Luge at the 1980 Winter Olympics

As in 1968, the luge competitions were not held on the bobsleigh track, although it was situated nearly parallel to the Mt. Van Hoevenberg bob track that had also been used for the 1932 Winter Olympics. The architect of the track was also the same as in 1968, the Franco-Polish Jan Steler, whose design cost $5.8 million to realise.

Since the last Olympics, international luge competition had been expanded with a World Cup circuit, starting with the 1977/1978 season. The dominant East Germans were not regularly attending these competitions, however. Then again, the DDR sliders were not as successful as at a previous Olympics, taking “only” three medals. Nevertheless, this included two gold medals. For the first time, non-German speaking athletes won a medal in luge, as the Soviet Union took two medals in the women’s event.