"WHISTLER – Tragedy struck at the Whistler Sliding Centre Friday morning when Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, flew off the track at high speed, smashed into a metal girder and died.
At 12:15 p.m. German International Olympic Committee official Thomas Bach confirmed he was dead."
The latest news is that all luge events have been suspended pending an investigation. A sad and unfortunate start to the 2010 Games.
The track at Whistler is the fastest and “nastiest” in the world. The sliders are reaching speeds of about 155 kmh (90 mph) in practice runs. That’s insane.
[quote]dianab wrote:
Wow that’s a scary way to go, but it must have been over quick.
It’s upsetting, but the guy died doing something he loved. [/quote]
I agree Diana, he went into it fully aware of the danger of the sport.
However, I think the track engineers probably dropped the ball. It looks like the track may be just too damn fast; and what’s with those exposed metal posts above the track’s top edge, the ones that he collided with? Surely there should have been some kind of shock-reducing padding on those?
Well, I suppose we can second-guess the track designers, but I read that the Canadian team has had over 300 runs, with no serious injuries. I hope the sliding events can proceed soon, in relative safety.
[quote]dianab wrote:
Wow that’s a scary way to go, but it must have been over quick.
It’s upsetting, but the guy died doing something he loved. [/quote]
I agree Diana, he went into it fully aware of the danger of the sport.
However, I think the track engineers probably dropped the ball. It looks like the track may be just too damn fast; and what’s with those exposed metal posts above the track’s top edge, the ones that he collided with? Surely there should have been some kind of shock-reducing padding on those?
Well, I suppose we can second-guess the track designers, but I read that the Canadian team has had over 300 runs, with no serious injuries. I hope the sliding events can proceed soon, in relative safety.[/quote]
put as much padding on that girder as you want… at that speed there is no chance… It appears that that is just a rough corner… coming out of it… it cuts you towards the wall
HOLY CRAP! That video is insane! It happens so quickly, you almost miss it… looks like a rag doll just flops over the edge… once you remember it’s a person it’s just horrible. Hopefully it happened so quickly he didn’t even realize what happened.
dying do what he loved? how fucking cliched. he’s still fucking dead and I bet ya if he had to do it over again, he’d gladly give up “what he loved” and live a full life. he had a tragic fucking accident. he didn’t “die doing what he loved”. he wasn’t some old man out on a hunting trip that went from natural causes, “doing what he loved”. he was a 21 year old athlete, who had a tragic life ending accident. the end.
I don’t watch a ton of luge, but even from before in that same run, that’s not how a turn is supossed to come out. Either he botched the set up or it’s too tight. Either way it’s sad. Any word on how good the luge team coming out of Georgia? Are they dedicated or is it a small country so the training isn’t intense? Basically could this guy could possibly have been ill-prepared to face an olympic quality track?
Such a tragedy. Sports are dangerous. That is for sure.
[quote]TheBodyGuard wrote:
dying do what he loved? how fucking cliched. he’s still fucking dead and I bet ya if he had to do it over again, he’d gladly give up “what he loved” and live a full life. he had a tragic fucking accident. he didn’t “die doing what he loved”. he wasn’t some old man out on a hunting trip that went from natural causes, “doing what he loved”. he was a 21 year old athlete, who had a tragic life ending accident. the end.[/quote]
Everybody dies sooner or later. At what age it happens doesn’t really matter. If he really love doing it and he had given up he could be miserable for the rest of his long long life. Do you think he would really want that?
With that said, it is possible that he was just in it because he was good at and it is a way to make a living. In that case then it is no different from anyone who has a risky job.
[quote]TheBodyGuard wrote:
dying do what he loved? how fucking cliched. he’s still fucking dead and I bet ya if he had to do it over again, he’d gladly give up “what he loved” and live a full life. he had a tragic fucking accident. he didn’t “die doing what he loved”. he wasn’t some old man out on a hunting trip that went from natural causes, “doing what he loved”. he was a 21 year old athlete, who had a tragic life ending accident. the end.[/quote]
Everybody dies sooner or later. At what age it happens doesn’t really matter. If he really love doing it and he had given up he could be miserable for the rest of his long long life. Do you think he would really want that?
With that said, it is possible that he was just in it because he was good at and it is a way to make a living. In that case then it is no different from anyone who has a risky job.[/quote]
I imagine if he were to do it over again he’d want to at least wait until AFTER the olympics. Poor guy trained for who knows how long only to die in some freak accident the day before the games open.
However, I think the track engineers probably dropped the ball. It looks like the track may be just too damn fast; and what’s with those exposed metal posts above the track’s top edge, the ones that he collided with? Surely there should have been some kind of shock-reducing padding on those?
[/quote]
put as much padding on that girder as you want… at that speed there is no chance… It appears that that is just a rough corner… coming out of it… it cuts you towards the wall
[/quote]
Amiright,
Yeah, in fact you ARE right. There was no chance of surviving that impact.
Tracks are meant to keep the athletes IN at all times, even when accidents do occur. In the history of the luge I don’t think anyone has ever died nor have they been thrown out of the track. A truly sad moment and I hope it never happens again.
