Tragic Start To The Olympics. Luger Killed

casinterest · Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:43 pm

http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/w...er/2010/luge/news/story?id=4909034

Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed today while training on a luge track that has come under scrutiny for being too fast by many competitors.

It is a Tragic start to the Vancouver games, and I am still shocked by it. Although by now I am sure the video has been removed. It was on Youtube when his status was "injured". The accident was onre fo the most horrific incidents I have seen. I know the luge is by no means a generally safe sport, but this definately puts it into a sober perspective.

I hope the games go on to be successful, but this is an incident I will unfortunately associate with the games from here out.

[Edited 2010-02-12 12:43:53]

Dreadnought · Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:51 pm

Search for "Nodar Kumaritashvili video Huffington Post" - it's still there at least for now. Very tragic. The footage seems a little speeded up, but even then it looks like an extremely fast track.

My condolences to his family.

B747forever · Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:07 pm

My deepest condolences to his family and friends

The video makes me shudder. It looks so bad.

May he rest in peace.

Yellowstone · Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:14 pm

Quoting Dreadnought (Reply 1):
Search for "Nodar Kumaritashvili video Huffington Post" - it's still there at least for now. Very tragic. The footage seems a little speeded up, but even then it looks like an extremely fast track.

From watching some of the earlier training runs - that's not sped up, that is actually how fast that track is. One luger hit 95.7 mph during a training run yesterday, and several racers had expressed concerns that the track was pushing the limits of the speed/safety balance.

Dreadnought · Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:30 pm

Quoting Yellowstone (Reply 3):
From watching some of the earlier training runs - that's not sped up, that is actually how fast that track is.

You're kidding! If that's the case, I don't know how they can run the events. Maybe they can raise the walls in a day or two. Nodar hit a f&%king exposed support beam exactly where you would expect a rider to get unstable and go high on the wall - and if it's not high enough, over it.

This was very predictable, IMHO.

OA412 · Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:42 pm

Quoting Yellowstone (Reply 3):
From watching some of the earlier training runs - that's not sped up, that is actually how fast that track is. One luger hit 95.7 mph during a training run yesterday, and several racers had expressed concerns that the track was pushing the limits of the speed/safety balance.

Seriously? If that's not sped up at all, that's the fastest luge track I have ever seen. It seems to me like adjustments, if possible, need to be made.

LOT767-300ER · Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:13 pm

Heres a link to the video

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0ba_1266003820

Good god, Ive never seen a luger go that fast. And those cement poles right by the end of the turn? WTF were they thinking designing this thing

Yellowstone · Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:20 pm

Quoting Dreadnought (Reply 4):
You're kidding! If that's the case, I don't know how they can run the events. Maybe they can raise the walls in a day or two. Nodar hit a f&%king exposed support beam exactly where you would expect a rider to get unstable and go high on the wall - and if it's not high enough, over it.

This was very predictable, IMHO.

I'm kind of conflicted, to be honest. The luger didn't run off the top of the wall - he came down off the line too fast, bounced off the inside wall, and was thrown over the outside wall, which was a good 4 or 5 feet high. In my admittedly limited luge watching experience, I've never seen someone be thrown from a sled that hard - lugers tend to stay in the track when they crash, and it's quite possible the track designers didn't think a crash trajectory like Kumaritashvili's was possible. I don't know whether the crash was due to an excessively fast track, or to Kumaritashvili winding up on the wrong end of a tragic, fluke bounce that could have happened on any track. Although not placing padding on those columns seems rather an oversight - even if you're pretty darn sure no one's going to leave the track at that point, it's a simple step to take.

Here's a photo from the ESPN website showing Kumaritashvili leaving the track, just prior to impact. The steel column with which he collided is clearly visible.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/galle...argePhoto?id=4909596&story=4909034

Quoting OA412 (Reply 5):
Seriously? If that's not sped up at all, that's the fastest luge track I have ever seen.

It is the fastest sliding track in the world - for comparison, the second fastest track is the one at Park City, Utah, where racers reached a top speed of 86.6 mph, a full 9 mph slower than Whistler.

LOT767-300ER · Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:51 pm

Why dont they just have safety netting around the end of the corners so if you do fly out you will just bounce back onto the track and not into a cement post. The cost of that would be what? $1.50 for the whole track?

