Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili dies from crash

[HaRuMaN]

Story Here

It seems like there has been some concern that the track was unsafe, too fast, etc...

[Ginsu Victim]

I just watched the video on youtube and that track is horrible. Whoever designed that just didn't think it through very well.

The comments on the video are bad. "LOL" "ROFL" "DO A BARREL ROLL!"

Pathetic.

[CheffoJeffo]

That's terrible.

We used to maintain a corporate office in Whistler (well, that's the official line we threw to customers ... we just like to ski) and the mention of him being transported to the hospital in Whistler kinda threw me. When my business partner's son hit a tree (little kid on bunny slopes) in Whistler, he was airlifted to Vancouver. I know the organizers wanted to build a mobile hospital for the games, but never heard what happened to that idea.

[Hoopz]

Tragic. 

I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but I wonder whether they'll change the course, leave it as is, or even have the competition?  I can't think that they can run it as is from a liability standpoint. 

[Ed_McCarron]

When you're involved in a sport that involves going mach 3 millimeters off the ice, someones gonna get hurt.

[SavannahLion]

When you're involved in a sport that involves going mach 3 millimeters off the ice, someones gonna get hurt.

You gotta go where the most fun is. There really isn't anything to compare to using a sled no longer than twice the length of an American cafeteria tray doing speeds that would guarantee you a ticket on asphalt.

[TOK]

Tragic. 

I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but I wonder whether they'll change the course, leave it as is, or even have the competition?  I can't think that they can run it as is from a liability standpoint. 

Something as simple as the plexiglass barriers they use in hockey probably would have been enough to save that guys life. He got between the metal studs that hold the roof over the course and instantly went from about 60 to 0.

Not saying he wouldn't have gotten hurt if he had glanced off a plexiglass barrier, but I think he would have continued sliding and scrubbing off speed instead of that blunt force impact.

[ark_ader]

Tragic. 

I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but I wonder whether they'll change the course, leave it as is, or even have the competition?  I can't think that they can run it as is from a liability standpoint. 

Something as simple as the plexiglass barriers they use in hockey probably would have been enough to save that guys life. He got between the metal studs that hold the roof over the course and instantly went from about 60 to 0.

Not saying he wouldn't have gotten hurt if he had glanced off a plexiglass barrier, but I think he would have continued sliding and scrubbing off speed instead of that blunt force impact.

I agree completely.  Just look at the trajectory before impact.  If there was a panel of Plexiglas where he hit, that could be unlocked for emergency access, that would have probably saved his life.   

This reminds me of when Princess Diana died.  That tunnel had columns like this. This guy had no body protection, and I'm aware the Mercedes was going the nearly the same speed as Nodar Kumaritashvili was going. Nobody should have to risk so much for sport.

Was the slope designed for speed to achieve speeds of excess 100 mph?  Perhaps the sport has got to a stage were protection should be mandatory IE fiberglass body capsules ?  Has anyone changed the track or put panels in place?

[Epyx]

As many know im a local guy here in Vancouver...I was on lunch break and our local tv station was breaking the story the other day...I had assumed as I stood watching (at Staples) that they were just showing Luge in the background....little did I know or expect, they showed the actual footage of this poor young mans passing...Im all for raw news but that was in bad taste imo...

As for the track...it was stamped safely by the international bodies etc...many coaches have come forward and said a similiar accident could have happened on other tracks and that he reacted incorrectly in that situation...incorrectly being relative when you are careening down a track at 140km

Either way my thoughts are with this poor guys family...he did pass away doing what he loved which if I had to choice would be the way I want to go.

[hypernova]

They've already begun talking to the Russian officials for the next Olympics, and are pressing the matter that they do not want track designers to keep building faster tracks, but rather slow them down.

Apparently the average speed of other tracks are around the 80s, and this Vancouver one still ends near 90 or over at times, even with the lower starting position.

I found a very low resolution video of the crash.  Couldn't really tell what happened after he left the track, but the imagination is good at constructing what happened when looking at those pillars.

[saint]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/12/sports/olympics/LUGEDEATH.html

[hypernova]

I'm kind of surprised the NY Times showed that last picture.

[saint]

I saw the picture of the paramedics working on him (not on the NY Times link) which really bothered me, wish I hadn't.

[hypernova]

At 90 mph, that helmet isn't really going to change anything.  I assume and hope it was instantaneous for him.