Sad News: Luger Dies in Winter Olympics

[RedFanAlways1966]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - An Olympic official with direct knowledge of the situation says a men's luger from the former Soviet republic of Georgia has died after a crash during training.

The official tells 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.

Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled near the finish Friday, went over the track wall and struck an unpadded steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Center.

[Boston Red]

Apparently there are some pretty graphic pictures of this one out there. I, for one, am not particularly interested in seeing what someone looks like after they've flown into a steel beam at 90 mph, though.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Yes there is. They just showed it on the 6pm news here and it was horrific. Really glad my daughter wasn't looking up at the time. He must've been doing over 60 mph right into a steel pole. *shudders*

~edit~ 80+ mph, just said it on NBC opening ceremony show. Sometimes I don't think they even think. They even slowed it down. The first time I saw it was at full speed. Nasty, nasty, nasty.

[OSUredsFAN]

Yes there is. They just showed it on the 6pm news here and it was horrific. Really glad my daughter wasn't looking up at the time. He must've been doing over 60 mph right into a steel pole. *shudders*

~edit~ 80+ mph, just said it on NBC opening ceremony show. Sometimes I don't think they even think. They even slowed it down. The first time I saw it was at full speed. Nasty, nasty, nasty.

Well they did warn the audience that it may not be suitable to some viewers

[_Sir_Charles_]

Well they did warn the audience that it may not be suitable to some viewers

Oh, I missed that. That's somewhat better. Still not sure they should've shown it at all though.

[RBA]

Criminal.

[RedsBaron]

I can remember meeting Chuck Yeager about five years ago, when Yeager was 80 years old. He told the group of us a story about how he had recently made a run in either a bobsled or luge (I forget which), adding that the next day during a competition he saw someone beheaded in a crash. I never checked out Yeager's story, but what made an impression on me was how "matter-of-fact" he seemed to be about the event. It may take that kind of personality to make a successful fighter pilot and test pilot.

[cincinnati chili]

I can remember meeting Chuck Yeager about five years ago, when Yeager was 80 years old. He told the group of us a story about how he had recently made a run in either a bobsled or luge (I forget which), adding that the next day during a competition he saw someone beheaded in a crash. I never checked out Yeager's story, but what made an impression on me was how "matter-of-fact" he seemed to be about the event. It may take that kind of personality to make a successful fighter pilot and test pilot.

Probably not true. It's been a couple decades since a luger died (several decades since on died in the Olympics), but I don't know about boblsed.

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Would it have been too much trouble to enclose the track with netting or pad the steal beams with foam?

[Red Heeler]

Would it have been too much trouble to enclose the track with netting or pad the steal beams with foam?

That was my first thought as well. After thinking about it for a bit, there isn't enough padding in the world to make hitting a steel beam at 90 mph less than lethal. Higher banking on the turns would be the only thing that might have prevented the tragedy. Once he left the track, at that speed, anything he hit would have likely been fatal.

[camisadelgolf]

He had a helmet and very light padding. I haven't been paying much attention to the incident, but initially, I heard a lot of people blame it on human error. Really? How do you know blame the course? I read that, relatively, the course was much faster than the other ones. I hope everyone moves on from this quickly with the event having as little affect on everyone involved as possible, but it's clear to me that this will need to have a change on future luging events.

[bucksfan2]

He had a helmet and very light padding. I haven't been paying much attention to the incident, but initially, I heard a lot of people blame it on human error. Really? How do you know blame the course? I read that, relatively, the course was much faster than the other ones. I hope everyone moves on from this quickly with the event having as little affect on everyone involved as possible, but it's clear to me that this will need to have a change on future luging events.

I consider myself a pretty advanced skiier. I can ski pretty much anything, anywhere. Although I don't venture over to the cliffs, don't really want to chance it jumping off rocks. Once a year we venture out to the Vail area to ski and we usually ski a couple of days at Beaver Creek. If you don't know, Beaver Creek host a mens world cup downhill run. I have skiied the run a handful of times after it is deemed ready for the general public. Even at that point it is very icy and if you don't pay complete attention to the hill your likely to end up on you butt. This is just skiing at your own pace, not bombing it down the hill like Olympians.

I have also skiied the 2002 slalom course at Deer Valley. Spent the majority of the steeper hill sliding down on my back. Talked to a ski patrol guy at the bottom and he said the ice it down ever more for the competition.

I guess my point is that these guys aren't your average athletes. These guys are the best of the best. They shouldn't be on the course if they aren't qualified. They also know the risk that is involved in these sports. If they are scared or fearful they shouldn't be on the hill/course. They Olympics have set standards so there are no more Eddie the Eagle scenes. It is a sad scene, but after hearing what the Gerogian luger said to his father makes me question whether or not he should have been on the course in the first place.

