With its slip-sliding Jamaicans and Monaco's Prince Albert occasionally in a can, bobsleigh, as Olympianados call it, has long seemed a silly sport. There's always some wacky thing going on, like the track melting in Calgary or summer-sports stars like hurdler Edwin Moses trying to hitch a ride to a medal. This year was going to be different. This year, since women would be competing for the first time and since some of the best women sliders were from the U.S., Americans would be engaged by a fair, clean and friendly competition. Congenial. Sweet.
Well, when you board a sled,...