International Day and the Winter Olympics

If there were a gold medal for the bravest people at the Winter Olympics the competitors in the luge and skeleton would surely win. They use the same courses as the bobsleigh event, but rather than encase themselves inside a mini-vehicle they instead prefer a flimsy-looking piece of plastic that looks like a tea-tray. The main difference between the two disciplines seems to be the direction the athletes shoot down the track in - with lugers going feet first on their back and skeleton sliders going headfirst on their front. And the tea-trays - really called pods - have no brakes. The athlete steers the skeleton by gently transferring weight to the left or right. They take as direct a line as possible and avoid contact with the walls. Wind resistance is reduced by keeping elbows in and shoulders in contact with the sled. After the finish, the feet are dragged along the ice to bring the skeleton to a standstill. Britain (there is the connection with International Day!) has won its first Olympic medal after Shelley Rudman raced into second place to claim the silver in the women's Olympic skeleton. Click here to find out more.......