The world is sometimes bad. On Wednesday July 18, the IOC Executive Board validated with solemn gestures the program for the Beijing Winter Games in 2022. Seven new disciplines will make their debut in the Olympic setting. Among them, the women's single-seater bob.
A victory for bobsleigh? Yes and no. Against all expectations, the announcement of the arrival of a new women's category did not satisfy the specialists. The most famous of the lot, including the American Elana Meyers Taylor and the Canadian Kaillie Humphries, even declared themselves surprised, or even downright “ disappointed”, by the decision of the IOC.
Paradoxical. But the two young women explained it via social networks: the women's bobsleigh community was campaigning for the addition of another discipline, the 2022-man bobsleigh, to the program of the Beijing 4 Games. She hoped that the IOC, in its desire for real parity of the sexes, would adopt an identical program for men and women, with an event for two and another for four.
« The addition of a new medal event is of course historic and we should rejoice about it, wrote Elana Meyers Taylor on her Facebook page. But I can't help but express my disappointment, after having campaigned so hard for the inclusion of the 4-man bobsled"
For women's bobsleigh, the arrival of a single-seater event at the Beijing Games appears as incongruous as the addition of a two-runner relay for athletics. As its name suggests, it is contested with a single bobsledder, both pilot and pusher. The equipment is identical for all competitors. It is provided by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF).
To date, the discipline remains little practiced. As proof, its absence from the 2018/2019 World Cup calendar. But the IBSF sees it as a tool for the development of bobsleigh in the world, the equipment requiring an inexpensive investment.
If the first comments are to be believed, the single-seater bobsled could well make a lightning splash in the Olympic landscape. “ We will continue to fight”, announces Elana Meyers Taylor. Clearly, continue the lobbying work for the introduction of the 4-man bobsled at the Winter Games in 2026.
