled cannot weigh more than 23kg for the singles events and no more than 27kg for the doubles events.

In the luge competition the racer begins by sitting on their sled at the top of the course and pulling themselves on fixed handles in the ice in order to explode out in to the start of the course. Once they have launched themselves from the starting position, the racer grips in to the ice with spiked gloves for more acceleration before lying on their backs with their feet extended off the end of the luge while their heads are tucked back to be as aerodynamic as possible. The racers steer and control their luge by using their legs and shoulders.

In the singles luge event the race consists of four heats over a two day period. The individual racer with lowest combined time over the four runs wins the gold medal in Vancouver Olympics. Men and women do compete on the same race track, however, the women’s competition and the doubles events start further down the course than in the singles event. The running of four separate heats is unique to the Olympic Winter games; it is designed to reward endurance and consistency along with the skill to withstand the pressure, which is far more present on the second day of competition when Olympic medals are up for grabs. The doubles event consists of two runs in the same day with the fastest combined time determining the winner. In the luge events all of the times are narrowed down the thousandth of a second.

During the Vancouver Winter Olympics the brand new Whistler Sliding Center will be the host venue for not only the luge competitions but as well as the rest of the sliding events which include the bobsleigh and skeleton disciplines. Situated on picturesque Blackcomb Mountain in the heart of Whistler, the Whistler Sliding Center was made fully operational and opened to the pubic during the winter of 2007-2008. With a venue capacity of 12,000, this is sure to make for some spectacular views of the racers flying down the track.

Here is a glance at some of VANOC’s (Vancouver Olympic Committees) sustainable attributes for this particular venue;

Watching the luge competition during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics will truly be spectacular. Watch for updates on your country’s participation in more Winter Olympic events.