Skeleton at the Winter Olympic Games Beijing 2022

[OlympicsFan 858]

2 hours ago, Vektor said:

Germany is winning these sliding gold medals so easily, the luge relay was the only event where there was any real suspense. It's honestly a bit silly how one nation can dominate this much, while China just comes in out of nowhere with athletes who didn't even compete a few years ago and takes the bronze. Even speed skating is less boring because at the very least there are always have some non-Dutch stars, like Nils van der Poel this time. 

1) It is much more difficult to dominate speed skating.

2) People who don’t like sliding sports should be happy about German domination.

3) Not sure if Van der Poel is a good example. Isn’t he a Dutch who switched to Sweden because he couldn’t make the Dutch team?

[OlympicsFan 858]

2 hours ago, Monzanator said:

 

Luge & bobsleigh is heavily dependant on facilities and the only reason Germany doesn't dominate skeleton is the fact their athletes also start late just like most of the other nations involved. And those skeletonists aren't even third-rate lugers who switched events for better results, Grotheer & Jungk are failed ski jumpers of all things. If one day Germany decides to breed designed skeletonists since age 6-7 then it will be all over just like it's the case with luge & bobsleigh.

You are clearly exaggerating. Germany isn’t super dominant in any of those events, especially if you take Francesco Friedrich out of the equation. Without him the German bob team is very ordinary. In the end Germany seems to have had superior material, but it can look completely different in 4 years. Personally I don’t quite understand how GB can have superior material in track cycling but horrible material in sliding sports. If you want to make the competitions more exciting, you could just give everyone the same material.

[Orangehair43 251]

21 minutes ago, OlympicsFan said:

1) It is much more difficult to dominate speed skating.

2) People who don’t like sliding sports should be happy about German domination.

3) Not sure if Van der Poel is a good example. Isn’t he a Dutch who switched to Sweden because he couldn’t make the Dutch team?

Nope. He is Swedish with a Dutch grandfather. 

[Quaker2001 251]

1 hour ago, OlympicsFan said:

1) It is much more difficult to dominate speed skating.

2) People who don’t like sliding sports should be happy about German domination.

3) Not sure if Van der Poel is a good example. Isn’t he a Dutch who switched to Sweden because he couldn’t make the Dutch team?

Born in Sweden.  He can claim Dutch ancestry, but he is 100% Swedish

[Monzanator 4,503]

1 hour ago, OlympicsFan said:

You are clearly exaggerating. Germany isn’t super dominant in any of those events, especially if you take Francesco Friedrich out of the equation. Without him the German bob team is very ordinary. In the end Germany seems to have had superior material, but it can look completely different in 4 years. Personally I don’t quite understand how GB can have superior material in track cycling but horrible material in sliding sports. If you want to make the competitions more exciting, you could just give everyone the same material.

 

Been watching this for 30 years. Germany are ALWAYS in the bobsleigh mix so nothing will look different in four years time

[Ted 141]

25 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

 

Been watching this for 30 years. Germany are ALWAYS in the bobsleigh mix so nothing will look different in four years time

Don't mind me. Just quoting quotes. What more do Germans have to accomplish in sliding sports to be considered dominant?

[Monzanator 4,503]

4 minutes ago, Ted said:

Don't mind me. Just quoting quotes. What more do Germans have to accomplish in sliding sports to be considered dominant?

There is only one answer - nothing

[dcro 10,210]

Not surprised to hear that Yun grew sick of skeleton and basically couldn't wait for the Olympics to be over so that he can finally retire. His entire skeleton career has been... circumstantial. There were already strong rumours he would retire after Pyeongchang, but I guess they forced hin to continue riding the wave even though in retrospect it should have been obvious what was bound to happen - Yun burning out.

[phelps 7,678]

2 hours ago, OlympicsFan said:

1) It is much more difficult to dominate speed skating.

2) People who don’t like sliding sports should be happy about German domination.

3) Not sure if Van der Poel is a good example. Isn’t he a Dutch who switched to Sweden because he couldn’t make the Dutch team?

no, he's a true Swede, born and raised in that Country...he only has 3rd generation heritage from the Netherlands (his grandfather was Dutch)...

[dcro 10,210]

5 hours ago, Federer91 said:

I will never understand how skeleton (and bob) have countries like Australia, UK, Korea, China, Netherlands competing at the highest level, but i've never seen them in luge at all 

There are many reasons. Biggest of all is that in bobsleigh and skeleton so many athletes switch from another sports. There are countless former decathletes in bobsleigh (including Friedrich, for example).

 

Luge is much more technical and requires athletes to start from very young age to be competitive at the highest level. Having a track is a prerequisite, but technology is key as well.