Georgian officials blame track for Kumaritashvili tragedy

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Posted: Thursday 18th February 2010 | 21:05

THE head of Georgia's national Olympic committee has hit out at the controversial Whistler Sliding Centre track, where luge slider Nodar Kumaritashvili lost his life during a training run last week.

TRAGIC: Nodar Kumaritashvili competing during an training run at the Whistler Sliding Centre. On a later training run he crashed and died (Getty Images)

Luge's world governing body concluded, following an investigation, that athlete error was the cause of the tragic accident, although some structural changes were later made to the track and the start ramps for events were lowered, slightly reducing overall speed.

The International Olympic Committee's communications chief, Mark Adams, again reiterated that he believed the track was safe during a news conference in Vancouver today.

"I exclude the possibility that Nodar was not experienced enough," said Georgian Olympic committee chief Giorgi Natsvlishlili.

"From my point of view the track was at fault."

Natsvlishvili also claimed safety standards were 'not properly observed' and hinted the country might take further action, although Kumaritashvili's father has said his family would not pursue a law suit, as had been initially reported.

"Let's wait for the results of the investigation and then decide together with the family," added Natsvlishvili.

Kumaritashvili will be buried in his hometown of Bakuriani, about 110 miles west of the capital Tbilisi, on Saturday afternoon.

AS IT HAPPENS: Day seven of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver