After travelling up Mount Trebević by cable car rather than tiring ourselves out, Jonathan and I walked to the remains of Sarajevo’s Olympic bobsleigh and luge track. The reinforced-concrete course was built after Sarajevo won the right to host the 1984 Winter Olympics, with construction beginning in 1981 and finishing the following year. It runs for approximately 1,300 metres through the forest and contains thirteen bends, which looked interesting enough at walking speed and presumably rather more consequential when approached in a bobsleigh. I like to think that this is something that I would have been good at, but, realistically, I would have tried to go down as slowly as possible and I’m not sure how practical that is.
The track staged the 1983 European Bobsleigh Championships as a rehearsal before hosting the bobsleigh and luge events at the 1984 Winter Olympics. Around 30,000 spectators attended the Olympic bobsleigh competition and another 20,000 watched the luge, while East Germany dominated the bobsleigh events by winning both gold medals. The Games are still remembered with considerable affection in Sarajevo, making it rather strange to see one of their principal venues standing silent and covered in graffiti only a few kilometres from the city centre.
The concrete visible today was never intended to be the actual racing surface. Refrigeration pipes embedded beneath it cooled the course before workers repeatedly sprayed it with water, gradually building and shaping a smooth layer of ice. The bends then guided the sleds around the course at speeds which made accurate steering rather important. Without the refrigeration system, the track is simply a long concrete channel, although this had the considerable advantage of allowing us to walk along its entire length and I am barely capable of walking on ice at the best of times.
Some of the concrete sections appear to shoot away from the main course, but these were apparently part of a particularly clever feature of the original design. Mechanical switching blocks allowed the track to be divided into three shorter, independent courses for training and recreational use. The first could leave the main run after bend three, the second after bend seven and the third continued through the fastest lower portion, including bends known as Omega, the Hairpin and the Labyrinth. Different starting points were also used for bobsleigh and the various luge events, as it was considered unnecessary to give every competitor the full opportunity to terrify themselves. I’m not sure that I can visualise how all this worked as the bits of concrete are in opposite directions, but I’m sure it made sense once.
After the Olympics, the track continued to host international competitions, but that sporting future ended during the Bosnian War. Mount Trebević became a strategically important position during the Siege of Sarajevo and Bosnian Serb forces used parts of the track as artillery and defensive positions overlooking the city. Holes were cut through the concrete walls and the start buildings, refrigeration plant, pipes and switching equipment were badly damaged or destroyed. Limited restoration began in 2014 after the surrounding area had been cleared of mines, allowing the surviving course to be used for summer luge training, which uses wheels rather than ice, as well as walking and mountain biking.
The concrete structure remains sufficiently intact that complete restoration is technically possible, and several proposals have been made to return it to competitive use. Unfortunately, replacing the refrigeration system, start houses and switching equipment while meeting modern safety standards would amount to an expensive reconstruction rather than a modest repair. Plans connected with a possible Barcelona-Pyrenees bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics did not progress after that bid fell away, so for now the track remains an extraordinary mixture of Olympic venue, war ruin, street-art gallery and woodland footpath.
For anyone wanting to see the track as it was in 1984, this is quite an exciting video. I hadn’t realised that it was possible to walk the entire length of the track, which surprised and delighted me. Given that, I wanted to include quite a few photos which I’m sure is a treat of sorts for my extensive readership of about three. Apologies that I haven’t captioned every photo, but it’s going to be hard to come with unique commentary for random bits of luge track.
