Olympic Luger Dies After Training Accident

[TheSarge]

Georgian luge hopeful Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed Friday in a crash after flying off the Olympic track in Whistler, Canada during a training run, the Toronto Sun reported.

The 21-year-old, who was knocked unconscious, was immediately placed on a stretcher before he was taken away in an ambulance.

"Georgian slider Nodar Kumaritashvili has had a serious crash in the final run of official training for the men's singles on Friday," said an official statement.

"The 21-year-old fell out of the track when he crashed. He was treated onsite by medical staff who administered CPR and was then taken away in an ambulance."

The Globe and Mail newspaper reported Kumaritashvili was “near the bottom and fastest part of the track when he hit one side of the wall, crashed into the other, and was then thrown off his sled and over the wall. He appeared to hit a metal pole on the side of the track after he was thrown over the wall.”

One of the favorites, 2002 and 2006 gold medalist Armin Zoeggler of Italy, also crashed.

On Wednesday there were several crashes during women's luge training runs on a track widely regarded as one of the most dangerous in the sport.

Romania's Violeta Stramaturaru crashed and was knocked unconscious for a few minutes and was taken to the hospital.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2010/02/12/georgian-luger-seriously-injured-luge-crash/

[jinxmchue]

Probably won't be long until the bleeding hearts ban the luge from the Olympics.

[DefiantSix]

Probably won't be long until the bleeding hearts ban the luge from the Olympics.

Maybe they can replace it with synchronized masturbation or somethin' 

[JohnnyReb]

Maybe they can replace it with synchronized masturbation or somethin' 

The DUmmies will always take gold in that event.

[USA4ME]

Here's the video.

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

If you got a weak stomach, don't.  Poor guy didn't stand a chance.

.

[SilverOrchid]

Geez, that is terrible. All that training just to be killed from the sport you love before the big day. Prayers for his family, loved ones, and teammates.

[Chris_]

Man that was horrible. I wonder how fast he was going when he came around that last corner. The only good thing in this, after seeing the video, is that it happened so fast I'm sure he never felt a thing.

[IassaFTots]

Man that was horrible. I wonder how fast he was going when he came around that last corner. The only good thing in this, after seeing the video, is that it happened so fast I'm sure he never felt a thing.

They showed it at the beginning of the Olympics tonight.  88 mph.  Man.  His teammates look pretty shaken up.  They are wearing black arm bands.  BTW, the luge is on tomorrow.  That should be interesting. 

[jinxmchue]

They showed it at the beginning of the Olympics tonight.  88 mph.  Man.  His teammates look pretty shaken up.  They are wearing black arm bands.  BTW, the luge is on tomorrow.  That should be interesting. 

All the other competitors deliberately DQing themselves would seem kind of cliched, but I'd understand if they did it.

[jinxmchue]

Here's the video.

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

If you got a weak stomach, don't.  Poor guy didn't stand a chance.

.

Bad track design?  Seems like if you're designing a track where crashes like that can occur, you'd want to avoid rows of immovable columns right next to it.

[kenth]

Here's the video.

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

If you got a weak stomach, don't.  Poor guy didn't stand a chance.

.

It was brutal. Prayers for the poor guy's family.

[NHSparky]

The track is touted as the fastest in the world, one would have thought they would have forseen the possibility of such crashes.

[debk]

The track is touted as the fastest in the world, one would have thought they would have forseen the possibility of such crashes.

He was going at 140+mph when he flew out.

I wondered myself, why they didn't pad those posts when I heard about it, but at that speed....what difference would it have made?

I read somewhere on the internet last night, where a female luger said they were just like "crash test dummies" with these tracks going as fast as they are these days....


Note: I was informed that the 140+ is kph not mph....which makes it about 90+ mph....still horrendous when body meets steel pole.

[PatriotGame]

I just watched the video.
HOLY FRACKING SHIT!

Whomever approved that design and is in charge of facilities and the luge track with those columns STEEL I-BEAMS in place ought to be charged with involuntary manslaughter. The Olympic committee needs to nut-up and make sure his family is taken acre of for a very long time.

[Chris_]

Just read this article on WSJ:
___________________________________________
Luger Who Died Was Terrified of Track
By Samantha Shields
February 14, 2010, 2:43 P.M. ET
 
BAKURIANI, Georgia – The young Georgian luger who died in a horrific training accident hours before the opening of the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Friday told his father he was terrified of the track before doing the run that killed him.

"He called me before the Olympics, three days ago, and he said, 'Dad, I'm scared of one of the turns,' " David Kumaritashvili said in an interview at his house in the small mountain town of Bakuriani on Sunday.

His son, 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili, lost control of his luge on the final turn of the course, the world's fastest, and slammed into a steel support at 90 miles per hour.

"I said put your legs down on the ice to slow down but he said if he started the course he would finish it. … He was brave," Mr. Kumaritashvili's father said, adding that his son had dreamed of being an Olympian from childhood and could have competed in two more Games.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447704575065492351741522.html?mod=WSJ_olympics_LeadStoryCollection

[kenth]

Man, that track went flat and narrow awfully fast. If the head of the luge federation really believes it to be safe, he needs to stick his butt on that track.