Arrow · Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:51 pm

Quoting LOT767-300ER (Reply 6):
WTF were they thinking designing this thing

I'm sure this is going to be second-guessed ad infinitum by every media outlet in the world, since most of them are at Whistler now. My prediction is that the track design and construction -- approved by god-knows how many committees, signed off on by umpteen luge/bobsleigh/skeleton authorities, and given a final OK by the IOC -- will nevertheless be determined to be over the top. Pushed the envelope too far. That no one calculated this specific accident into the safety formula because of its infinitesimally small odds won't matter. Someone is going to be blamed, we'll accept nothing less.

Hindsight is always 20-20.

But what a tragedy for that young man and his family. Maybe it's time to get rid of that "faster, higher,stronger" mantra that permeates all sports these days. The risk is obviously far too great.

fatmirjusufi · Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:59 pm

I have just watched the video. It's so tragic.

RIP

Sabena332 · Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:06 pm

Horrible! I just saw the video on German tv. Why must every major sports-event recently starts with such a shit? (the attack on Togo's football team is another example).

So sad that he could not experience the games, may he RIP!

Patrick

Edit:

Quoting LOT767-300ER (Reply 8):
Why dont they just have safety netting around the end of the corners so if you do fly out you will just bounce back onto the track and not into a cement post. The cost of that would be what? $1.50 for the whole track?

100% agreement with my fellow Polak!

[Edited 2010-02-12 15:11:12]

oli80 · Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:08 pm

Quoting LOT767-300ER (Reply 6):
WTF were they thinking designing this thing

After having seen the video that is the first thing that went through my mind. It looks like an accident waiting to happen.

Very sad start the olympics.

LOT767-300ER · Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:19 pm

Quoting Arrow (Reply 9):
I'm sure this is going to be second-guessed ad infinitum by every media outlet in the world, since most of them are at Whistler now. My prediction is that the track design and construction -- approved by god-knows how many committees, signed off on by umpteen luge/bobsleigh/skeleton authorities, and given a final OK by the IOC -- will nevertheless be determined to be over the top. Pushed the envelope too far. That no one calculated this specific accident into the safety formula because of its infinitesimally small odds won't matter. Someone is going to be blamed, we'll accept nothing less.

I dont agree with you and let me tell you why.

I think that all these people who checked off on this are people that know this sport and thought "No way this couldnt happen." If there was a fresh set of eyes, say one of us on this forum right away we would have said this is insane. Certainly before I even saw the guy crash in this video the first thing I thought was Why isnt there a safety net there?
Its basic physics and common sense that when you are going 90mph you can fly out of the track when theres nothing stopping you there. Thats the same reason why they for example have these safety fences at NASCAR tracks at the end of turns.

Still dont understand why there was no safety fence which would cost a couple hundred bucks to build.

aerobalance · Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:23 pm

Quoting LOT767-300ER (Reply 6):
WTF were they thinking designing this thing

Obviously, they weren't...

RIP to the luge athlete.

After watching the video you can see that his entry in the two previous corners was high which put him in too low for entry into the corner in which he was killed. Because he entered low his exit was high thus he barrel rolled on exit. Mistake? Doesn't matter.. Stupidity in having those steel poles there.

ltbewr · Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:29 pm

I wonder if there is any way to relocate the starting points for this track or put in some other emergency rules to reduce the speed on it. Any death is bad and this is one too many. I hope he didn't suffer. I expect some acknowlegement of this death will be in tonight's opening ceremony (like a moment of silence at a suitable point). A short time ago (about 6 PM EST) some news reports in the USA were saying that the Georgia team may withdraw from participation in this Olympics due to the death of their team mate. Events, including the luge, start tomorrow (Saturday) on this track.

One issue arising from this track is that the Canadians spent much of their team training on this track and many from other countries believe it is giving them an unfair advantage and not given enough time to practice on it before the games. The lack of practice time is not in the best interest of safety for all competitors and could have contributed in this terrible accident.

tbar220 · Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:33 pm

I have to agree with this

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/van...Lp3ftztMr.w0QdotLV_?urn=oly,219393

They should cancel the luge event for these Olympics. This track is just too dangerous.

fatmirjusufi · Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:36 pm

Quoting Oli80 (Reply 12):
It looks like an accident waiting to happen.