[Hoosier Red]

I think its saying something when even among the elite athletes this course had a reputation. Apparantly the competitors had taken to naming that turn the 50/50 turn.

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That was my first thought as well. After thinking about it for a bit, there isn't enough padding in the world to make hitting a steel beam at 90 mph less than lethal. Higher banking on the turns would be the only thing that might have prevented the tragedy. Once he left the track, at that speed, anything he hit would have likely been fatal.

Good points. I can't disagree.

In that case, why couldn't they just enclose the whole thing like a tube at a water park? Make the top half clear so they'd still be visible. It seems like common sense to me, but I admittedly know nothing at all about this sport.

[bucksfan2]

Good points. I can't disagree.

In that case, why couldn't they just enclose the whole thing like a tube at a water park? Make the top half clear so they'd still be visible. It seems like common sense to me, but I admittedly know nothing at all about this sport.

Frost. It really is impractical to enclose the track when you consider the excess heat that the track would maintain. Then you have the temperature of the ice and freezing that. If they enclosed the track I am pretty sure the clear top would be full of frost and have very little viability.

[reds1869]

Frost. It really is impractical to enclose the track when you consider the excess heat that the track would maintain. Then you have the temperature of the ice and freezing that. If they enclosed the track I am pretty sure the clear top would be full of frost and have very little viability.

Plus it would make it really difficult for rescue workers if a participant were injured on the track. They would have to travel the entire length of the track rather than hopping over the wall at the scene of the crash.

[Boston Red]

The WSJ did a pretty in-depth look at how this track came to be so dangerous. It does not make the participants look good in light of the death.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704804204575069753617335586.html

[macro]

Frost. It really is impractical to enclose the track when you consider the excess heat that the track would maintain. Then you have the temperature of the ice and freezing that. If they enclosed the track I am pretty sure the clear top would be full of frost and have very little viability.

Okay, forget the clear top. Just make it opaque. Can you imagine the suspense of everyone wondering when the guy is going to pop out the other end? <kidding>

:laugh:

[Yachtzee]

He had a helmet and very light padding. I haven't been paying much attention to the incident, but initially, I heard a lot of people blame it on human error. Really? How do you know blame the course? I read that, relatively, the course was much faster than the other ones. I hope everyone moves on from this quickly with the event having as little affect on everyone involved as possible, but it's clear to me that this will need to have a change on future luging events.

I was listening to the radio today where they discussed the possibility of human error as the cause of the accident and they pretty much ruled it out. They said the Georgian luger was an experienced luger who had over 20 training runs on that particular track and came from a family of lugers. I think the problem is that the competitors are trained to make the fastest run possible and, by the time they reach the bottom, they may not realize they're going too fast to maintain control. I think in the future they might be wise to redesign some of these courses to have netting similar to what they have on the downhill courses. That way if someone does lose control, they fly into safety nets instead of poles.

[bucksfan2]

I was listening to the radio today where they discussed the possibility of human error as the cause of the accident and they pretty much ruled it out. They said the Georgian luger was an experienced luger who had over 20 training runs on that particular track and came from a family of lugers. I think the problem is that the competitors are trained to make the fastest run possible and, by the time they reach the bottom, they may not realize they're going too fast to maintain control. I think in the future they might be wise to redesign some of these courses to have netting similar to what they have on the downhill courses. That way if someone does lose control, they fly into safety nets instead of poles.

I am somewhat surprised they don't have more safety netting up on the course. I also have read that there hasn't been a luge fatality in over 25 years. I have read conflicting stories about the cause of the accident. The IOC said it was luger error, the Georgian Luge Federation said it was not luger error. Even if this guy were an expert luger, which I am not doubting one bit, experts make errors.

[Yachtzee]

I am somewhat surprised they don't have more safety netting up on the course. I also have read that there hasn't been a luge fatality in over 25 years. I have read conflicting stories about the cause of the accident. The IOC said it was luger error, the Georgian Luge Federation said it was not luger error. Even if this guy were an expert luger, which I am not doubting one bit, experts make errors.

I don't know if the IOC and VANOC are the best ones to trust in this. They're the ones who participated in and signed off on the track design. Admitting publicly that the design of the track was at fault would basicly be taking responsibility for the death of an athlete and open them up to a lawsuit. However, I'd say most telling has been their actions since the accident, changing the start gates and adding padding and a wall to the dangerous section of the track. To me, it just seems ridiculous that they would have unpadded steel poles right at the exit of a high-speed turn. I think in any luge event, you have to expect that someone is going to have a bad run. However, the consequences should not result in a fatality.