WHISTLER - One of the most feared luge runs in the world turned deadly here on Friday afternoon.
A horrific crash during training for the Olympic luge competition, which is scheduled to begin Saturday,killed Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili.
The 21-year-old was propelled from the track and smashed his head on a metal pole at the Whistler Olympic Park.
Officials immediately closed the controversial track, which is known for its high speeds, often reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour. Obviously the rest of the training session was cancelled.
Officials from other countries have blasted Canadians for not allowing their sliders — in the sports of luge, skeleton and bobsled — extended access to the course.
“It is a tragedy for his family and the team,” said Thomas Bach, an IOC vice-president from Germany. “It casts a shadow over the opening ceremony.”
The international luge federation is currently meeting with officials from each of the teams to decide how to proceed with the competition and to evaluate the safety of the track.
Reports say medical personnel performed emergency CPR on Kumaritashvili at the site before he was rushed to a local hospital. Luge officials comfirmed his death shortly after noon, local time.
The crash was Kumaritashvili’s second of the week and more than a dozen wipeouts have been reported during training.
The young Georgian, who is ranked 44th in the world, was approaching a final 270-degree turn on the course when he lost control of his sled and was violently tossed.
Officials have also been concerned with the high speeds athletes have been reaching, particularly at the Whistler course..
“We are going to have to put in speed limits for the next track which will be built for sure for the next Olympics,” FIL spokesman Wolfgang Harder told Reuters. “We think 155 kilomotres per hour should be the limit. We have to take care of the security of our athletes.
“If you stick your head out of the sunroof of a car at 155 km/h you can imagine how that would feel. In our opinion safety is the most important thing.”
The course has a vertical drop of 152 metres, making it the steepest in the sport leading to the nickname of “the elevator shaft.”
Officials have been widely critical of Canada’s decision to keep athletes off of the course to create a home-course advantage.
“Please, let there be no accidents because that could kill the sport,” Andy Schmid, the performance director of British Skeleton, told England’s The Daily Telegraph.
“People have the argument that it’s just home advantage and that’s normal for an Olympic host country, but it’s different for sports involving high speed. Can you imagine in Formula One nobody being allowed on a track because somebody has home advantage?”
Earlier in the week, Canadian lugers talked about the difficulty of the run, which was built specifically for these Games.
“It’s a challenge,” Canadian Sam Edney said. “It is one of the fastest that we compete on. It’s definitely a speed track.”
This is not the first athlete to die during an Olympic competition or training session. In 1912, Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lazaro, 21, collapsed from sunstroke and heart trouble and died the next day.
In 1960, Danish cyclist Knut Jensen died during the Olympic road race as a result of ingesting amphetamines and nicotinyl tartrate which were alleged to be performance enhancers.
The 1983 Summer Universiade in Edmonton was marred by tragedy when Soviet diver Sergei Chalibashvili died eight days after hitting his head on the platform while attempting a reverse 3 1/2 in competition.
In the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Games, Australian alpine skier Ross Milne and British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski both died as a resulting of training crashes.
http://www.torontosun.com/sports/vancouver2010/news/2010/02/12/12857041-qmi.html
rip
A horrific crash during training for the Olympic luge competition, which is scheduled to begin Saturday,killed Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili.
The 21-year-old was propelled from the track and smashed his head on a metal pole at the Whistler Olympic Park.
Officials immediately closed the controversial track, which is known for its high speeds, often reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour. Obviously the rest of the training session was cancelled.
Officials from other countries have blasted Canadians for not allowing their sliders — in the sports of luge, skeleton and bobsled — extended access to the course.
“It is a tragedy for his family and the team,” said Thomas Bach, an IOC vice-president from Germany. “It casts a shadow over the opening ceremony.”
The international luge federation is currently meeting with officials from each of the teams to decide how to proceed with the competition and to evaluate the safety of the track.
Reports say medical personnel performed emergency CPR on Kumaritashvili at the site before he was rushed to a local hospital. Luge officials comfirmed his death shortly after noon, local time.
The crash was Kumaritashvili’s second of the week and more than a dozen wipeouts have been reported during training.
The young Georgian, who is ranked 44th in the world, was approaching a final 270-degree turn on the course when he lost control of his sled and was violently tossed.
Officials have also been concerned with the high speeds athletes have been reaching, particularly at the Whistler course..
“We are going to have to put in speed limits for the next track which will be built for sure for the next Olympics,” FIL spokesman Wolfgang Harder told Reuters. “We think 155 kilomotres per hour should be the limit. We have to take care of the security of our athletes.
“If you stick your head out of the sunroof of a car at 155 km/h you can imagine how that would feel. In our opinion safety is the most important thing.”
The course has a vertical drop of 152 metres, making it the steepest in the sport leading to the nickname of “the elevator shaft.”
Officials have been widely critical of Canada’s decision to keep athletes off of the course to create a home-course advantage.
“Please, let there be no accidents because that could kill the sport,” Andy Schmid, the performance director of British Skeleton, told England’s The Daily Telegraph.
“People have the argument that it’s just home advantage and that’s normal for an Olympic host country, but it’s different for sports involving high speed. Can you imagine in Formula One nobody being allowed on a track because somebody has home advantage?”
Earlier in the week, Canadian lugers talked about the difficulty of the run, which was built specifically for these Games.
“It’s a challenge,” Canadian Sam Edney said. “It is one of the fastest that we compete on. It’s definitely a speed track.”
This is not the first athlete to die during an Olympic competition or training session. In 1912, Portuguese marathon runner Francisco Lazaro, 21, collapsed from sunstroke and heart trouble and died the next day.
In 1960, Danish cyclist Knut Jensen died during the Olympic road race as a result of ingesting amphetamines and nicotinyl tartrate which were alleged to be performance enhancers.
The 1983 Summer Universiade in Edmonton was marred by tragedy when Soviet diver Sergei Chalibashvili died eight days after hitting his head on the platform while attempting a reverse 3 1/2 in competition.
In the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Games, Australian alpine skier Ross Milne and British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski both died as a resulting of training crashes.
http://www.torontosun.com/sports/vancouver2010/news/2010/02/12/12857041-qmi.html
rip
