Report: Luger dies in training-run crash

[Lil Missy]

Source: Associated Press

Kumaritashvili from ex-Soviet republic of Georgia hits steel pole

WHISTLER, British Columbia - 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 Olympics hours before the Vancouver Games were to open.

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.



Read more: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/35369187/ns/sports-olympic_sports/

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. I heard on the radio that the course they run on the luges

may have been designed incorrectly. The speeds attained by lugers is too much for the course design.

[Tempest]

4. It's not a design flaw

It was designed to push the limits of the luge, bobsled and skeleton athletes.

They went too far to be sure. There's been a lot of accidents since it was opened for practice months ago.

http://www.cleveland.com/olympics/index.ssf/2010/02/sliding_track_was_built_for_wa.html

[RamboLiberal]

33. I'd call putting steel poles right next to a low wall

coming out of a turn dubbed 50/50 for how many will make it through a design flaw. I was surprised seeing the photos & video how many poles were in that stretch - looked like he was coming into a train station.

[OldDem_63]

40. Not just steel poles, UNPADDED steel poles.

At a point with a history of crashes! Jeez!

Anybody know if there's padding on those steel poles now?

[Abq_Sarah]

47. I'm pretty sure

Padding wouldn't help if you hit a pole at nearly 90mph.

This is a super fast track that was hailed world wide as a marvel of design when it was opened and certified. It requires more skill and control because it doesn't have the flaws that slow sliders down.

[HeresyLives]

2. Yes, died at 21.

It was his second crash in 2 days.

[Arrowhead2k1]

3. That track is simply unsafe. They can't possibly be thinking of still using it for the games now. nt

[alp227]

Sucks how an athlete died before the opening ceremony.

:cry:

They better fix/throw out this track, or else! Lawsuits abound!

[SidDithers]

5. They're reaching speeds of 153 km/h...

that's damn fast.

Sid

[Cal Carpenter]

6. Am I the only one who thought this was about Dick Lugar?

[DesertRat]

8. I did too!

I thought, what kind of training run is he doing at his age?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

9. LOL Me too.

[UpInArms]

11. I did - and then I thought it was about a gun

and was so confused!

Kept reading and re-reading and

finally understood. Sports - I just don't think of them first.

[HeresyLives]

14. Who's Dick Lugar?

[DJ13]

15. I think its a sex position, but Im not sure

:shrug:

[bvar22]

21. Republican Senator from Indiana.

http://www.lugar2012.com/

[UpInArms]

24. see the post above

[prolesunited]

17. Me

I was skimming and clicked reflexively

[lonestarnot]

42. Nope. Had to read.

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. I'm here in Vancouver

They actually showed his crash on the news before the reports came out that he died. Seemed like a poor design as he flipped right off the track and into a pole going 140 km/hr. Touted as the fastest ever. Too fast maybe. But I was surprized that it was so open on the side that he flipped off of. You'd think they would have a high wall up around all sides all down the track.

His tragic death will no doubt cast a pall over the spectacle of the opening ceremonies tonight.

Sympathies to his family.

[DesertRat]

10. That is really sad.

:(

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Who designed that track!

A pole? No wall? Sounds like someone who has never put one these things together.

[mzmolly]

35. In cold states where there is snow, if the snow reaches a high enough

point and bridges are not properly plowed, the snow can act as a ramp. There have been a few deaths where cars went over bridges because the snow thrust someone over the side rails. This accident seems additionally tragic because SOMEONE should have thought about how a person could hit one of the blasted polls. The sides of the ramp are much too shallow for the sport the track is supposedly designed for. Maddening. :(

[mzmolly]

34. It looks like he broke his neck? The track design is asinine.

Any fool can see that. I'm sorry that someone wasn't looking out for these athletes properly.



Seems all to preventable. The course should be shut down.

[Abq_Sarah]

48. The track was designed to be sustainable

It's a state of the art, green track. That requires many portions to be shaded to minimize energy demand.

The FITB and FIL praised the track when it was certified. http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-news/n/news/the-whistler-sliding-centre-homologation-process-complete_37220eY.html

A formula one race car driver can die on the safest track in the world if he pushes beyond his level of skill to obtain the fastest speed. This isn't much different.

[mzmolly]

49. Many of the athletes expressed

concern prior to the death. Praise or not, they know more than anyone what the conditions were.

"The danger of the Whistler track has been talked about for months -- particularly after several countries, including the U.S., were upset over access restrictions for everyone but Canada, with some noting it could lead to a safety issue."

...

"I think they are pushing it a little too much," Australia's Hannah Campbell-Pegg said *Thursday night after she nearly lost control in training. "To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives."

http://olympics.fanhouse.com/2010/02/12/nodar-kumaritashvili-luger-in-near-fatal-crash/

* Before the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili

[Electric Monk]

12. R.I.P. but the show will go on.

edit: after seeing the video, there should be a chain link fence or plexiglass wall there, not just cement poles every few feet. The exit of that turn was an accident waiting to happen, and it did.