[AllosaursRus]

I just watched the video.
HOLY FRACKING SHIT!

Whomever approved that design and is in charge of facilities and the luge track with those columns STEEL I-BEAMS in place ought to be charged with involuntary manslaughter. The Olympic committee needs to nut-up and make sure his family is taken acre of for a very long time.

Being in ground up construction for over 30 years I can tell you confidently, THAT was an extremely BAD design! With modern techniques, there is no way those ballisters, ( technical name for a column attached to concrete ), should have been positioned that close to the track, especially on the last turn, of the fastest track ever constructed! The architect needs to go up on a manslaughter charge! Looks like somebody tried to save a few bucks at the expense of the athletes.

edited for spelling

[Thor]

Being in ground up construction for over 30 years I can tell you confidently, THAT was an extremely BAD design! With modern techniques, there is no way those ballisters, ( technical name for a column attached to concrete ), should have been positioned that close to the track, especially on the last turn, of the fastest track ever constructed! The architect needs to go up on a manslaughter charge! Looks like somebody tried to save a few bucks at the expense of the athletes.

edited for spelling

I concur. This was simply a bad design filled with neglect. Anytime there are stanchions (or ballisters) so close to a fast moving track, there should have been some sort of barrier placed between the track and the stanchions. That should be obvious to even the most architecturally inept. It's just common sense.

[debk]

I concur. This was simply a bad design filled with neglect. Anytime there are stanchions (or ballisters) so close to a fast moving track, there should have been some sort of barrier placed between the track and the stanchions. That should be obvious to even the most architecturally inept. It's just common sense.

Flying out of the track at 90+ mph....would any safety feature have really made a difference?

Even a super-padded barrier....as hard as he would have hit, his body still would have suffered a lot of damage.

I don't think human bones are capable of withstanding impact against anything at 90mph....

[DefiantSix]

Flying out of the track at 90+ mph....would any safety feature have really made a difference?

Even a super-padded barrier....as hard as he would have hit, his body still would have suffered a lot of damage.

I don't think human bones are capable of withstanding impact against anything at 90mph....

If the architect had actually studied the forces involved as he should have in the first place, the athelete would never have left the track in the first place.  Instead, the architect/engineer sloughed it, the IOC approved a fatally flawed design an an athelete is dead through no fault of his own.

Back in Roman times, if an architect constructed a structure that killed folks, his life was forfeit.

[thundley4]

Back in Roman times, if an architect constructed a structure that killed folks, his life was forfeit.

Haven't some heads of Japanese companies committed suicide in recent years?

[kenth]

Flying out of the track at 90+ mph....would any safety feature have really made a difference?

Even a super-padded barrier....as hard as he would have hit, his body still would have suffered a lot of damage.

I don't think human bones are capable of withstanding impact against anything at 90mph....

I think prevention by better track design would have been better. Yeah, I don't think hitting a padded steel column at 90+ would have made a difference. It looks like it should have been banked smoothly into that straightaway instead of that harsh turn. Stupid design.

[Chris_]

Now the women skiers are saying their course design is dangerous:

Women upset by bone-rattling downhill
Updated February 15, 2010

By Simon Evans

WHISTLER (Reuters) - The women Alpine skiers have criticized their downhill course, labeling it "bumpy" and "rough" after their first full training run on Monday.

Downhill favorite Lindsey Vonn of the United States, the overall World Cup champion, said she was shocked by the condition of the course.

"It's tough. I honestly was expecting it to be a little bit better than it was...the course here is just so bumpy," she told reporters.

"I honestly was pretty shocked, it is one thing when you inspect and you think, 'OK its going to be a little rattley' but it was like jarring, it was a fight just make it down the whole way," said Vonn who has a bruised shin.

"I was barely in my tuck on any part of the course. It is probably the worst course for my shin," she said.

"I was surprised, really surprised, I almost went out off the course a couple of times but it wasn't bad skiing - it was fighting to make it down skiing.

"I feel like it's not the same as it is in the World Cup, I've never run a course this bumpy before --- it is not a feel good course, not a fun course, it is just a stick your nose in it and ski down course.

"If you are aggressive, you can be fast. I know what to do it is just a matter of fighting down the course," said Vonn.

Sweden's Jessica Lindell-Vikarby said she had never skied on a course as rough as the 'Franz's Downhill'.

"It was really, really bad on top, one of the worst I have ever made in fact," she told Reuters.

"There are holes on the top and they are soft, you can't go round them, you just have to go in them and they are too soft for them to just (repair) them," she said.

Asked whether she considered the course dangerous, Lindell-Vikarby said "I think so, yes."

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2010/02/15/women-upset-bone-rattling-downhill/?test=latestnews

[Chris]

Are the IOC hiring illegal aliens to do their building for them?

[debk]

I had it on for a bit earlier this evening when guys were skiing.....the commentators said it was very icy.