Luge

Tobogganing is one of the oldest winter sports. Descriptions of it in the 16th century are found in literature. As a racing sport, it can be traced to the mid-19th century when British tourists started sledding on the snowbound roads of the Alps. The original form of the sport was the skeleton sleds that were used on the Cresta Run at St. Moritz.

Luge spread to Switzerland in the 1890s as a variant of the skeleton race. The first recorded competitions took place in 1890 at the Innsbruck-based Academic Alpine Club. An International Tobogganing Association was formed in 1913 and the first European Championships were held in 1914 at Reichenfeld, Austria.

At the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Athens in 1954, luge tobogganing was recognized as an official Olympic sport, replacing skeleton, for which only one suitable track existed at the time (in St. Moritz). The first world luge championships were contested in Oslo in 1955, and an IF, the Fédération internationale de luge de course (FIL), was formed in 1957. As of 2020, the FIL has 54 member nations.

In 1959, luge was approved for the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. Since that time luge has been contested at all Olympic Winter Games, with singles events for men and women, and a doubles event, which is technically open to women, but in practice only contested by men. A team mixed relay event was added in 2014.

The sport is dominated by German speaking athletes from Germany, Austria and Italy (South Tyrol), who have together won 120 of the 141 medals awarded in the sport, and 47 of 48 gold medals. Sadly, luge has also seen two Olympic deaths, with Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki (1964) and Nodar Kumaritashvili (2010) being killed during training sessions.

Presidents of the Fédération internationale de luge de course:

• Bert Isatitsch (AUT, 1957-1994)
• Josef Fendt (GER, 1994-present)