[jefferson_dem]

13. Graphic video of the tragedy here.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6202459n

[DJ13]

16. Thats a serious design flaw

[TwilightGardener]

22. Hmm. Don't have the stomach to watch. That would really mess you up, going that fast.

Yuck.

[XemaSab]

26. Well, at least his death was FAST

:(

[JNelson6563]

29. Wow. Horrible.

Poor soul.

[gulfcoastliberal]

44. Damn that's fucked up. No way anyone could've survived that.

Anyone that goes off the track there has no chance of survival. I can't believe no one was killed before if this thing has been in use for 2 years. Or that they didn't anticipate anyone hitting those massive poles.

[catgirl]

18. Many athletes questioned the tracks safety

After many crashes and complaints about safety concerns, it's baffling as to why Olympic officials
didn't shut the track down to make adjustments- or even cancel the event.

I imagine there will be a fair amount of athletes walking away from their dreams to compete in the
Olympics. This is horrible. I feel so bad for Nodar's family.

[HeresyLives]

20. The track has been in use for 2 years apparently,

and is approved by the governing body. Crashes are common in this event.

[whopis01]

23. Crashes maybe common in this event...

but not crashes where the competitor is thrown completely out of the course into a steel pole at almost 90mph.

[RamboLiberal]

25. I just saw the video of the crash

I don't know much about Luge course design, but putting a group of metal poles right next to the track to me seemed a very dangerous design! Looked like the lugers are coming in to a train station. I'd be interested in seeing what that course looks like all the way down.

Shouldn't the thing be designed so that if you do go off the track you're thrown out into snow or at least not into a non-forgiving object?

[XemaSab]

27. Or at the very least, back onto the smooth ice of the track itself?

:(

[RamboLiberal]

28. Exactly - puzzles me that coming out of that curve

the ice walls seem low and it looks like the lugers are coming into a train station with all the poles right next to the track.

[Arrowhead2k1]

31. Considering the incredible speed he was going when he borked that turn, I think

he would have been screwed either way. But yeah, that poll didn't help much but to hasten his death.

[RamboLiberal]

32. I've seen motorcycle racers survive crashes at high speed

but the track doesn't have obstacles for them to slam in to. And skiers have survived high speed tumbles.

[mzmolly]

36. My thoughts as well. A novice

can look at that design and know it's deeply flawed. I little more cement and a few extra feet of wall on the sides might have been helpful?

[Hawkeye-X]

30. Oh. At first glance, it looked like Dick Luger died..

then I remembered his spelling was Lugar.

Damn.

(On other words, RIP Mr. *vili)

Hawkeye-X

[robcon]

37. dangerous sport

n/t

[Jefferson23]

38. What a heart-breaker, RIP young man.

[Paper Roses]

39. Heartbreaking. Dangerous. Stupid. This need not to have happened

The sides are too shallow, no padding in those supports? Negligent and unforgivable.

R.I.P young Olympian.

[Rhiannon12866]

41. ESPN link: Olympic luger from Georgia dies after crash

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- It took only three seconds.

Sliding faster than ever in his life, 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili had one turn left in his final Olympic training run. Flirting with 90 mph on a $100 million track pushing speed to the outer limits, the luger from the republic of Georgia tilted his head slightly forward as his sled climbed the high-banked wall.

His last move.

Kumaritashvili lost control, crashing into the wall entering the final straightaway. His body went airborne, arms and legs flailing over the opposite side of the track, his upper body smashing into an unpadded steel pole as his sled continued skidding down the track. It all took just 48.9 seconds, start to crash.

Paramedics began working on Kumaritashvili within seconds, quickly starting chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, all to no avail.

The IOC said Kumaritashvili was pronounced dead at a trauma center in Whistler.

Less than an hour after the accident, a representative from each team was told the grim news.

With that, tears began flowing across the close-knit sliding world and throughout the Olympic family.

"I have no words," a teary International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said, "to say what we feel."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=oly&id=4910296

[daleo]

43. It doesn't look like a safe design

Vanoc officials are avoiding difficult questions, but you really have to wonder about this design.

The irony is that this might just be good for the TV viewing numbers. It is claimed that the possibility of death brings some proportion of the audience out to car races. It is a terrible idea to contemplate, but it makes you wonder if the over commercialization of the Olympics, and the consequent desire for huge viewing audiences might not have set the stage for a dangerous design.

[lib_n_proud7650]

45. Sad to see people's lives cut so short

[tuckessee]

46. It's the fault of those who barred the lugers from practicing on that track.

At least what the talk is on sports radio says.

Apparently the Canadians, in contast to established protocol, would not let foreigners practice on that track.

They did so hoping to use home field advantage to dominate the medals.