Germany have dominated sliding sports at the Beijing Olympics on high-speed sleds using materials “basically similar to Formula One”, says one of the men who builds them.
Going into the final weekend of the Games, the Germans have won 12 of the 24 medals at Yanqing National Sliding Centre, including seven of the eight golds.
Together with the expertise and determination of their athletes, Germany’s success is down to technology from about 7,000 kilometres (4,00 miles) away in Berlin.
The Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment (FES) in the German capital builds and tests the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton sleds.
The materials for them would not be out of place on a Formula One racing car, says engineer Konstantin Schulze, who oversees their construction.
Underlining the comparison, in Friday’s training for the four-man bobsleigh, Germany’s Johannes Lochner was fastest, clocking speeds of up to 136 kilometres per hour.
Germany’s top bobsleigh pilot Francesco Friedrich rates FES as “enormously important” as he looks to win a second gold in Beijing in Sunday’s four-man bobsleigh.
