Tragedy Strikes Vancouver Winter Olympic Games … Male Luger from the Former Soviet Republic of Georgia Dies After Training Crash

The Vancouver Olympic Luge track has been billed as the worlds fastest. Sadly, it is now known as the deadliest.

Their is  sad news to report from the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. Nodar Kumaritashvili, a male luger from the former Soviet Republic of  Georgia crashed and died today during a training run. Before the opening ceremonies even started tragedy has struck the Winter Olympics.  Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled, went over the track wall and struck an unpadded steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Center. Unpadded poll, oh dear Lord what were these people thinking?

Click on pic to see crash

A men’s luger from the former Soviet republic of Georgia died Friday after a crash during training, an Olympic official with direct knowledge of the situation said. The death cast a shocking pall over the Olympics hours before the Vancouver Games were to open.

The official told The Associated Press that the International Olympic Committee received confirmation of Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the 21-year-old luger’s family hadn’t been notified yet.

VIDEO can be seen here (Warning Graphic) We have dnot to link to the pics, just too graphic. They are easily found on the web. God rest this sliders soul.

Training was suspended following the terrible incident as track officials are investigating the crash. Rescue workers were at the Luger’s side within seconds providing chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The 21 year old Nodar Kumaritashvili  was then quickly airlifted to a trauma center in Whistler where he would later die from his injuries.

Our sympathies go out to the family and loved ones of this Olympic athlete.

UPDATE I: Olympic Probe: Track Didn’t Cause Luger’s Death

Hmm, if the track did not cause the death of the Georgian luger, why are they making changes to it? Obviously, the IOC is playing semantics and parsing words here. It was not the track, in the sense of the sliding area that caused the sad death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, a male luger from the former Soviet Republic of  Georgia; however, it was the non-padded steel pole that did. That will eventually need to be addressed as a negligent issue in the death of the Georgian luger. 

WHISTLER, British Columbia – Fast and frightening, yes. Responsible for the death of a luger, no.

Olympic officials decided late Friday night against any major changes in the track or any delays in competition and even doubled up on the schedule in the wake of the horrifying accident that claimed the life of a 21-year-old luger from the republic of Georgia.

They said they would raise the wall where the slider flew off the track and make an unspecified “change in the ice profile” — but only as a preventative measure “to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.”