Kumaritashvili error to blame for fatal luge accident

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Posted: Saturday 13th February 2010 | 7:40

LUGE'S world governing body have ordered the Whistler Sliding Centre track to be reopened - and Saturday's Olympic men's luge competition will go ahead as planned.

BACK TO BUSINESS: The Whistler Sliding Centre will reopen for training on Saturday and the scheduled men's luge singles will go ahead as planned (Getty Images)

The International Luge Federation (Fil) concluded athlete error was the cause of the tragic accident which claimed the life of 21-year old Georgian slider Nodar Kumaritashvili during training today.

Kumaritashvili flew off the track and into a metal pole, sustaining fatal injuries and later died in hospital.

But Fil have ordered some changes to the track construction and ice conditions - with work going on through the night to raise the wall on the final corner, where the accident occurred.

"It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make a correct entrance into curve 16," said a statement.

"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.

"This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again."

Officials from the British Colombia Coroner's Office and Royal Canadian Mounted Police have also started an investigation but were satisfied enough to allow the track to be re-opened.

Comments

Whitewash

Submitted by maxt (not verified) on Sat, 02/13/2010 - 18:41.

That response from OOC makes me angry for that young man. Yes he was engaged in a dangerous sport, but that does not mean his death was not avoidable.

The statement put out by OOC is classic whitewash in my opinion. First they explain the accident, by questioning the riders ability to handle the track (offensive in my opinion):

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. 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.

Sure he lost control, but that doesn't mean his death could not have been prevented, but then they seem to imply that with this little gem at the end:

This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.

I completely recognize that luge is a dangerous sport with people putting their lives on the line. But so is being an astronaut, and there still has to be trust that engineers and officials are doing what they can to keep you safe. If they fail and you die as a result, that may be what you signed up for, but their feet should also be held to the fire to see if they did everything they could or if they were negligent.

As an engineer I believe this was a classic safety fail. Steel beams next to riders going 90 mph, without adequate protection between them and the beams. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist or a five year old to realize that there was something wrong with that. You should not be able to fly off the track and hit a steel beam period. If that isn't a track deficiency I don't know what is.

Just sad, because I believe while he may still have been seriously injured his death was avoidable if the proper precautions were taken. And for the committee to imply that it was unpredictable, out of their hands and determined by the riders inability to control his sled, is appalling. Just step up and take some of the responsibility. We all know that they could have done more. RIP.