Georgian Olympic luger dies after crash

[Sneakiecat]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia(AP)—A men’s luger from the former Soviet republic of Georgia died Friday after a crash during training, an Olympic official with direct knowledge of the situation said. The death cast a shocking pall over the Vancouver Olympics hours before the opening ceremony.
The official told The Associated Press that the International Olympic Committee received confirmation of Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the 21-year-old luger’s family hadn’t been notified yet.



There was no immediate comment from Vancouver organizers, international luge officials or the International Olympic Committee. At the Whistler track, officials said the IOC and VANOC were preparing a joint statement to be released Friday afternoon.

AP source: Georgian Olympic luger dies after crash - 2010 Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

 

[USF Sam]

I heard about this on ESPN.

He was doing a practice run down the luge track (that's supposedly the fastest track ever), lost control near the bottom and was hurled from his sled into a steel pole at the end of the run.

Very bad way to start the Games.

My best to his family. RIP.

 

[hart]

I read about that on MSN, they had a pretty graphic photo. There seems to be a debate about if they are making the run too swift. But I think they just ought to watch pole placement. Very sad....

 

[Alien Allen]

I have a hunch they won't be able to move the poles at this point in time for practice and the games itself.

The best they can do is to turn down the refrigeration and make the ice a bit soft. That will slow things down a bit

 

[Jessica]

that's terrible!!

 

[Sneakiecat]

This article has a picture from right before he hit the pole, I think. I think the whole debate about the speed is that fast doesn't always make for a better competition. Especially since several people have been hurt in the past couple of days. But I agree about the placement of the poles.

Luge must be shut down after tragedy - 2010 Olympics - Yahoo! Sports

 

[Alien Allen]

the poles hold up the roof

and might also have something to do with the support of the walls of the track too

It will have to be re engineered but doubt they can do much that would help at this point. Even padding is not going to save anybody going 86 MPH

When people fly off the track at even half this speed bad things will happen when it is a track like this. Back in the 60's I remember watching bobsled races in europe and one race one after another would fly up and over the walls. But those were tracks out where nothing was around the outside and they would put bails of straw for the people and sleds to go into if they ran off the track.

 

[Sneakiecat]

I know their purpose but it seems odd that they have to be right there. And speaking of sliding up the track, aren't they normally angled/curved to try and keep everything on the track? Granted, most of my Winter Olympic watching has been in the form of watching Cool Runnings repeatedly so my memory may in fact be Hollywood-based.

 

[Peter Parka]

Terrible tragedy. Good to see the standing ovation the Georgian team got at the opening ceremony.

 

[Maulds]

I was watching the news tonight and they showed the video of the crash in real-time. I didn't expect them to show that and I gotta say seeing it really bothered me. RIP dude.

 

[Peter Parka]

Cant say I'm happy about the seeming cover over of this. Apparently, the course is safe but the've adjusted it, seems like a contradiction to me. And seriously, you dont have to be a genius to work out that building a fucking great steel post right on the side of the course is a bad idea.:thumbdown