BEIJING, China — The names of many Olympic sports are self-explanatory, but why is a sport where competitors slide headfirst down an icy track called skeleton?
According to the official website for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the name originated in the 1800s in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
That’s the location of the Cresta Run – an ice-racing track built-in 1884. It took only another three years for competitors there to start hurtling down the track headfirst.
In 1892, a new sled was introduced. As the story goes, it was made entirely of steel and had a bony appearance, thus earning the sled and the sport the name of skeleton.
Men’s skeleton became an Olympic sport in 1928, while the women’s event wasn’t introduced until 20 years later, in 1948. Both of those Games were held in St. Moritz, where the sport was invented.
Unfortunately for skeleton athletes, those Games were the only ones where skeleton was an Olympic event until the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. The sport has been included in every Olympics since.
Only six medals are awarded in skeleton – three each for the men’s and women’s events. The United States has won eight medals in the sport: three golds, four silvers and one bronze.
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