...and (un)fortunately he is the first athlete (luger) to lose his life in this dangerous sport. It happened in 2010 and at Olympics!
As the others mentioned before, the sport opening ceremonies during this year have started blackly. Let's hope the tragic events in sports will not happen anymore.

photopilot · Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:50 pm

Quoting LTBEWR (Reply 15):
One issue arising from this track is that the Canadians spent much of their team training on this track and many from other countries believe it is giving them an unfair advantage and not given enough time to practice on it before the games.

Oh come on now, that's sour grapes and you know it. Are you seriously saying that the American team didn't have an advantage by training more at Park City Utah, or Lake Placid or the French team at St. Moritz, or the Italian team at the Eugenio Monti track?
National teams will always train at their "local" track more than other destinations. That just so happens to be Canada this time around.

Let's instead remember a fine athelete who died today, and honour his memory and sportsmanship.

Yellowstone · Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:54 pm

Quoting FatmirJusufi (Reply 17):
and (un)fortunately he is the first athlete (luger) to lose his life in this dangerous sport.

Certainly not the case. In fact, one of the 3 previous athletes to have died during Winter Olympics training was a luger who crashed on the track at Innsbruck prior to the 1964 Games there. The other two athletes died in ski crashes, which brings me to my second point. Downhill skiers reach velocities of up to 85 mph during their races, and ski accidents (some fatal) happen with some regularity. Yet we don't hear calls for those events to be canceled, or the course redesigned. I wonder if some of the knee-jerk "cancel the luge" response is due to the fact that luge is a fairly esoteric sport whose dangers most casual observers are unfamiliar with. When the first thing you hear about luge is that a racer was killed, you're going to think it's a very dangerous sport (imagine if the first you had heard of NASCAR was the report that Earnhardt had died). Contrast this with skiing, where we all know (and hence accept?) that every few years a skier is going to be seriously to fatally injured, but that the vast majority of skiers make it down the hill unharmed.

Springbok747 · Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:58 pm

Tragic. But inevitable. If you are going to hurtle around on something moving at 96 mph, that close to the ground, with little protection (no safety capsule, nets etc) then something like this was bound to happen. RIP to the athlete who lost his life. And whoever designed this track without safety nets is an idiot.

Newark777 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:08 am

Quoting Arrow (Reply 9):
Hindsight is always 20-20.

Yet it's still eerily foreboding to see the previously taped press conferences of lugers talking about how fast the track has been, and stories of people crashing more than usual.

The video of the crash is very disturbing; I don't think I'll have that image or sound of helmet on metal out of my mind for some time.

photopilot · Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:20 am

Why this track means fear.........

A very interesting, and somewhat prophetic article from the Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper, that ironically first published this story on Saturday Feb 6th, 2010

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=39462.html?cid=rss

racko · Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:47 am

"Does the worst have to happen before something changes?" said the head coach of the German luger team about the track in Whistler - in December 2008!

Apparently the engineers constructed the track and the safety features for speeds up to 137 km/h - the actual speeds reached were in excess of 155 km/h. And that on a track for the Olympics were there are not only the best of the best competing...

Silver1SWA · Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:54 am

Very sad, indeed. Condolences to his family, friends and country.

Is it just me, or has there been a huge number of injuries already?! It seems every day I read of an athlete, especially American athletes (of course) getting hurt in trials and practices. Maybe it's just because I am older, but I don't remember hearing so many stories like that leading up to Olympics in the past. I don't think it's just the luge event that has been affected by this bigger, faster stronger mentality...

TheCol · Sat Feb 13, 2010 1:00 am

Quoting LOT767-300ER (Reply 6):
Good god, Ive never seen a luger go that fast. And those cement poles right by the end of the turn? WTF were they thinking designing this thing

It's Vanoc, what do you expect? Being shortsighted is what they're good at.

Quoting Arrow (Reply 9):
I'm sure this is going to be second-guessed ad infinitum by every media outlet in the world

Just another thing for Global and the CBC to bitch about. They both regularly re-hash the same shit twice, if there isn't anything else they can bash.

Quoting LOT767-300ER (Reply 13):
Still dont understand why there was no safety fence which would cost a couple hundred bucks to build.

Because money is Vanoc's #1 priority.

