Bobsleigh beats Bayern in sports-mad Germany
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-02-27 16:30

The country also boasts state of the art facilities with, for example, four bobsleigh and luge tracks when no other country in the world has more than two.

Former East Germany's emphasis on sports such as bobsleigh, biathlon and speed skating has now become an asset for the unified country.

TWO STATES

Most of Germany's winter sports champions come from two of the country's 16 states: eastern Thuringia, a sporting hotbed since the GDR days, and southern Bavaria with its Alpine slopes.

Another factor is that more than half of the 170-member contingent Germany have taken to Turin belong to the German armed forces, police or customs, who give them plenty of time to train.

Germany's excellence when it comes to design and engineering also plays a role, winter sports having a lot to do with equipment and technology.

"We've been good about capitalising on technology and it has been worth the effort," said Steinbach.

There is the famous example of the team's cross-country success at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics after German researchers spent much time and money studying Utah's unique snow conditions.

At the Turin Games, the members of Germany's gold-winning men's biathlon relay had practised their reaction times for the shooting on laptops, using specially designed software.

If you spot a German with a computer anywhere near Vancouver, he might be collecting data for the 2010 Winter Games.