olympian killed in luge run

[Jocephus]

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- A men's Olympic luger from the former Soviet republic of Georgia died after a crash during training Friday, an Olympic official with direct knowledge of the crash said.

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.

An official statement was to be released soon, the source said.

Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled near the finish, went over the track wall and struck an unpadded steel pole near the finish line at Whistler Sliding Center on a course that is the world's fastest and has raised safety concerns among competitors.

http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/wint ... id=4909034

[Freed Roger]

put luge on my list of disliked Olympic events. there's better ways to get down a snowy hill.

[TimeForGuinness]

Seriously CNN?

[Tambourine Man]

Yikes. Some of the athletes were raving about how this particular track is the fastest ever.

[TGantz]

Seriously CNN?

+++

Yeah dude, WTF?

[Spider John]

You would think any pole in an area where a luger could possibly end up would be heavily padded.

[Hudler]

Seriously CNN?

They've showed the video a few times while I was a bar waiting for my food...why?

[ghostrunner]

Seriously CNN?

+++

Yeah dude, WTF?

I don't really have a problem with it. The detail of what exactly happened seems news-worthy to me. I suppose you could say having it on the front page of the web site is a little unseemly. Seems like there's an intrinsic question after an event like this, regarding whether or not the sport itself is worthwhile as a competition, or if this track needs to be changed. Seeing what exactly happened is part of the information you'd need to make that kind of judgement. It's not enough information by itself, but a valid piece IMO.

[TimeForGuinness]

Seriously CNN?

They've showed the video a few times while I was a bar waiting for my food...why?

I saw it too...horrifying.

Sorry ghost, show a picture of the kid who died what he loved doing...not of him dying.

[JunkBondTrader]

Watching the video made it seem like this wouldn't be all that rare of an occurrence to leave the track like that. It seems pretty easy for it to happen. Of course I know nothing about the sport though.

I really wish I didn't watch the video. The clanging noise is just awful. And they just kept showing it.