Luge at the Winter Olympics facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Luge at the Winter Olympics |
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| Governing body | FIL |
| Events | 4 (men: 1; women: 1; mixed: 2) |
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Luge is a winter sport featured at the Winter Olympic Games where a competitor or two-person team rides a flat sled while lying supine (face up) and feet first. The sport is usually contested on a specially designed ice track that allows gravity to increase the sled's speed. The winner normally completes the route with the fastest overall time. It was first contested at the 1964 Winter Olympics, with both men's and women's events and a doubles event. Doubles is technically considered an open event since 1994, but only men have competed in it. German lugers (competing under the IOC country codes of EUA, GDR, FRG and GER at different times since 1964) have dominated the competition, winning 81 medals of 141 possible.
Images for kids
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Natalie Geisenberger of Germany is the most successful Olympic luger, having won six gold medals and a bronze attained in four consecutive Olympics (three golds and a bronze in singles, and 3 golds in team relay).
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Armin Zöggeler is the only athlete to have won one medal in a single individual event in six Olympics (furthermore consecutive).
See also
In Spanish: Luge en los Juegos Olímpicos para niños
