German lugers had those controversial yellow booties, but the U.S. doubles teams that finished second and third had a little surprise of their own--red booties made by Staudinger of Austria.
"We kept a good secret, I guess," U.S. luge Coach Wolfgang Schadler said.
Unable to get the same booties that the Germans wore from Adidas--a bootie that keeps the foot at a wind reducing angle--Schadler said he made a backup call to Staudinger, who provided the new booties that arrived earlier this week. The team wore them in practice, liked them, and wore them in Friday's race.
