Bobsleigh

[JTMacc99]

[Crashcourse]

I'm so glad the Jamaican bobsled team is back! 😊

[Guest]

So NBC Daytime host Rebecca Lowe (who I generally like) was previewing the final runs of the women's monobob with John Morgan, and she asked one of the silliest questions I ever heard. They were talking about Kaillie Humphries, who is in a commanding lead after the first two runs, and Lowe asked "do you think she's guaranteed a gold unless something goes wrong or someone else comes up from behind?" Well yes, that's kind of how it works. 🤦‍♂️

[Rootbeer]

2 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

So NBC Daytime host Rebecca Lowe (who I generally like) was previewing the final runs of the women's monobob with John Morgan, and she asked one of the silliest questions I ever heard. They were talking about Kaillie Humphries, who is in a commanding lead after the first two runs, and Lowe asked "do you think she's guaranteed a gold unless something goes wrong or someone else comes up from behind?" Well yes, that's kind of how it works. 🤦‍♂️

"Why yes, Rebecca, I think she will win-unless she loses."

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Of course she forgot to mention the zombie apocalypse breaking out or the track falling to pieces in front of our eyes.  😁 

[SophiaD]

I hope they replay the monobob runs somewhere.  I was watching ice dancing and switched over just in time to see Kaillie Humphreys win.

That being said, congratulations to Kaillie, Elena, and Christine!

[Souris]

U.S. goes 1-2 in monobob! A discipline which is just damn fun to say.

I also missed all but the celebration because I was watching ice dance.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Souris

[PrincessPurrsALot]

I watched it all on peacock.  Great finish.  

[blueray]

I enjoyed watching monobob (which has to be the best name to say). Though I also missed the final as it switched to ice dance and the finals were going to be on to late. 

[blackwing]

I get that they added monobob so that female athletes can have two chances to earn medals, just like men do with 2-man and 4-man.

What I guess I don't understand is why there hasn't been 4-woman sleds?  If the sport can add monobob to the Olympics, why wouldn't they have considered adding 4-woman to give more women the chance to compete?

[proserpina65]

9 hours ago, blueray said:

I enjoyed watching monobob (which has to be the best name to say). Though I also missed the final as it switched to ice dance and the finals were going to be on to late. 

Am I the only who misread that on screen as monoboob and started giggling hysterically?

[Thumper]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

Am I the only who misread that on screen as monoboob and started giggling hysterically?

No, you are not the only one! 😁

[tjsmom]

All I can hear is MONORAIL! (tm Simpsons)

[Crashcourse]

All I can think of is Bob having mononucleosis. 😲

[Rickster]

On 2/14/2022 at 10:29 AM, blackwing said:

I get that they added monobob so that female athletes can have two chances to earn medals, just like men do with 2-man and 4-man.

What I guess I don't understand is why there hasn't been 4-woman sleds?  If the sport can add monobob to the Olympics, why wouldn't they have considered adding 4-woman to give more women the chance to compete?

The IOC is concerned about competitiveness and broad participation in the sports they consider adding. My guess is that they thought few countries could field decent four women teams, while more countries could come up with a monobob driver. Otherwise, the obvious choice would have been to mirror the men’s events.

[blackwing]

4 hours ago, Rickster said:

The IOC is concerned about competitiveness and broad participation in the sports they consider adding. My guess is that they thought few countries could field decent four women teams, while more countries could come up with a monobob driver. Otherwise, the obvious choice would have been to mirror the men’s events.

I guess I can see that... but my feeling is that if a country can find a two-woman team, they could find a four-woman team.  I don't know much about bobsleigh/sled but my understanding is that the race is won or lost on the skill of the pilot.  The others are just in there for the push at the beginning and for weight.  Surely most countries can find athletes in good shape that can be trained to be pushers or brakeman.  I mean, if Lolo Jones (one of the USA's most overhyped Olympic track failures) can do it, it shows you just need athleticism and you can be trained.

[KAOS Agent]

2 hours ago, blackwing said:

I don't know much about bobsleigh/sled but my understanding is that the race is won or lost on the skill of the pilot.  The others are just in there for the push at the beginning and for weight.  Surely most countries can find athletes in good shape that can be trained to be pushers or brakeman.

