http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympic_games/vancouver_2010/luge/8513595.stm

Video (be quick, they might delete this one too)
http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/829051/d0045fb7/rodelcrash.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)

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.     

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?

specter177 wrote on Feb 12^th, 2010 at 11:40pm:

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

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.

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.

machineman9 wrote on Feb 14^th, 2010 at 3:04pm:


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

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....

What makes the story even more sad...he called his Dad the day before saying he was scared of the track, one of the turns scared him. His dad told him he should put his feet down on the ice to slow him down on that turn, but that once he started down the track that he would finish because he knows his son is brave.

http://www.aolnews.com/article/father-nodar-kumaritashvili-luger-who-died-was-sc...

B-Valvs wrote on Feb 16^th, 2010 at 9:51pm:

Oh, I wasnt aware they did when he was dead too. Just to play that video when he was still in the hospital is stupid. The scene of that will always be in my mind. 

BigTruck wrote on Feb 15^th, 2010 at 2:49am:

When the women look like men, you know you've got a class A risky sport 

The skiing today was pretty risky too with several nasty falls. It just goes to show how small the margin for error is and how far you need to push yourself to excel.


Edit: If you're looking for the brass of all brass, check the blind skiers in the paraolympic games. That stuff's just insane 

Craig. wrote on Feb 17^th, 2010 at 7:25pm:

I'm glad they set the lads off from the womens, and the women off from the juniors rather than stopping the event entirely. It is just a quick response to the event rather than closing it down. It is terrible that it happened, but that comes with taking such great risks. It will definately help aid the safety of future events and improve the safety of the sports as a whole. The only fix I can think of is the bubble method, sticking plastic tubing over the entire track to make it into a sort of flume (now there's an idea for the summer games) but health and safety may not like it if it means they can't get to the racer, and visually it might impair the sport.

As found in the skiing, lumps on the snow can produce nasty consequences when you're sliding over small jumps on your back, head first. Again, this will help to aid the safety of the sport if the organisers know what to look out for in order to help protect the competitors.

Whenever anyone crashes or underperforms I still remind myself and others that they may have done the 'worst' but that is only relative to their competitors and they are the finest in the sport in the world. Pushing it is the only way to come to victory and sometimes it doesn't pay off, if that means skidding your luge as some people have done, falling off your skis or, unfortunately, paying the ultimate price.