1st Casualty at the Olympic Games

[Penn]

Georgian luger killed in training | Vancouver 2010 News | Vancouver 2010 | Sports | Edmonton Sun


"Amid mounting safety concerns over the speed lugers have been reacing on the track — there have been more than a dozen crashes during training this week — Nodar Kumaritashvili, a 21-year-old from Georgia, died after flipping off his sled and into a metal pole."

"He was approaching a final 270-degree turn, and going at speeds estimated to be 140 kilometres per hour, when he lost control.
Emergency crews were performing CPR on the athlete, a native of Borjomi, Georgia."


The Games haven't even started yet......not a good start. Prayers to his family and friends.

 

[vraiblonde]

It's playing right now on the radioSOMD news. That's a shame...

 

[LordStanley]

LiveLeak.com - Georgian luger seriously injured in crash

 

[Penn]

LiveLeak.com - Georgian luger seriously injured in crash

From the looks of that video, they do get to movin' quite fast, down that run! What did they say? 140 km per hr? That's around 90mph, no? You better have your act together......

 

[Lilypad]

Slammed into a metal post-
RIP

 

[Penn]

Looks like other Luge teams, from other countries have complained the run is too fast, too deadly. What to do?

Can you, as a driver, slow the darned thing down a bit, or not? Do you have to run it "wide open"? Do you have a choice?

 

[Sweet 16]

Looks like other Luge teams, from other countries have complained the run is too fast, too deadly. What to do?

Can you, as a driver, slow the darned thing down a bit, or not? Do you have to run it "wide open"? Do you have a choice?

Ick! I just saw the video and it's pretty awful. I don't think these things come equipped with any kind of brakes because the whole point is....SPEED. They can "cut down" the ice to reconfigure the track somewhat OR the men can start from the women's starting gate to slow their speeds slightly. Other than that, from what I'm reading, they have to stay pretty motionless and can't move much. One wrong twitch and you oversteer and wreck. RIP.

 

[BuddyLee]

Tragic way to die. You're not getting the full detail unless you've seen the grisly video.

Video | GRAPHIC content: Luge crash (from start) | NBC Olympics

 

[SJSWING]

The luge they are competing on is one of the fastest in the world, if not the fastest. Last night during the opening, announcers were speaking on the fact that many of the athletes have complained of the speeds. The luge is reaching around 90 mph. Many luge competitors have wrecked on the course during practice runs.

My personal opinion, if you have a run that is soo fast and proven harmful to the Olympians, why go on with that event. I understand the competitors have traveled such a long way to compete, but wouldn't they understand if the event was canceled for their safety?

On to the Olympian who died on the track. Yes, it is horrible to see someone lose their life. But, think about the "high" he was on. He was at a peak in his life, competing in the winter Olympics in front of millions of people. This to me would seem like the way to go. He passed doing what he loved to do. Unfortunately he was not able to compete, but did make the cut in his country for the Olympic games.

 

[itsbob]

Watching prior to the accident and the metal railing caught my eye.. Right next to the track, and no way to keep the athlete ON the track.. I'm not a fan, but they should have had a NASCAR track designer come in and give their engineering and design input. They are VERY big on keeping the car and parts on the race track.

What I saw at the end is exactly what I expected..

 

[DoWhat]

Ouch.
He died instantly, not even knowing what hit him.

 

[itsbob]

Remember years ago watching a luge run where they were going down headfirst..

Ran off the track and into an abutment for a spectator bridge.. that was a LONG time ago.

WOnder how many deaths serious injuries this sport suffers every year?

 

[BuddyLee]

Ouch.
He died instantly, not even knowing what hit him.

Yeah, they had the EMT's trying to revive him on live tv. He was just bleeding out of his nose, eyes and so on. His eyes were wide open...dead.

 

[Lilypad]

Ouch.
He died instantly, not even knowing what hit him.

Thank God for that!

 

[Zguy28]

Remember years ago watching a luge run where they were going down headfirst..

That's called the Skeleton event. Its an Olympic sport.

Skeleton : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

 

[meddauna]

What drunken, German gynecologist invented this sport? What guy went, "I want to dress like a sperm, shove an ice skate up my ass, and ride balls first down an ice chute. Ya. That would be fun." ?
-Robin Williams

i'm not sure who designed this track, and i'm not sure if other luge tracks are like this (i'm too lazy to look this up), but there were multiple spots that i could see in that video where the edge of the track is very low cut. what's worse, is that in at least the spot where he died and another where it was a straight portion and there was a spectator railing, there are exposed beams to hold up the roof. my first question is, why didn't anyone think to themselves "gee, if someone was to wipe out here, these exposed steel beams could be dangerous".

obviously hindsight is 50/50, but they should a)wrap those beams in a nice protective padding, or b)block it off with a smooth wall so you can't fly off the track, if spectator vision is absolutly necessary, use plexiglass or something similar.

 

[Penn]

I can't remember where I saw it, either on ESPN or the Olympics channel,(NBC chan 4, locally) but that is what they're going to do; put up walls to try to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.

 

[vraiblonde]

Luge is dangerous. Bobsled is dangerous. Ski and snowboard are dangerous.

Figure skating is dangerous.

But apparently there were a couple of crashes on that run the day the guy from Georgia died. Are they going to modify the track or cancel the luge event, has anyone heard?

 

[vraiblonde]

Luge is dangerous. Bobsled is dangerous. Ski and snowboard are dangerous.

Figure skating is dangerous.

But apparently there were a couple of crashes on that run the day the guy from Georgia died. Are they going to modify the track or cancel the luge event, has anyone heard?

Okay, I guess I should read before I respond...

 

[wharf rat]

Luge is dangerous. Bobsled is dangerous. Ski and snowboard are dangerous.

Figure skating is dangerous.

But apparently there were a couple of crashes on that run the day the guy from Georgia died. Are they going to modify the track or cancel the luge event, has anyone heard?

Just heard this a little while ago. They're starting them farther down the shute. Something like, the men start where the ladies normally would, and then, the ladies start one level down from their normal place. It's suppose to not let them gather as much speed from the start.