Luge goes ahead after death at 2010 Winter Olympics

The luge event at the Winter Olympics will go ahead on Saturday despite the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili.

The 21-year-old Georgian died when his sled flipped and he smashed into a steel pole during a final training run at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

The decision to go ahead was taken after probes by local coroners and the International Luge Federation (FIL).

Officials concluded the track was not unsafe but that the athlete “did not compensate properly” going into a bend.

As a precaution, the walls at the exit of the final curve, where Kumaritashvili was thrown from the track, will be raised.

Two extra training runs will be held at the circuit on Saturday morning, nine hours before the medal competition begins at 1700 (0100 GMT).

A statement on the Vancouver 2010 website said: “It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16.

“This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident.

“The technical officials of the FIL were able to retrace the path of the athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.

“Based on these findings the race director, in consultation with the FIL, made the decision to reopen the track following a raising of the walls at the exit of curve 16 and a change in the ice profile.

“This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.”

The crash happened hours before the opening ceremony, which was dedicated in his honour.

Georgia confirmed they will compete in the Games as a tribute to Kumaritashvili and marched as scheduled at the ceremony, wearing black arm bands and looking visibly upset.

A minute’s silence was also observed for Kumaritashvili.

The Olympic and Canadian Flags were lowered to half mast while the Georgian athletes placed a black patch on their national flag.

Kumaritashvili’s sled struck the inside of the track’s last turn during his sixth and final training run, sending his body into the air and over a concrete wall.

His sled remained on the track, and the visor from his helmet appeared to continue down the ice.

Medical staff at the track and doctors at a local hospital tried to resuscitate Kumaritashvili, part of a seven-strong Georgian team, but the country’s Olympic delegation later confirmed he had died as a result of his injuries.

“This tragedy casts a shadow over these Games,” said a visibly upset International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge, while International Luge Federation chief Josef Fendt said the incident was “the gravest thing that can happen in sport”.

The track at Whistler, which is shared by the sports of luge, skeleton and bobsleigh, already has a reputation as one of the fastest – and most dangerous – in the world.

In the build-up to the Games several teams had raised concerns about the safety of athletes, who regularly exceed 90mph as they compete, though Kumaritashvili crashed at a corner which had not been previously identified as a danger area.

Before the incident, British skeleton slider Amy Williams told BBC Sport: “I just hope Whistler is safe and that there aren’t too many crashes and serious injuries.”

Australia’s Hannah Campbell-Pegg added: “I think they are pushing it a little too much.

“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.”

Their comments followed earlier accidents, including one involving gold medal favourite Armin Zoeggeler of Italy and several during women’s luge training runs on Wednesday.

Among those who crashed, Romania’s Violeta Stramaturaru was knocked unconscious for a few minutes and taken to hospital.

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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.”

Within an hour of the accident, an investigation was opened. Security officials closed access to the crash area and the remainder of the track for the rest of the day, and all further training runs scheduled for Friday were canceled.

Women’s luge Olympians are scheduled to train at the track Saturday morning, nine hours before the men’s two-day competition is set to begin.

“It is a nervous situation,” Latvian luge federation president Atis Strenga said. “It’s a big tragedy for all (of) luge. I hope, we all hope, it’s the first accident and the last accident in this race.”

The danger of the Whistler track has been talked about for months — particularly after several countries, including the U.S., were upset with restrictions over access to the facility by nations other than Canada, some noting it could lead to a safety issue. Some sliders, especially those from small luge federations, saw the world’s fastest track this week for the first time.

Nikolos Rurua, the Georgian minister of culture and sport, said Kumaritashvili had been on the Whistler surface before, and it would be unfair to say that the slider was ill-prepared for the test of the demanding track.

“When you are going that fast it just takes one slip and you can have that big mistake,” U.S. doubles luger Christian Niccum said Thursday, when asked about track safety. “All of us are very calm going down, but it you start jerking at 90 mph or making quick reactions, that sled will steer. That’s the difference between luge and bobsled and skeleton, we’re riding on a very sharp edge and that sled will go exactly where we tell it to so you better be telling it the right things on the way down.”

The luge federation had several options, including delaying competition, trying to re-shape the ice to make some curves less severe, having men’s sliders start from the women’s ramp — which would keep speed a bit more in check — or simply going forward as scheduled.

Officials in Vancouver and Whistler both stressed that no decisions regarding what happens next would be made before the initial investigations are complete.

“It’s not nice, but I hope they will make the track as safe as possible,” said bobsledder Timothy Beck from the Netherlands.

“These accidents should not happen,” Swiss figure skater Sarah Meier said.

“This is dangerous,” German bobsled star Andre Lange said. “You should never forget that.”

Rogge said he was in contact with Kumaritashvili’s family — the slider’s father is president of the Georgian luge federation and his cousin is the team’s coach, VANOC officials said — and the Georgian government. The remaining seven members of the Georgian Olympic delegation said they would stay in the games and dedicated their performances to their fallen teammate.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the Georgian Olympic team,” U.S. bobsled pilot Steven Holcomb said on Twitter. “The sliding community suffered a tragic and devastating loss to our family today.”

Under giant Olympic rings near the medals plaza in downtown Whistler, mourners placed candles and flowers around a photograph of Kumaritashvili, on his sled and barreling down the track. Around the photo, an inscription read: “In Memory of Nodar Kumaritashvili, May he rest in peace.”

There was a moment of silence in memory of the luger at the start of the Alpine skiing team captains’ meeting.

Kumaritashvili is the fourth competitor to die at the Winter Games, all in training, and the first since 1992.

