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Georgian Luger Seriously Injured in Luge Crash

sanjuro

sanjuro

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Sep 13, 2004
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The danger of the Whistler track has been talked about for months — particularly after several nations, including the U.S., were upset over restrictions regarding access to the facility by nations other than Canada, with some noting it could lead to a safety issue.

Kumaritashvili is the fourth competitor to die at the Winter Games and the first since 1992.

"It's a very rare situation," three-time Olympic champion and German coach Georg Hackl said before learning of the death, clearly shaken after seeing Kumaritashvili tended to furiously by medical workers.

Shortly before the accident, Hackl said he didn't believe the 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 anymore dangerous that anywhere else."

Five-time Olympian Mark Grimmette, chosen as the U.S. team's flag bearer, said the speeds on the track are pushing the boundaries of safety.

"We're probably getting close," he said the night before the death. "This track is fast and you definitely have to be on your game. ... So it's definitely something they are going to have to take into account on future tracks."

American luger Christian Niccum crashed during a World Cup event in Whistler last year.

"When I hit that ice going 90 mph it turns into fire," Niccum said Thursday. "I remember coming around to the finish and I just wanted to rip off my suit, 'I'm on fire. I'm on fire.'"

This was Kumaritashvili's second crash during training for the games. He also failed to finish his second of six practice runs, and in the runs he did finish, his average speed was about 88 mph — significantly less than the speed the top sliders are managing on this lightning-fast course.

It was unclear how fast Kumaritashvili was going, although many sliders have exceeded 90 mph on this course. More than a dozen athletes have crashed during Olympic training for luge, and some questioned whether athletes from smaller nations — like Georgia — had enough time to prepare for the daunting track.

At the finish area, not far from where Kumaritashvili lost control, athletes, coaches and officials solemnly awaited word on Kumaritashvili before eventually being ushered away. Access to the crash area was closed within about 30 minutes.

"I've never seen anything like that," said Shiva Keshavan, a four-time Olympian from India.

Representatives from the three U.S. sliding federations were to release a joint statement later Friday. American athletes were not immediately made available for reaction after news of the death was confirmed.

"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."

"RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili," wrote American skeleton athlete Kyle Tress, who did not qualify for the Olympic team. "Let's never forget how dangerous these sports can be."

Kumaritashvili competed in five World Cup races this season, finishing 44th in the world standings.

Earlier in the day, gold-medal favorite 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 briefly 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.

"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."
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No early track access, guy with slower times than his field, and lots of crashes all around.
 
4130biker

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,884
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I was watching some of the other crashes on youtube... I didn't think this sport was crazy 'til now. I always thought that if you crash, you'd just slide along. Well, it appears that you would, but may experience an ultra violent buck, wall smash, or crazy low-side barrel roll thing. Not to mention the out of the ordinary possibility of what happened today. What a gnarly sport!
 
CrabJoe StretchPants

CrabJoe StretchPants

Reincarnated Crab Walking Head Spinning Bruce Dick
Nov 30, 2003
14,163
2,484
Groton, MA
It's kinda like sitting on a chairlift at a mountain with an alpine slide and seeing someone come out of the track at 20mph, but not nearly as funny.
 
B

BMADED

Monkey
Nov 3, 2009
149
0
808 State
Thats too bad, was just watching Moderen Marvels last night and it talked about just how fast and dangerous this track was going to be. Sad news.
 
Gex

Gex

Turbo Monkey
Oct 29, 2004
1,112
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That crash was crazy. Im just wondering why they didn't have some type of protective material over the steel beams? Although in this case it might have not mattered.
 
Silver

Silver

find me a tampon
Jul 20, 2002
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Orange County, CA
Gex said:
That crash was crazy. Im just wondering why they didn't have some type of protective material over the steel beams? Although in this case it might have not mattered.
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Yeah, if I designed that track, I'd be lawyering up right now...
 
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MMike

MMike

A fowl peckerwood.
Sep 5, 2001
18,207
105
just sittin' here drinkin' scotch
Gex said:
That crash was crazy. Im just wondering why they didn't have some type of protective material over the steel beams? Although in this case it might have not mattered.
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Hence my reference to Princess Diana. Her car hit unprotected vertical columns. There should have been a fence there. Or Lexan windows or something.
 
