When most people picture bobsled from the Winter Olympics or from the film "Cool Runnings,” they usually see four people, or at least two, vigorously pushing a sled and then leaping in before racing down an icy course.
But in monobob, an event making its Olympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, one sledder does it all: push, leap and drive. And at this year’s Games, every one of the competitors will be a woman.
Men, of course, have been zipping down the bobsled track at the Olympics since 1924, first in four-man sleds and, since 1932, in two-man teams as well. It took until 2002 for women to get a two-person event, and ever since, athletes and their supporters have been campaigning for a second.