Bobsleigh and Luge Track
Sarajevo was awarded the 1984 Winter Olympics a Bobsled and Luge track was planned on Trebević Mountain which overlooks the city of Sarajevo, the design for the run was approved in 1981, with construction starting in June the same year.
The completed bobsled run was 1300 metres, the men’s luge came in at 1210 metres and the women’s luge track which was also used for the men’s doubles was the shortest run at 993 metres. East Germany swept the board for the bobsleigh medals taking Gold and Silver in both the 2 man and the 4 man races. In the luge events East Germany again gained the most medals taking Bronze, Silver and Gold in the Women’s singles and bronze in the men’s doubles, they lost out to Italy in the Men’s singles and West Germany in the men’s doubles making East Germanys medal total on the Trebević mountain 8 medals (including 3 golds) in 5 events!
During the 1984 games the track had 20,000 luge spectators and 30,000 bobsled spectators.
After the Winter Olympics, the track was used for World Cup competitions until the start of the Yugoslav and Bosnian Wars. During the Bosnian conflict the track was strategic point controlled by Serbian forces during the Siege of Sarajevo (1992 - 1996).
Today the track shows the scars of the battles that played out on the mountain, most of the mines that littered the countryside have now been removed, around 1% are still believed to exist, don’t worry too much if you go there though they are well marked.
There was hope that Sarajevo would once again become an Olympic venue and that this would display a proud sign to the world that Bosnia and Herzegovina was now a thriving country but sadly they did not make it past the first round of voting.
Not all was lost for the bobsleigh and luge tracks though; new concrete has been laid on the base of the track and the currently the Slovenian Olympic team use this as their part time summer training venue. Complete renovation was expected in to begin in 2016 in time for the 2017 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival; this date may be in doubt though as Bosnia and Herzegovina had to ask Turkey (the hosts of the 2019 games) to swap places as they are “struggling to get ready in time”.
So there may still be a little bit of time left to get back there with my scooter, which I sadly left in the UK on this trip!
The completed bobsled run was 1300 metres, the men’s luge came in at 1210 metres and the women’s luge track which was also used for the men’s doubles was the shortest run at 993 metres. East Germany swept the board for the bobsleigh medals taking Gold and Silver in both the 2 man and the 4 man races. In the luge events East Germany again gained the most medals taking Bronze, Silver and Gold in the Women’s singles and bronze in the men’s doubles, they lost out to Italy in the Men’s singles and West Germany in the men’s doubles making East Germanys medal total on the Trebević mountain 8 medals (including 3 golds) in 5 events!
During the 1984 games the track had 20,000 luge spectators and 30,000 bobsled spectators.
After the Winter Olympics, the track was used for World Cup competitions until the start of the Yugoslav and Bosnian Wars. During the Bosnian conflict the track was strategic point controlled by Serbian forces during the Siege of Sarajevo (1992 - 1996).
Today the track shows the scars of the battles that played out on the mountain, most of the mines that littered the countryside have now been removed, around 1% are still believed to exist, don’t worry too much if you go there though they are well marked.
There was hope that Sarajevo would once again become an Olympic venue and that this would display a proud sign to the world that Bosnia and Herzegovina was now a thriving country but sadly they did not make it past the first round of voting.
Not all was lost for the bobsleigh and luge tracks though; new concrete has been laid on the base of the track and the currently the Slovenian Olympic team use this as their part time summer training venue. Complete renovation was expected in to begin in 2016 in time for the 2017 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival; this date may be in doubt though as Bosnia and Herzegovina had to ask Turkey (the hosts of the 2019 games) to swap places as they are “struggling to get ready in time”.
So there may still be a little bit of time left to get back there with my scooter, which I sadly left in the UK on this trip!
