Georgian athlete dies in olympic training

[Ivan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympic ... 513595.stm

Video (be quick, they might delete this one too)
http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/829051/ ... crash.html

He hit an iron support pole just after losing control in a corner while going 140kmh

Besides this crash, two athletes were hospitalized after crashing on the same track (but not in that corner)

[Craig.]

I wouldn't be surprised if the course is either changed, or some form of restriction or cancellation put in. Its one of if not the most dangerous courses in the world. Yes it's about a challenge considering, but there are limits.

[Steve M]

I am going to say this once. In the beginning of the olympics the competion was about the every day joe competeing with the average joe. In the beginning luge was not heard of. Pro hockey players.. unheard of. There are tons of examples of events that have been added into the in recent years for box office. Luge was one of them.. I feel very sorry for this man and his family and friends. But the minute a person lays down on his back, feet first, on a sled, gains ground speeds of 120 kilometers per hour in an aerodynamic bodysuit with only a fiberglass cup and a helmet secured by velcro straps.. Well who is really going to win. The metal pole of course.

[WebbPA]

[quote]In the beginning of the olympics the competion was about the every day joe competeing with the average joe. In the beginning luge was not heard of. Pro hockey players.. unheard of.

[specter177]

Didn't there use to be a law that US pro athletes couldn't compete, until we started getting beat by countries that didn't have that law?

[Hagar]

Didn't there use to be a law that US pro athletes couldn't compete, until we started getting beat by countries that didn't have that law?

This wasn't confined to the US. The modern Olympic Games was restricted to amateurs until fairly recently. Some countries regularly "bent" the rules in order to win & the whole Olympic ideal went out of the window.

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/amateur-ideals-and-olympic-realities
[i]"Sportspeople from the Communist countries which competed at the Olympics from 1952 were in effect full-time athletes, despite being nominally students, soldiers or otherwise employed. Western Europeans

[tcco94]

Didn't there use to be a law that US pro athletes couldn't compete, until we started getting beat by countries that didn't have that law?

Im pretty sure after the 1980 USA Hockey team that won gold also known as the Miracle when they beat the Soviets was the last time they didnt allow professionals to participate because if you've ever seen the film Miracle it says at the end...after the 1980 Olympics they started allowing professionals to play.

I sort of wish they didnt because it would be funner to watch, there would be bigger upsets, and maybe more people would watch just like when the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team's Gold was a huge deal to the U.S. and we dont even like hockey.

As for the video, its horrible it got released. I saw it on youtube, just a horrible horrible accident  Very scary

[BigTruck]

I found this extremely sad.  Rest in peace warrior, you died doing what you loved, representing your country, giving everything you had.  A split second...man 

[a1]

I don't pop in here often but because this is regarding the tragic death of the Georgian luger I have something to say.

I watched the video of his accident and I couldn't believe it. He was a real athlete. This lost affected everyone.

[tcco94]

I watched the video of his accident and I couldn't believe it. He was a real athlete. This lost affected everyone.

+1
Well said.

[B-Valvs]

This was really sad. As for the video, I was not surprised it was released because there are a lot of people that would want to see it, but I was surprised to see it on TV. It's all about ratings as far as that goes, but it looks like it hurt them because last night they announced that they will not show it again on TV.

8-)

[machineman9]

Anyone following the events will know that the men are launching off from the women's start position which hopes to lower the overall speed by something like 10kph over the track.

A very nasty accident which seems doesn't seem to be down to the track - that part of the track was exposed, but they probably didn't see it as a high risk area. The corners have better guards on them. The only solution to this I can see is putting a bubble over the entire track, but I don't think they will. There were some other close calls yesterday where a few people hit the top of the long corner. Some people blame those new collisions due to the change in the start position. The athletes are used to memorising the track and suddenly their speed has been completely changed making them sometimes unstable.


Sad, but they died doing what they loved and they died doing it for their country.

[a1]

Anyone following the events will know that the men are launching off from the women's start position which hopes to lower the overall speed by something like 10kph over the track.

A very nasty accident which seems doesn't seem to be down to the track - that part of the track was exposed, but they probably didn't see it as a high risk area. The corners have better guards on them. The only solution to this I can see is putting a bubble over the entire track, but I don't think they will. There were some other close calls yesterday where a few people hit the top of the long corner. Some people blame those new collisions due to the change in the start position. The athletes are used to memorising the track and suddenly their speed has been completely changed making them sometimes unstable.


Sad, but they died doing what they loved and they died doing it for their country.

For today's luge event I noticed a considerable speed difference from the training run that went wrong. Still a very dangerous sport.

[B-Valvs]

Kumaritashvili was scared of the track:

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancou ... oly,219592

[quote]Since his death, many people have debated whether the track was too fast or the relatively inexperienced luger was out of his element. A number of Olympic lugers think the track was fine. They fault Kumaritashvili

[BigTruck]

They're still breaking 90mph    I don't drive that fast on the highway in an airbag surrounded fully enclosed SUV...talk about brass ones....