Luge at the Winter Olympics
IOC Discipline CodeLUG
Governing bodyFIL
Events4 (men: 1; women: 1; mixed: 2)
Games
  • 1924
  • 1928
  • 1932
  • 1936
  • 1948
  • 1952

Luge is a winter sport featured at the Winter Olympic Games where a competitor or two-person team rides a flat sled while lying supine (face up) and feet first. The sport is usually contested on a specially designed ice track that allows gravity to increase the sled's speed. The winner normally completes the route with the fastest overall time. It was first contested at the 1964 Winter Olympics, with both men's and women's events and a doubles event. Doubles is technically considered an open event since 1994, but only men have competed in it.[1][2][3] German lugers (competing under the IOC country codes of EUA, GDR, FRG and GER at different times since 1964) have dominated the competition, winning 87 medals of 153 possible.

Events

Event 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22 26 Year
Men's singles • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 17
Men’s doubles • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 17
Women's singles • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 17
Women's doubles • 1
Team relay • • • • 4
Total events 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5

Medal leaders

Natalie Geisenberger of Germany is the most successful Olympic luger, having won six gold medals and a bronze attained in four consecutive Olympics (three golds and a bronze in singles, and 3 golds in team relay).
A man with a soul patch wears a red-and-white tight jumpsuit, with a red-and-white vest over it, and a metallic silver helmet with a raised full-faced visor. He is sat on the ground with his arms resting upon his legs.
Armin Zöggeler is the only athlete to have won one medal in a single individual event in six Olympics (furthermore consecutive).

Athletes who won at least two gold medals or three medals in total are listed below.

Athlete NOC Event Olympics Gold Silver Bronze Total
Natalie Geisenberger  Germany (GER) Women's singles
Team relay 		2010–2022 6 0 1 7
Tobias Arlt  Germany (GER) Doubles
Team relay 		2014–2022 6 0 0 6
Tobias Wendl  Germany (GER) Doubles
Team relay 		2014–2022 6 0 0 6
Armin Zöggeler  Italy (ITA) Men's singles 1994–2014 2 1 3 6
Georg Hackl  West Germany (FRG)
 Germany (GER) 		Men's singles 1988–2006 3 2 0 5
Jan Behrendt  East Germany (GDR)
 Germany (GER) 		Doubles 1988–1998 2 1 1 4
Stefan Krauße  East Germany (GDR)
 Germany (GER) 		Doubles 1988–1998 2 1 1 4
Klaus Bonsack  United Team of Germany (EUA)
 East Germany (GDR) 		Men's singles
Doubles 		1964–1972 1 1 2 4
Felix Loch  Germany (GER) Men's singles
Team relay 		2010–2014 3 0 0 3
Thomas Köhler  United Team of Germany (EUA)
 East Germany (GDR) 		Men's singles
Doubles 		1964–1968 2 1 0 3
Paul Hildgartner  Italy (ITA) Men's singles
Doubles 		1972–1988 2 1 0 3
Andreas Linger  Austria (AUT) Doubles 2006–2014 2 1 0 3
Wolfgang Linger  Austria (AUT) Doubles 2006–2014 2 1 0 3
Hans Rinn  East Germany (GDR) Men's singles
Doubles 		1976–1980 2 0 1 3
Silke Kraushaar  Germany (GER) Women's singles 1998–2006 1 1 1 3
Tatjana Hüfner  Germany (GER) Women's singles 2006–2014 1 1 1 3
Albert Demchenko  Russia (RUS) Men's singles
Team relay 		1994–2014 0 3 0 3
Markus Prock  Austria (AUT) Men's singles 1984–2002 0 2 1 3
Andris Šics  Latvia (LAT) Doubles
Team relay 		2006–2014 0 1 2 3
Juris Šics  Latvia (LAT) Doubles
Team relay 		2006–2014 0 1 2 3
Norbert Hahn  East Germany (GDR) Doubles 1976–1980 2 0 0 2
Steffi Martin  East Germany (GDR) Women's singles 1984–1988 2 0 0 2
Sylke Otto  Germany (GER) Women's singles 1992
2002–2006 		2 0 0 2

Medal table

Sources (after the 2022 Winter Olympics):[4]
Accurate as of 2022 Winter Olympics.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Germany (GER)2212943
2 East Germany (GDR)138829
3 Italy (ITA)74718
4 Austria (AUT)610925
5 United Team of Germany (EUA)2215
6 West Germany (FRG)14510
7 Soviet Union (URS)1236
8 United States (USA)0336
9 Russia (RUS)0303
10 Latvia (LAT)0145
11 Canada (CAN)0112
12 ROC0011
Totals (12 entries)525051153

Note: two gold medals handed in the 1972 doubles competition.