Quoting LTBEWR (Reply 15):
Georgia team may withdraw from participation in this Olympics due to the death of their team mate.

The whole team? What logical reason would be behind that decision?

Quoting Springbok747 (Reply 20):
And whoever designed this track without safety nets is an idiot.

That's been common knowledge from the start.

rfields5421 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 1:27 am

Quoting Dreadnought (Reply 4):
Maybe they can raise the walls in a day or two. Nodar hit a f&%king exposed support beam exactly where you would expect a rider to get unstable and go high on the wall - and if it's not high enough, over it.

Quoting LOT767-300ER (Reply 6):
WTF were they thinking designing this thing

The beam is part of the support for the roof over the track to prevent the sun from melting the track. An unstable track where the sun creates soft spots is a substantially great threat to the safety of luge and bobsled participants.

It would not have saved this young man's life, but I cannot understand where there was not some padding on uphill side of the posts. Had the posts been padded, the head first angle of impact would have broken his neck rather than crushing his skull. But at a different angle of impact padding could be a life saver.

Quoting Yellowstone (Reply 7):
I've never seen someone be thrown from a sled that hard - lugers tend to stay in the track when they crash, and it's quite possible the track designers didn't think a crash trajectory like Kumaritashvili's was possible

Quoting LOT767-300ER (Reply 8):
Why dont they just have safety netting around the end of the corners so if you do fly out you will just bounce back onto the track and not into a cement post.

Quoting LOT767-300ER (Reply 13):
Why isnt there a safety net there?

I have seen discussion in the past about safety nets on bobsled/ luge courses. Not specifically about this course but about others. The sport participants have been against safety nets. Very few crashes can send a sled or a contestant over the wall, but many do fly up into the air.

The athletes are worried about two things. If a safety net were to catch the sled it would make the sled a very life threatening object. They want the sled to continue down the course, not be stopped on the course.

The second is that a net would catch a participant and throw him/ her down onto the track probably with greatly increased force. A net would have to act as a spring to be safe.

I'm not saying there should not be some type of net, just remember some of the arguments against them in the past.

Dreadnought · Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:04 am

Quoting racko (Reply 23):
Apparently the engineers constructed the track and the safety features for speeds up to 137 km/h - the actual speeds reached were in excess of 155 km/h. And that on a track for the Olympics were there are not only the best of the best competing...

That is a major miscalculation. Of the same sort which caused another famous Canadian 'whoopsie' - the Gimli Glider. I wonder id someone didn't mess up a metric to imperial conversion or something along those lines. Miscalculating your energies by more than 10% in this day and age is pretty serious.

And on top of that, nobody did anything to correct the problem before the start of the Games. This track wasn't completed only last week, was it?

canoecarrier · Sat Feb 13, 2010 3:14 am

Personally I doubt putting some padding on the beam would make any difference at all when you hit it at 155 km/hr. What I would suggest is putting up some plexiglas similar to the walls on a hockey rink to keep them on the track. I had heard earlier today that this safety feature isn't included in the design because it would interfere with TV coverage.

Someone mentioned that this is the fastest track in the world behind the Utah track. Both tracks were designed by the same architectural design firm.

Mir · Sat Feb 13, 2010 3:27 am

Quoting Yellowstone (Reply 3):
From watching some of the earlier training runs - that's not sped up, that is actually how fast that track is.

Holy crap. I don't follow luge that much (though skeleton is arguably my favorite olympic sport), so I don't have a great frame of reference, but he was going seriously fast early, and it can only go up from there.

Quoting Dreadnought (Reply 4):
Maybe they can raise the walls in a day or two.

That's what they have to do. I don't see anything that he did blatantly wrong - suboptimal line, but he shouldn't lose his life for that. They've talked about using a lower start point for all the races instead of just the women's race, which would help. But raising the walls would be the best thing to do. Fortunately, this is one of the first events, so they've got time to do it - postpone all the sliding events until the track can be fixed, and if it screws up the TV sightlines, too damn bad.

RIP to Mr. Kumaritashvili. My thoughts are with his family and friends, his teammates (who I would not fault one bit if they decided to withdraw), and the nation of Georgia (who has had a rough go of it lately, and really didn't need this).

