Winston_Churchill wrote:
As with many extreme sports, luging is not without its risks. The most recent fatality was Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili (Georgian: ნოდარ ქუმარიტაშვილი), who suffered a fatal crash during a training run for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. The International Luge Federation concluded that the accident was caused by a steering error, and not a track error. [2] He was the fourth athlete to die while in preparation for a Winter Olympics competition, following speed skier Nicolas Bochatay, 27, who died while preparing for the Albertville 1992 games, British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski and skier Ross Milne, 19, who both died in the run up to the Innsbruck 1964 games
And thats
only deaths in preparation for Winter Games
ruisleipa wrote:
The designer of the luge run fucked up, it's that simple. The organisers say it's not a fault of the track...then they say they're going to change the track to prevent similar accidents happening. Can't you see the inconsistency?
The International Luge Federation, not only the Olympic officials, declared it a steering error. They changed the track to calm the minds of the participants, not because it was overly dangerous. This track has been in use for 3 years without incident, it was only when an inexperienced luger went down at an incredibly fast speed, lost control and went off the track that this all started.
What if an inexperienced driver went into F1 and tried to keep up with them? He'd probably crash too
OK, first off you're saying that the fact the last luge death (?) was in 1964 means something? If anything it means risks have been minimised and there SHOULDN'T be any more more deaths. The wikipedia page you cited doesn't say anything about any more luge deaths since that one, and if you read it you notice only ONE of the three deaths mentioned was actually from luge. Why they had the extra deaths there I have no idea.
Of course the authorities approved it - they don't want to get into trouble. The olympic officials and representatives of any sport are as narcissistic and hypocritical as you could hope to find. I don't trust the olympic commitee of anything
about anything. But why then, if it is perfectly safe, did they actually make changes to the track? Why are they now starting the men's event from the women's start pace, and the women's from the junior's?
If there was nothing wrong with the track then why the changes????Many participants have voiced concerns about the track and the fact the Canadians haven't given other teams enough practice time. Yes, the Georgian made a mistake, but it seems to me the track is also at fault. Even I could see having massive pillars there where someone could come off was fucking stupid. Yes it is an oldish track, but it's the fastest it's ever been according to reports, partly because of the ice they're using for the olympics.
I mean, it doesn't matter really overall, the fact is a young talented sportsman lost his life. He'd trained for it and was as experienced as he could be at that age. He was 44th in the world. Yes maybe an inexperienced F1 driver would crash - but he probably wouldn't die because they've got shitloads of safety stuff going on, including WELL-DESIGNED tracks with bumpers, tyres, sand etc to absolutely minimise the risk of any serious crashes. The luge run had
steel poles just at a corner where clearly someone could fly off. The other fact is that they BLATANTLY didn't use enough safety precautions and it's not (or wasn't) a safe track. Basically someone fucked up either from the luge federation or the vancouver olympic whatnot.