Number of lugers by nation

Nation 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22 Years
 Argentina (ARG)                 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 7
 Australia (AUS)                 1 1 1 1 1 1 6
 Austria (AUT)                 9 9 8 7 10 7 7 7 8 8 10 10 9 10 10 15
 Bermuda (BER)                 1 1 1 1 4
 Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH)                 2 1 2
 Brazil (BRA)                 2 2
 Bulgaria (BUL)                 3 3 2 1 2 1 1 7
 Canada (CAN)                 1 7 4 8 4 2 9 6 2 2 7 10 10 8 8 15
 Chinese Taipei (TPE)                 2 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 9
 Croatia (CRO)                 1 1
 Czech Republic (CZE)                 2 4 4 4 6 5
 Czechoslovakia (TCH)                 6 6 4 3 3 2 4 7
 East Germany (GDR)                 8 9 9 9 10 10 6
 Estonia (EST)                 1 2 2
 France (FRA)                 5 1 1 1 3 3 1 1 8
 Georgia (GEO)                 2 2 1 3
 Germany (GER)                 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 8
 Great Britain (GBR)                 2 2 6 4 7 4 4 2 1 1 2 1 2 13
 Greece (GRE)                 2 1 2
 India (IND)                 1 1 1 1 1 5
 Independent Olympic Athletes (IOA)                 1 1
 Italy (ITA)                 7 9 9 8 9 9 9 8 8 10 10 9 8 10 9 15
 Japan (JPN)                 7 5 2 4 5 3 3 6 4 5 3 1 12
 Kazakhstan (KAZ)                 1 1 2
 Latvia (LAT)                 6 8 10 8 8 10 9 10 8
 Liechtenstein (LIE)                 3 3 1 3 2 1 1 1 8
 Moldova (MDA)                 1 1 1 1 4
 Netherlands Antilles (AHO)                 1 1
 New Zealand (NZL)                 1 1 2
 Norway (NOR)                 4 2 3 7 2 2 3 3 8
 Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR)                 8 1
 Philippines (PHI)                 1 1
 Poland (POL)                 8 9 8 8 2 2 2 3 2 5 6 11
 Puerto Rico (PUR)                 1 2 2
 Romania (ROU)                 4 3 1 3 4 3 4 4 8 2 5 11
 Russia (RUS)                 8 7 10 10 10 10 6
 Slovakia (SVK)                 2 1 4 6 5 6 5 7
 Slovenia (SLO)                 1 1 1 3
 South Korea (KOR)                 3 3 1 1 4 5 6
 Soviet Union (URS)                 7 6 7 10 10 5
 Spain (ESP)                 4 1 1 3
 Sweden (SWE)                 5 5 4 2 2 3 5 3 2 9
 Switzerland (SUI)                 9 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 9
 Tonga (TGA)                 1 1
 Ukraine (UKR)                 3 6 4 6 6 6 6 7
 Unified Team (EUN)                 10 1
 United Team of Germany (EUA)                 9 1
 United States (USA)                 9 8 10 9 10 9 10 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 15
 Venezuela (VEN)                 1 4 1 3
 Virgin Islands (ISV)                 1 2 2 1 2 5
 West Germany (FRG)                 8 10 8 7 8 7 6
 Yugoslavia (YUG)                 3 2 2
Nations - - - - - - - - 12 14 13 16 14 17 22 22 25 24 26 24 24 24 24
Lugers - - - - - - - - 68 85 83 94 80 81 90 89 92 93 110 108 110 108 110
Year 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22

See also

References

Specific
  1. ^ "Luge". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  2. ^ "Women & the Winter Olympics". topend sports. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  3. ^ "Qualification Systems for XXIII Olympic Winter Games, PyeongChang" (PDF). fil-luge.org. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  4. ^ "Olympic Analytics - Medals by Countries". olympanalyt.com. Retrieved 2022-02-20.

External links

Media related to Luge at the Olympics at Wikimedia Commons

Luge at the Winter Olympics
Sports at the Olympic Games
Winter sliding sports
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