Crashes happen often in luge — at least 12 sliders have wrecked just this week on the daunting Whistler surface. Still, some who have been around tracks their entire lives couldn’t remember someone actually being thrown over the wall.

“It’s a very rare situation,” three-time Olympic champion and German coach Georg Hackl said, clearly shaken after seeing Kumaritashvili tended to furiously by medical workers.

Shortly before the accident, Hackl said he didn’t believe the Whistler track was unsafe.

“People have the opinion it is dangerous but the track crew does the best it can and they are working hard to make sure the track is in good shape and everyone is safe,” he said. “My opinion is that it’s not any more dangerous than anywhere else.”

VANOC officials said the investigation was taking place to “ensure a safe field of play.”

“As athletes, we know that the international federation, the IOC and VANOC have no higher priority than ensuring our safety, on and off the field of play,” said British luger A.J. Rosen, who dislocated his hip in a crash at the Whistler track last fall. “I know they are looking into this and, should it be deemed necessary for them to introduce additional measures, they will do so.”

This was Kumaritashvili’s second crash during training for the games, the first coming Wednesday in the opening session. He also failed to finish his second of six practice runs.

His last recorded speed Friday was 89.4 mph, measured near the last curve. He was on a higher path — line, they call it in luge — down the final turns of the track than most sliders prefer, and the combination of speed and gravitational pull was too much for his 176-pound body to control.

Sliding diagonally, Kumaritashvili smashed into a corner entering the final straightaway feet-first. He was knocked off his sled and sailed in the other direction, coming to rest on a metal walkway after his upper body smashed into the post. The first rescue worker just happened to be nearby and was at his side within three seconds.

“His competitive spirit and dedication to sports excellence will be remembered and honored during the games,” Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper said.

This would have been Kumaritashvili’s first Olympics. He competed in five World Cup races this season, finishing 44th in the world standings.

Earlier in the day, two-time Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy crashed, losing control of his sled on Curve 11. Zoeggeler came off his sled and held it with his left arm to keep it from smashing atop his body. He slid on his back down several curves before coming to a stop and walking away.

Training days in Whistler have been crash-filled. A Romanian woman was knocked unconscious and at least four Americans — Chris Mazdzer on Wednesday, Megan Sweeney on Thursday and both Tony Benshoof and Bengt Walden on Friday in the same training session where Zoeggeler wrecked — have had serious trouble just getting down the track.

“RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili,” American skeleton athlete Kyle Tress, who did not qualify for the Olympic team, wrote on his Twitter feed. “Let’s never forget how dangerous these sports can be.”

Nodar Kumaritashvili

WINTER OLYMPIC DEATHS

1964 Innsbruck – British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski and Aussie skier Ross Milne (training accidents)

1988 Calgary – Austrian team doctor Jorg Oberhammer (snow vehicle collision)

1992 Albertville – Swiss skier Nicolas Bochatay (snow vehicle collision)

2010 Vancouver – Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili (training crash)

Nodar Kumaritashvili (Georgian: November 25, 1988 – February 12, 2010) was a Georgian luger. Kumaritishvili suffered a fatal crash during a training run for the 2010 Winter Olympics competition. He was the fourth athlete to die during Winter Olympics preparations, after British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski and Australian skier Ross Milne (both Innsbruck 1964), and Swiss speed skierNicolas Bochatay (Albertville 1992)

Life and career

Nodar Kumaritashvili was born in Borjomi, then a part of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union.

He finished 55th in the 2008–09 Luge World Cup.

Kumaritashvili finished 28th of 32 competitors in the 2009–10 Luge World Cup Cesana Pariol event in January, which was his last World Cup event. His father, Selix, is the head of the Georgian Luge Federation

Accident and death

Kumaritashvili qualified for the luge men’s singles event at the 2010 Winter Olympics, it was set to be his Olympic debut. On February 12, 2010, Kumaritashvili was fatally injured in an accident during a training run at the Whistler Sliding Centre when, coming through the last turn, he lost control of his luge and was thrown off and over the protective wall on the side of the track, striking an unprotected steel support beam at the end of the run. He was travelling approximately 143.3 km/h (89.0 mph) at the moment of the incident.

Medics were at his side within seconds of the crash and began CPR within one minute. He was airlifted to a Whistler hospital, where he was eventually pronounced dead.

In response to the accident, the Georgian team announced that it would consider skipping the opening ceremonies or withdraw from the games entirely. However, Nikolos Rurua, the Georgian minister for sports and culture, later announced the team would stay in Vancouver and “dedicate their efforts to their fallen comrade.” The other seven members of the Georgian Olympic team wore black armbands during the opening ceremony and left a space vacant in the procession as a mark of respect, immediately leaving BC Place Stadium after the procession. They were greeted with a standing ovation from the assembled crowd. A one-minute moment of silence was held during the opening ceremonies to honour his memory.

The organizers of the event expect the luge competition, scheduled to start on February 13, to continue after an agreement was made during a meeting with the national team leaders. The event may still be cancelled by top IOC officials who were heading to Whistler. The International Luge Federation (FIL) has stated that Kumaritashvili’s death was not caused by “an unsafe track”, despite FIL president Josef Fendt saying earlier that the track is too fast and that the track design was a planning mistake. It was announced that, as a “preventative measure”, the walls at the exit of curve 16 will be raised, and the ice profile will be adjusted.

Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgia Luger, Dies in Training, Video. The 2010 Olympics get kicked off with sadness. This Georgian athlete, 21 years old, had his whole life in front of him. He was at the top of his game. He was in the Olympics! Hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to Nodar’s family.

Warning: Graphic Video