-Mir

MillwallSean · Sat Feb 13, 2010 3:33 am

Makes you wonder why they put a concrete post in that place?
Full investigation by the IOC (suggesting they are not to impressed by this)

Sad lets hope that we don't see anymore accidents like this.

RIP

grozzy · Sat Feb 13, 2010 3:54 am

Watching the opening ceremony at the moment, found it a bit strange that only the Australians and Georgians wore black armbands.

rfields5421 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 4:32 am

Quoting MillwallSean (Reply 30):
Makes you wonder why they put a concrete post in that place?

Already explained

Quoting RFields5421 (Reply 26):
The beam is part of the support for the roof over the track to prevent the sun from melting the track. An unstable track where the sun creates soft spots is a substantially great threat to the safety of luge and bobsled participants.

Stealthz · Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:17 am

Quoting grozzy (Reply 31):
found it a bit strange that only the Australians and Georgians wore black armbands.

Several others did as well but harder to see on their uniforms. was kind of surprised by some that didn't though.

dxing · Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:38 am

Quoting canoecarrier (Reply 28):
What I would suggest is putting up some plexiglas similar to the walls on a hockey rink to keep them on the track.

My first thought when I saw the video. The angle of attack of anyone or anything hitting it would be deflected back down the track with no way for anything to catch. Bet there is some in place before actual competition begins. If I were a luger having to compete on that course my mind would be on that final turn all the way down.

QantasA333 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:46 am

Which countries did wear black armbands for the athlete?

Btw, RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili

scrubbsywg · Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:50 am

Quoting Silver1SWA (Reply 24):
It seems every day I read of an athlete, especially American athletes (of course) getting hurt in trials and practices.

that is part of sports, especially the winter games. While people reserve the term extreme sports for those in the x games, most of the winter olympic sports are what i would call extreme. downhill skiing at 100km/h, luge, skeleton, snowboarding, bobsleigh, etc. can be very dangerous. i personally got a concussion snowboarding in banff once. And as far as 'especially americans'...i'm not sure what you meant. many athletes are injured and can't compete. Cindy Klassen(canadian speed skater) is still suffering after knee surgery and she won 5 medals in Turin. Canada lost something like 3 medal hopeful skiers in late 2009 in something like a two week span. I am sure every country has lost athletes to injury. part of the game they play.

my take on the accident: this was a freak occurrence that caused him to launch out of the track. when he hit the end of the curve, he hit it almost perfectly in order for it to act as a ramp. Of all the crashes i have seen on video from this track it just wasn't the same. However, the fact those steel poles were so close to the track irks me. I am not sure padding would have helped, though. i can't imagine it would have been difficult for them to design that sun shield in order to move the posts out a few feet.

RIP Nodar. All the athletes, the host nation of canada, and the world are thinking of you for these games.

Stealthz · Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:53 am

Quoting QantasA333 (Reply 35):
Which countries did wear black armbands for the athlete?

As mentioned, Australia and several of the earlier countries into the stadium, then Georgia of course but I didn't see any after that.( Ukraine appeared to have a small black ribbon on the sleeve of their jackets)

Puzzling why such a show of respect suddenly stopped, perhaps some IOC official found some arcane rule prohibiting it(or the assembly area techies ran out of gaffer tape!)

Cheers

hoons90 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:12 am

Extremely tragic... My sincerest condolences to his family and friends.

CanadianDC10 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 7:28 am

I saw the video on the 11pm news tonight. I didn't think they would actually show the whole accident with him smashing into the poles, but they did. It was one of the most horrfying things I have ever seen in my life. I actually began to cry and I was so angry that they would show something so graphic and so saddening on TV. God bless him. What a tragic story. It shatters my heart. Poor guy.

My prayers are with his teammates, family, and friends. May he rest in peace.

windy95 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:42 pm

After watching the video and seeing how that track was laid out, I was horrified. Who designed that track? A whole line of support columns. It is criminal...........

DocLightning · Sat Feb 13, 2010 4:24 pm

The only consolation is that he likely had only a moment to realize that he was out of control and that death came instantly.

RIP, young man. A short life, but apparently a life well-lived.

I think the IOC should posthumously give him a Gold Medal.

Yellowstone · Sat Feb 13, 2010 4:30 pm

Quoting windy95 (Reply 40):
After watching the video and seeing how that track was laid out, I was horrified. Who designed that track? A whole line of support columns. It is criminal...........