Silver

Silver

find me a tampon
Jul 20, 2002
10,840
1
Orange County, CA
Silver said:
Yeah, if I designed that track, I'd be lawyering up right now...
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http://www.ctvolympics.ca/skeleton/news/newsid=22260.html

Six years ago, however, the Whistler Sliding Centre was just a space marked out on Blackcomb Mountain... and a stack of binders sitting on an architect's desk.

As a senior associate with Stantec, Vancouver-based Kosichek had worked on a multitude of projects ahead of that week in 2004. As far as architects go, he was a jack of all trades. "A generalist," he called himself.

But while Kosichek had experience working on projects ranging from office towers to airports, he had never seen a bobsleigh race.

"I knew as much about bobsled, luge, as probably any average person does," Kosichek chuckled during an interview with CTVOlympics.ca, "Which was next to nothing."

Wanna bet that bold part comes up during the inevitable civil suit?
 
Nick

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
24,148
14,857
where the trails are
they just played the video on NBC Nightly News ....

Damn. :(

[wet blanket] joking about somebody dying just plain sucks [/wet blanket]
 
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Jim Mac

Jim Mac

MAKE ENDURO GREAT AGAIN
May 21, 2004
6,352
282
the middle east of NY
All I can seriously say is that the guy died while living out his passion. It's tragic nonetheless but it sure as hell beats getting killed while doing something mundane and inconsequential.
 
johnbryanpeters

johnbryanpeters

Hero
Sep 27, 2001
36,178
16,714
Making moss sad in New Haven, Vermont
There are certain things that we choose to do that increase the chance of death or worse. When pigboy and I wander around on the red stuff on Kilauea we know we might not come back. This fellow took his chances and lost.

My quibble with the Olympic circus is that it has lost its roots in reality - instead of sliding down a hill with concerns about trees and rocks, the people slide down a stupid chute. The end result is the same, of course, when they come to a sudden stop.

Live, die. it has all happened before.
 
Rip

Rip

Mr. Excitement
Feb 3, 2002
7,327
1
Over there somewhere.
Just like everything else, there are risks in sports. It's something that is unavoidable regardless of how protective they make things. What matters he was doing something that he liked doing.

R.I.P
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

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Sep 13, 2004
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I hope this isn't an example of bureaucratic authority vs common sense of veteran racers and coaches.
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

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Sep 13, 2004
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Well it's the luger's fault, of course, but...

“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,” the statement said. “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,” the statement said. “This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.”
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http://vancouver2010.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/officials-say-athlete-not-track-caused-crash/?hpw
 
Scrub

Scrub

Turbo Monkey
Feb 4, 2003
1,455
121
NOR CAL, Sac/CoCo County
Hopefully they put a tall plexi wall there, padding on a pole just won't cut it at that rate of speed. Video clips from another competitor crashing there earlier were almost a similar result.
 
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jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
86,232
24,733
media blackout
already been fresh prince'd:

Now this is the story all about how
My sled got flipped, turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there
I'll tell you how I took a bad turn and caught mad air

In Soviet Georgia born and raised
On the ice luge where I spent most of my days
Chilling out, luging, relaxing all cool
Taking Russian hostages inside a school
When a couple of Reds, they were up to no good
Drove Russian tanks into my neighborhood
One separatist movement and my mom got scared
And said "You're going to Vancouver to catch mad air"

I waited for my start and when it came near
the course said "fast" and had a concrete barrier
If anything I could say that this track was rare
But I though nah, forget it, Nodar, catch air!

I slid up to turn number seven or eight
And I yelled to my trainer "Comrade, it's hard to steer"
Flew into a wall and I was finally there
Killed my self while trying to catch mad air.
 
Da Peach

Da Peach

Outwitted by a rodent
Jul 2, 2002
13,687
4,921
North Van
Looks like they've built up a wall in that corner. I think they've shortened the course a hair too. Shave off a bit of speed with less vertical.
 
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