An Olympian braves the final turn in the Vancouver Olympics. (jonwick04/Flickr)

To luge is to race down a perilous course at speeds of more than 80 miles per hour, with the slider on his or her back barrelling down the ice track feet first. The luge is not for the faint of heart. In fact, luging is essentially the most dangerous, and terrifying, event of the Olympics.

It isn’t brand new information that American’s have an affinity to danger - Nik Wallenda’s tight roping across the Grand Canyon drew nearly 13 million viewers - but for one reason or another, luging does not garner nearly as much respect as it deserves. The sport receives little attention in the United States, with the Winter Olympics providing luge its only significant exposure every four years.

Maybe Americans are slightly bitter over Germany’s domination of the sport, as well as the continued success of lugers from Austria and Italy. While Americans have never won a gold medal in an Olympic luge event, these powerhouse countries can no longer hold it over our heads that America has not won any medals in men’s or women’s singles.

American Erin Hamlin broke that barrier to the Olympic podium earlier this week.

2014 Sochi Olympics bronze medalist Erin Hamlin, with her mother. (LakePlacidRegion/Flickr)

American Erin Hamlin took the bronze in women’s singles, finishing only .00238 seconds behind silver medalist Tatjana Huefner of Germany. The gold, for both men and women’s singles went to German Olympians Felix Loch and Natalie Geisenberg, but that’s already old news. Twenty-nine of the thirty-nine medals given out over the last thirteen Olympics had gone to Germany, while none had gone to Americans. Until now.

Hamlin finished her first two runs of the women's singles luge competition in third place, which was already a feat no American, male or female, had ever accomplished. It was an unpredictable Olympic moment: a few weeks ago, most of America had never heard of Erin Hamlin and luge junkies overlooked her, given the lack of American experience on the podium.

Even the new design of the luge track couldn’t prevent Erin - and America - from earning the medal they've yearned for for fifty years. Despite the uphill sections, an unusual design element for a sliding-sport venue, Hamlin and her fellow competitors still posted competitive times. Though most luge tracks don't have any rise in elevation along their courses, Sochi had three uphill stretches.

These sections are most likely a direct response to the death of a luger at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. During a practice run, 21-year-old Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled near the finish line at the Whistler Sliding Center, causing him to slide over the track wall, and collide with an unpadded steel support pole at 90 mph. As straightforward as it is sobering, these sections are designed to protect the athletes and slightly slow them down.

Hamlin - and other thrill-thirsty competitors - welcomed this change for safety.

A competitor races fearlessly down the track. (jonwick04/Flickr)

While still able to maintain speeds upwards of 85 mph, the larger and less tight turns provided a perfect balance of challenging and manageable. As it turned out, Hamlin managed those turns quite well.

Luge is still not a very popular or greatly publicized sport in the United States, but after an American medal, the fan base and support for the high-speed action has grown during these Winter Games. With adventure, anxiety, and now an American thrown into the mix, the sport's popularity has slowly but steadily begun to increase.

Maybe now it won’t just be in four year intervals.

Reach writer Durga Ghosh here.