Olympic luger's death 'unforeseeable': report

[SkiFreak]

Olympic luger's death 'unforeseeable': report

Last Updated: Monday, April 19, 2010 | 5:12 AM PT

A Georgian luger's death at the Vancouver Olympic sliding track in February was an "unforeseeable" accident resulting from driver error, high speed and other factors, the International Luge Federation says.

Nodar Kumaritashvili died Feb. 12 during a training run on the day of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. The 21-year-old lost control of his sled at an estimated 145 kilometres per hour, was thrown from the track and struck a metal pole.

“What happened to Nodar has been an unforeseeable fatal accident,” FIL secretary general Svein Romstad said in a report released Monday.

“After an in-depth analysis, we concluded that there was no single reason, but a complex series of inter-related events which led to this tragedy,” said Romstad.

In a 20-page report, FIL noted that Kumaritashvili was ranked 38th in the world as of the end of 2009, which earned him a spot at the Olympics.

The report said the Georgian slider had 26 runs on the track at Whistler between November 2009 and the time of his death. He had six runs on the track between Feb. 10 and the day of his death.

The report also noted that because speeds at the Whistler track were faster than originally calculated by the design firm, the FIL asked the organizers for additional training days.

The "progressive" training saw competitors make three runs from the novice start position, two runs from the junior start and one run from the lower women's start before moving up the track to the men's official race start... (continued)

Full article: CBC: Olympic luger's death 'unforeseeable': report

[747]

Fast track, limited access by Canada (which did nothing for their results), and EXPOSED STEEL POSTS at exit of dangerous turn,,,,,

NOT ROCKET SCIENCE,

Just involuntary murder, and the biggest legacy of Vancouver 2010.

[SkiFreak]

Fast track,

Maybe.

limited access by Canada (which did nothing for their results),

Not really.

and EXPOSED STEEL POSTS at exit of dangerous turn,,,,,

Definitely - negligence on FIL's part. Someone neglected to make sure all appropriate safeguards were in place.

About a week ago, I discussed the accident with a co-worker of mine who was involved with sliding sports. We pretty much came to the same conclusion. We also concluded that it's possible Nodar blacked out in the last turn from the Gs therefore had no control of his sled - however, this is something no one will ever know for sure.

[mr.x]

It's a dangerous sport to begin with...just because he's dead does not mean he can't be blamed for his own accident.

[SkiFreak]

Here's the 20 page report if anyone wants to read it, from FIL's website:

http://www.fil-luge.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Documents/Sonstiges/FIL_Final_Report.pdf