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German Luger

December 26th, 2009 admin No comments

German Luger

The Tragic Death Of Olympic Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Olympic luger Nodar Kumaritashvili from the country of Georgia died Friday after a high-speed crash on a track that is the world's fastest and has raised safety concerns among competitors. IOC president Jacques Rogge said the death hours before the opening ceremony "clearly casts a shadow over these games."Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled during training, went over the track wall and struck an unpadded steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Center. Doctors were unable to revive the 21-year-old luger, who died at a hospital, the International Olympic Committee said.
"We are deeply struck by this olympic tragedy in the luge completion and join the IOC in extending our condolences to the family, friends and teammates of this athlete, who came to Vancouver to follow his Olympic dream," said John Furlong, chief executive of the Vancouver organizing committee. Rescue workers were at Kumaritashvili's side within seconds. Chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation started less than one minute after the crash, and he was quickly airlifted to a trauma center in Whistler.
Kumaritashvili struck the inside wall of the track on the final turn. His body immediately went airborne and cleared the ice-coated concrete wall along the left side of the sliding surface. His sled remained in the track, and it appeared his helmet visor skidded down the ice. Men's luge competition is to begin Saturday. It's unclear if the schedule will change since the tragic olympic death. Kumaritashvili is the fourth tragic olympic 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." It was Kumaritashvili's second crash during training for the Vancouver 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 before the tragic olympic luge accident , although many sliders have exceeded 90 mph on this course. The track is considered the world's fastest and several Olympians recently questioned its safety. More than a dozen athletes have crashed before the tragic olympic luge death while training , 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.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Will the grey cloud remain over the Olympic's luge event or will we not try push this event to the limit any longer? I think four tragic olympic deaths is enough.

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