That's largely true, but those people all need to be in the place where there is a track to train and then they all need to travel to the events to qualify. The cost of housing, travel and training for four people is obviously many times more expensive. Just read about the difficulties the Jamaican bobsledders had in doing this.  The town of Evanston, Wyoming was the reason for their presence at the Sochi Olympics since the Jamaican federation told them they were on their own. The town donated food, housing, transportation and other things to support the athletes' training in Park City. Winston Watts went with a two man team that year because it's all he could afford.  

[greyhorse]

I know nothing about bobsled other than there is a driver, and then pushers and brakers for 2 and 4 person sleds, which as @blackwing says, really don't do anything.

So I would have thought that monobob might have a little different strategy, but it appears in my limited watching that the competitors are simply just the drivers?  So basically you've got the same people driving, and now they have to rely on their own starts to gain advantage.  This would obviously benefit the driver who is fast and also strong to push the sled on her own.

But what I was hoping for was one of the pushers/brakers to get a chance to drive.  Does that happen?  Seems like she would have the advantage being bigger, so that means likely stronger, better push, and more weight to go down the hill.  It would be like letting an offensive lineman get the glory and be the running back or quarterback.  Why hasn't that happened?  I guess they're not used to driving and it's not so easy and it takes years of practice?  

[Rickster]

The other thing about monobob (which I didn’t know until today), is that all the sleds are standardized, so winning comes down to the skill of the driver. The advantage of better funded teams to research things like optimum sled and runner design is eliminated.

[Rickster]

10 hours ago, greyhorse said:

But what I was hoping for was one of the pushers/brakers to get a chance to drive.  Does that happen?  Seems like she would have the advantage being bigger, so that means likely stronger, better push, and more weight to go down the hill.  It would be like letting an offensive lineman get the glory and be the running back or quarterback.  Why hasn't that happened?  I guess they're not used to driving and it's not so easy and it takes years of practice?  

It’s pretty much the same reason you don’t see offensive linemen type people playing quarterback. It’s a completely different skill set. Driving is really hard. It would be like taking someone off the street and asking them to drive in a Formula 1 race.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

23 hours ago, greyhorse said:

I know nothing about bobsled other than there is a driver, and then pushers and brakers for 2 and 4 person sleds, which as @blackwing says, really don't do anything.

So I would have thought that monobob might have a little different strategy, but it appears in my limited watching that the competitors are simply just the drivers?  So basically you've got the same people driving, and now they have to rely on their own starts to gain advantage.  This would obviously benefit the driver who is fast and also strong to push the sled on her own.

But what I was hoping for was one of the pushers/brakers to get a chance to drive.  Does that happen?  Seems like she would have the advantage being bigger, so that means likely stronger, better push, and more weight to go down the hill.  It would be like letting an offensive lineman get the glory and be the running back or quarterback.  Why hasn't that happened?  I guess they're not used to driving and it's not so easy and it takes years of practice?  

Some of the monobob drivers are brakepersons on other teams.  There were a few mentioned.  Most were already drivers. 

[Trey]

On 2/15/2022 at 12:22 PM, Rickster said:

The IOC is concerned about competitiveness and broad participation in the sports they consider adding. My guess is that they thought few countries could field decent four women teams, while more countries could come up with a monobob driver. Otherwise, the obvious choice would have been to mirror the men’s events.

On CBC coverage they were saying that the monobob sled is so much cheaper than the four-man sled that more countries can afford one, therefore widening the number of participating countries.

[Rootbeer]

3 hours ago, Trey said:

On CBC coverage they were saying that the monobob sled is so much cheaper than the four-man sled that more countries can afford one, therefore widening the number of participating countries.

From what I understand, monobob sleds, aside from being lighter, are not allowed to have all the high tech bells and whistles that the larger sleds have.  That there is essentially a single sled for all competitors which makes it easier for countries that don't have a huge Olympic program to not only field a monobob entry, but gives them a better chance at placing well in competition which doesn't really happen in the larger sled races as the wealthier, more tech savvy countries are able to modify their bobs to give them a better chance to win.