On the evening of February 11, Beijing time, the men's steel frame snowmobile of the Beijing Winter Olympics decided the final ranking in the "Snow Dragon". World champion and German Grote Herr won the gold medal in a total time of 4:01.01, and another German player, Jean-Claude Juncker, won the silver medal in 4:01.67.
The German team once again achieved the first and second place in this event.
In fact, since the start of the National Bobsleigh Center "Snow Dragon", the German team has achieved a big package here, taking away all 5 gold medals decided here, including men's steel frame bobsleighs, men's and women's single bobsleighs, double bobsleighs and bobsleigh team relays.
In other words, since the beginning of the Winter Olympics, Germany has been able to climb the top of the medal table, all by dominating the snow dragon. So far, no other country has been seen breaking Germany's monopoly on gold medals here.
Germany demonstrates a reign of terror in bobsleigh events.
Since the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the German team has won 11 gold medals in the bobsleigh event, only losing the men's singles gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
At this Winter Olympics, the German team composed of ludd men's singles champion Ludwig, women's singles champion Geisenberger, double champion Wendel/Alter and others crushed all opponents with a strong strength advantage and achieved an "all-inclusive circle" of 4 gold medals in the bobsleigh event.
In last night's steel frame snowmobile final, world champion and German star Grote Hull won the gold medal with an overwhelming advantage.
Why does the German team have such a strong position in the bobsleigh event? This starts with the century-old training grounds, equipment and scientific research owned by Germany.
Germany hosts the 2008 Bobsleigh World Cup
First of all, let's talk about the venue, such as steel frame snowmobiles, sleigh and other extreme sports, and general sports are not the same, there must be a professional track to ensure results.
At present, including Snow Dragon, there are a total of 17 international standard bobsleigh tracks in the world, of which Germany accounts for 4, which is the largest number and the earliest country to build, and has had professional tracks since 1970.
With such innate conditions, German athletes do not need to travel long distances to train abroad, and they can complete Olympic preparations at their doorstep.
Last night, Yan Wengang talked about the importance of the venue after winning a bronze medal to achieve a historic breakthrough for China. "I practiced more than 500 times in Snow Dragon to get today's results." In his view, China has its own track, which greatly helps its own preparation.
Ludwig, who won the first gold medal for Germany at the Winter Olympics, explained in detail the importance of the track.
"In our usual training, we have experienced enough tracks in domestic and European races, and we have also made mistakes on various tracks with different styles, and the continuous accumulation in the past ten years has created our super adaptability." Ludwig said: "On the track of 'Snow Dragon', we are constantly looking for and improving the best taxiing route through test pulleys, adapting to every corner, which allows us to reduce mistakes in the final race and play steadily to the level in training. ”
Germany has a deep bobsleigh culture that began more than a hundred years ago.
In 1889, Germany gave birth to the world's first bobsleigh club, and until now, bobsleigh bobsleigh has blossomed everywhere in Germany, as common as football, and on this basis, German children have been exposed to sledding from an early age.
Locke, the head coach of the German team who led the team to the Beijing Winter Olympics, said that German children began to play sledding very early.
"The youngest is four or five years old, and some are seven or eight years old. There are many famous circuits in Germany, and the level of domestic competition is also very high. Of course, there are equally good athletes in many European countries who have come to prominence through youth competitions. Locke said.
It is reported that large and small bobsleigh clubs establish contact with the school like football clubs, find good seedlings from them, and finally go through layers of competitions and selections, so the National Championship in Germany is equivalent to a World Cup.
"The four Olympic champions here start training and competing together almost at the age of 13." Locke said, "They were all injured when they were young, but they also learned slowly after they recovered from their injuries and became psychologically stronger." In addition, the coach will teach them how to deal with stress and how to work as a team. It can be said that the Olympic champions you see now have been tempered for more than 20 years to have today's achievements. ”
Speaking about the Chinese bobsleigh team, which has only been established for five or six years, Locke said: "The Chinese team has improved rapidly, and when you have the first professional track, there will be more young people involved in the future. ”
He also said: "I hope you don't pay too much attention to the results and leave everything to time." I look forward to the future of the Chinese team will grow into the strongest opponent of the German team. ”
Screenshot: Snow Dragon Track Simulator
Infographic
In addition, the German team's scientific and technological preparation also plays an extremely important role.
In a bobsleigh race, the gliding distance of 1 millisecond is about 4 centimeters, and often the victory or defeat of a race is between this millimeter. In the case of the human body's tolerance limit, technology becomes the key to speeding up.
For example, the bobsleigh boards used by German athletes are the result of technology.
In the development process, the researchers used F1 racing material technology and wind tunnel experiments, and continuously upgraded and improved with athlete tests, so that German bobsleigh equipment has always been at the world's leading level.
In addition, in order to let German athletes familiarize themselves with the track in Beijing in advance, researchers designed a track simulator for the German team of "Snow Dragon". German bobsleigh reserve team member Hannihof said the simulated track was "very realistic", which gave them a huge advantage over other players who could not train on the spot.
It is worth mentioning that in the process of preparing for the Winter Olympics, the Chinese team also attaches great importance to scientific and technological preparations, including steel frame snowmobiles, sleds and other projects have used wind tunnels, six degrees of freedom and other aerospace technologies, achieving China's historic breakthrough in this project.
It can be said that Germany's success has provided a model for the development of bobsleigh in all countries in the world, and it is also the most fundamental reason for dominating the medal table of the Winter Olympic Games.