Considered the worlds first sliding sport, skeleton originated in the Swiss town of St. Moritz in the late 1800s. The first competition was held in 1884. Riders raced down the road from St. Moritz to Celerina, where the winner received a bottle of champagne. It wasnt until 1887 that riders began competing in the prone position used today.The sport took its name in 1892 when a new sled made mostly of metal was introduced. People thought it looked like a skeleton.The sports governing body, the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et Tobagganing FIBT, was founded in 1923. Skeleton has twice been on the Olympic programme, both times at its ancestral home of St. Moritz, in 1928 and 1948. However, skeleton for both men and women has also been added to the 2002 Olympic programme.

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