I'm sure you'd find many other similar spots on other sliding tracks. You've got to have a roof over the track to keep the sun and snow off of it, and that's going to require some sort of support structure to hold it up. And since lugers very rarely crash such that they are launched out of the track... yeah, in hindsight they should have padded or moved those columns, but you can't ask anyone to foresee every possible way in which someone might crash. And even if you can foresee a way in which someone might crash, the push towards greater safety must be tempered with the knowledge that you can't entirely remove the danger from a sport where one travels at 85-95 mph down a sheet of ice with nothing but a helmet on.

Also - the investigation into the crash has concluded that the track was not at fault, and that the accident was caused by Kumaritashvili's failure to properly control his sled through the last two turns. This culminated in a total loss of control upon exiting turn 16. The track walls at the exit of turn 16 will be raised, and the ice profile reshaped to make the curve less severe.

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic...ens-luge-competition_274462nE.html

zanl188 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 4:36 pm

Quoting LOT767-300ER (Reply 13):
Certainly before I even saw the guy crash in this video the first thing I thought was Why isnt there a safety net there?
Its basic physics and common sense that when you are going 90mph you can fly out of the track when theres nothing stopping you there.

The safety fences at nascar tracks are there to protect the people in the stands, not the driver. A human body traveling at 90MPH hitting anything solid (padded post, net, steel beam, whatever) is going to have a seriously bad outcome....

Yellowstone · Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:02 pm

From the latest update, other modifications being made to the track include:
- a 12 foot wooden wall along the edge of the track where those steel columns are located
- the relocation of the start point from the men's start down to the women's start

LTU932 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:51 pm

Quoting MillwallSean (Reply 30):
Full investigation by the IOC (suggesting they are not to impressed by this)

The IOC will NOT intervene, I guarantee it. They only think about commerce, not about the athletes or their "official" political believes about peace, neutrality and peaceful co-existence of all cultures. Beijing 2008 was a prime example of how the IOC can be bought for the right price and get forgetful about their ideals of peace, otherwise they would have never given them the Olympics in the first place. Like I said, the IOC doesn't care about the athlete and the modern day Olympic ideals. Even the creator of the modern day Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin, sold himself out in his final years, as he apparently got in 1936 a "donation" by Adolf Hitler for the sum of 10,000 Reichsmark (according to the German Wikipedia article on Coubertin, who in his final years got into a personal financial crisis).

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 41):
I think the IOC should posthumously give him a Gold Medal.

But they won't. I agree with your idea, but knowing the IOC, they prefer to give gold medals to all the juiced athletes than to those who either died during the Olympics, or are simply there to participate.

I was actually looking forward to the Winter Games in Vancouver, but after all the usual bullshit by Jacques Rogge and the head of VANOC about the Olympic ideals, etc., I just hope I can get through watching them (I still like alpine skiing and hockey).

sudden · Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:54 pm

Very tragic and sad. So close to compete in the Olympic games among the best athletes in the world, and then this happens.
I find that he got the respect and attention he deserved during the opening ceremony. Well done to the organisers for doing this.

Aim for the sky!
Sudden

ajd1992 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:57 pm

R.I.P.

I saw the video on youtube and the crack of his head hitting the steel pole is just horrible. I hope he went quickly for his own sake, it was a horrible accident that should never have happened.

dxing · Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:03 pm

Looking at the video the opposite side of the track has a metal railing in front of some of the posts. Why not on the side where the Georgian went off the track? Also, I understand the need to keep the sun off the track but it seems as if the posts could have been sited farther back and the roof suspended underneath them thus giving some further clearance room. Just seems like a poor design at the bottom of the track.

I also understand they have determined the luger was at fault for losing control but that certainly does not mean it can't or won't happen to someone else.

LTU932 · Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:07 pm

I've seen the video again and wonder, who the hell had the bright idea of exposing those steel pillars, or even putting them so close to the ice circuit? Whoever designed the track should probably stand trial for manslaughter for this. Yes, Kumaritashvili was at fault for this major mistake, but in the end, it was the design of the track which cost him his life, because if it was properly designed, he would have probably gotten away with major injuries and a concussion at most.

[Edited 2010-02-13 10:09:22]

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