Olympic luger dies in training run.

[BabyMine]

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/35369187/

Quote:

"Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled during training, went over the track wall and struck an unpadded steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Center. Paramedics and doctors were unable to revive the 21-year-old luger, who died at a hospital, the International Olympic Committee said. "

[MartiesMom2B]

What's disgusting is NBC replaying his fall over and over again.

[BabyMine]

What's disgusting is NBC replaying his fall over and over again.

I hate when they do that. Brian Williams was talking and every couple of secounds they would play it.

[wellyes]

I had NO IDEA that the TV station would play someone's death like that. Disgusting.

Very sad for that man that died.

[bubbaray]

CTV only showed it once. They then switched to interviews of drs, current and former athletes re a discussion about this particular track. Its considered the most dangerous in the world right now.

Seriously. WHY? This track is supposed to be a "legacy" facility that the public will be able to use. Yeah. Let me try that. Um, not so much.

[bubbaray]

More here: http://www.ctvolympics.ca/luge/news/newsid=39315.html?cid=rsstgam

More on the track design: http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=39462.html?cid=rss

[lchang25000]

Heard about it and saw the video earlier...very scary, sad, and tragic.

[mamicka]

OK, I haven't heard a lot about this or looked into how this could have happened. I know nothing, absolutely nothing about luge or any other sport for that matter. However, when I first heard about this I imagined that the luger flew like 20 feet off the track & it was like a never-could-you-predict-this-happening kind of situation. I have to say that when I saw the footage (thank you, NBC :( ) I was/am shocked that this is even possible. Plexiglass, anyone? Padded poles? (although I'm not sure that would have been enough in this case anyway) It just seems so... not well thought out or something. I mean, I get that these are dangerous sports. Really, I do. But does that mean that there shouldn't be obvious safety measures? I mean, if it was obvious to me, as clueless about this stuff as I am, I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me & the poor guy died & it really burns me...

I will be haunted by that video & I doubt I'll be watching any luge events any time soon.

[bubbaray]

Allison, that was DH's reaction too (he's an engineer). "Design fault".

So so tragic.

[tnrnchick74]

I'm very sorry for his family, friends, and fellow countrymen/women. RIP.

[KrisM]

OK, I haven't heard a lot about this or looked into how this could have happened. I know nothing, absolutely nothing about luge or any other sport for that matter. However, when I first heard about this I imagined that the luger flew like 20 feet off the track & it was like a never-could-you-predict-this-happening kind of situation. I have to say that when I saw the footage (thank you, NBC :( ) I was/am shocked that this is even possible. Plexiglass, anyone? Padded poles? (although I'm not sure that would have been enough in this case anyway) It just seems so... not well thought out or something. I mean, I get that these are dangerous sports. Really, I do. But does that mean that there shouldn't be obvious safety measures? I mean, if it was obvious to me, as clueless about this stuff as I am, I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me & the poor guy died & it really burns me...

I will be haunted by that video & I doubt I'll be watching any luge events any time soon.

Those were my thoughts as well. Also, why does it have to go so fast? 90mph? It would still be human against human at 30mph, you know?

I'm glad the video was pulled from many places. I didn't see it, but saw some pictures and descriptions. What an awful, awful thing.

[DrSally]

So very sad. I was so shocked at the video. I wish they wouldn't have kept playing it.

[sunshine873]

So very sad. Yes, luge is a dangerous sport, as are many winter olympic sports. But the huge steel beams are obviously a design flaw, but that doesn't matter now.

I'm with everyone else...shame on NBC. Did you really need to play it over and over again? It made me nauseous.

[lchang25000]

Probe: track didn’t cause luger’s death

Olympic officials decided late Friday night against any major changes in the track or any delays in competition and even doubled up on the schedule in the wake of the horrifying accident that claimed the life of a 21-year-old luger from the republic of Georgia.

They said they would raise the wall where the slider flew off the track and make an unspecified “change in the ice profile”—but only as a preventative measure “to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.”

More of the article here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/luge/news?slug=ap-lug-lugerdies&prov=ap&type=lgns

[bubbaray]

Canadian media is calling it major changes to the track.

[baymom]

So heartbreaking. I keep thinking of how proud his family must have been that he was going to the Olympics and then this... Then one of the NBC announcers was talking about how he never worries about the top 10-15 athletes but how so many of the courses (ski jumping, luge, ect.) are so very dangerous for the athletes from countries where they don't get the same level of training/opportunities to practice as the more elite athletes... For some reason, that just struck me as doubly tragic... So very sad that such a young man lost his life this way...

[doberbrat]

Plexiglass, anyone? Padded poles? (although I'm not sure that would have been enough in this case anyway) .

was thinking abt this last night. if you're going 90mph, I doubt crashing into plexiglass or padded poles is much less deadly. he seemed to hit it with the back of his head - I doubt anything would have saved that poor boy



They said they would raise the wall where the slider flew off the track and make an unspecified “change in the ice profile”—but only as a preventative measure “to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.”

I almost think this is worse... the athletes have been training on it for a while and now they're going to change thing?

its so very sad. and I'm furious at NBC for playing the video w/o warning on early news 5:30 I think it was - I sure didnt want to have to explain that to my 4yo.

[bubbaray]

Georgia is criticizing the FIL and Vanoc: http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=40313.html#officials+delay+reopening+olympi c+sliding+track

I dunno. Seems pretty basic to me to at least put padding up when athletes are barrelling down the ramp at 150km/h

[tylersmama]

I agree that padding would be a good idea, but honestly, I don't think padding would have helped in this instance. I watched the video last night, and that poor man didn't stand a chance at the speed that he hit that pole, padding or not. :(

[♥ms.pacman♥]

i just read about this..such a tragedy. :(

[BabyMine]

NBC has decided to not rerun the video during the Olympics. That's great and all but they should have decided not to run it at all.

[tnrnchick74]

NBC has decided to not rerun the video during the Olympics. That's great and all but they should have decided not to run it at all.

I TOTALLY agree. It would have been available on other places, but I think it taints NBC's coverage of the Olympics.

[newg]

As pp have said......something needs to be done besides making the wall a little higher.............they have protective fences around race tracks, football fields and tennis courts to keep fans and athletes safe.......they should have some kind of barrier to keep the racer on the track...............even the skiers have some kind of wall to help try to keep them on the course if they fall.

[arivecchi]

This seems to get hairier by the minute....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/sports/olympics/19luge.html?hp&emc=na

[wellyes]

NBC has decided to not rerun the video during the Olympics. That's great and all but they should have decided not to run it at all.
I think they would not have run it had he been an American athlete. And of course they never should have run it at all.

[codex57]

As for safety, I don't think it's a matter of barriers. You might as well completely encircle the run then.

It's more a problem of access. The home field tends to deny access. They need to allow more practice runs.

I don't think speed or open areas were a problem. If you watched, the top lugers didn't really have problems, and they were going faster. If they crashed, it wasn't too bad.

It's just that this poor guy made a relatively major mistake and crashed big time in just the right spot. Freak accident thing, where I think the best thing would have been more practice time.