"Every four years, the finest athletes from around the world gather for the Winter Olympics. This wonderful event is held at various cities in different nations and features amazing athletic prowess, hard fought competitions, and the skills and artistry that the world’s most gifted athletes can display. There are a host of Olympic events that make up the menu of competitions that receive the most attention from athletes and viewers. Each of these sports, whether they represent team or individual competitions, is supremely challenging. Through diligence, talents, and a commitment to excellence, Olympic athletes accomplish marvelous feats of skill in a tournament that garners attention from people around the world. In this selection from the illustrated “Amazing Winter Olympics” series, readers will learn a bit about the luge. Luge has been a Winter Olympics event since 1984. Traditionally, Germany has dominated this sport, although other nations have certainly contributed to the growing enthusiasm for this high-speed event. In luge, as readers of this informative book will discover, men and women slide down a one-mile course on specially designed sleds that can reach speeds of more than 90 MPH. Luge drivers slide downhill on tracks that lose at least 400 feet of elevation and do so feet first. There are no brakes on a luge sled and the sport can be very dangerous. Luge events are single or team competitions and feature either solo or tandem riders. Both men and women compete at the Winter Olympics. The basic elements of luge as a sport are well handled in this concise book, but it is the color photography included in the text that steals the show. Shots of luge drivers streaming down the course, the specialized gear they wear, and the pure dynamism of the sport virtually leap off the page in the illustrations. Readers, young and old, with an interest in Olympic sports will enjoy this book and find the photography to be truly amazing." Children's Literature, January 2022
