Olympic Luger's Death Blamed on "Human Error"
Credit: Richard Heathcote / Getty Images
Despite concerns about the speed of the luge track in Vancouver, Olympian Nodar Kumaritashvili's Friday death has been blamed on "human error."
Kumaritashvili, who is from the Eastern European country of Georgia, slammed into a pole at nearly 90 mph during a practice run.
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On Saturday, the International Luge Federation and Vancouver Olympic officials said Kumaritashvili's crash was caused when he was "late" coming out of the next-to-last turn in the track, which caused him to lose "control of the sled."
"There was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track," the statement read.
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According to NPR, the 21-year-old Georgian -- who was ranked No. 44 in the world -- had crashed four times out of 16 practice runs.
The track was reopened Saturday with a few changes, including a different start point to slow competitors down, a raised wall where Kumaritashvili was thrown off and an unspecified "change in the ice profile to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again," according to a statement. (The Wall Street Journal explains that the angle of the ice was shifted in several places along the track.)
International Luge Federation president Josef Fendt told NPR, "we never said it is too fast" but a decision was made to alter the track based on the "emotional components" of the athletes.
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The men who practiced on Saturday all wore black tape on the left sides of their helmets to honor Kumaritashvili. A bouquet of yellow flowers was left by the pole Kumaritashvili hit. A man was also spotted sobbing near the scene of the accident in the morning.
The first luge medal event will be held on Sunday as planned.
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39How ridiculous - blame a dead man who can't defend himself.
Hey fica, I guess if it had happened in Salt Lake City you wouldn't be whining at all cause only the US can do no wrong. What a stupid comment. Are you an expert on luging and tracks?
What happened to Nodar is sad! And I agree they shouldn't be showing his death on TV, its disrespectful!!! RIP.
Fica, just because the track was modified doesn't mean what happened wasn't human error. It was a tragedy and thats why they changed it, so it couldn't happened again and they didn't want to risk it. God forbid they wanted prevent a second tragedy....grow up!
Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, Georgia Luge 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Vancouver Nicholas Bochatay, 27, Switzerland Speed Skiing 1992 Winter Olympic Games, Albertville Jorg Oberhammer, 47, Austrian Team Doctor Ski Collision 1988 Winter Olympic Games, Calgary Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki, Britian Luge 1964 Winter Olympic Games, Innsbruck Ross Milne, 19, Australia Downhill Skiing 1964 Winter Olympic Games, Innsbruck Summer Games Fatalities Knut Jensen, Denmark รข?? Cyclist 1960 Summer Olympic Games, Rome Francisco Lazaro, 21, Portugal Runner 1912 Summer Olympic Games, Stockholm
this luging stuff is stupid anyways. shouldn't even be in the olympics. in fact, they should do away with the olympics altogether b/c that has turned into nothing but a show put on by professional athletes. most of the entrants aren't amateurs, they are professionals, so the whole olympic-spirit thing is pretty much moot. olympics is nothing but a money making venture these days, more commercialism in an already over-commercialized world.
hey fica, you know why it would have been different if it happened in ch!na? because ch!na sucks! their products suck, their toddler workforce sucks - screw ch!na, their lead based childrens toys, their tainted pet food, toxic sheetrock and melamine tainted milk!!!
Imagine if this accident were to happened in Beijing.. The US media would play this 24/7 and bash Beijing for it. Since it happened in Canada, they're calling it Human Error.. YET THE TRACK WAS MODIFIED AFTER the accident. If it was "human error" why modify the track? Why add "extra walls of protection". It was an ERROR on behalf of CANADA for making an UNSAFE track. Period. Again, if this were to happened in Beijing, it would have been the stupid communists faults and their cheap unreliable labor. Heck, the media would have called a boycott on everything Chi-na and CNN would be playing Anti-Chi-na crap 24/7.
Funny how no one else has had an accident like that...everyone is always to blame. There is always a risk especially with that sport. Even if the wall was there, he still would have died hitting it that hard. He died because it was his time to go. They even said that he was late on that particular curve. It was his mistake. Not the course, not the wall, nothing.
So sad. So young. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. Such a shame
With any extreme sport, an accident or human error can and does occur. It is expected. That is why experts are hired to predict a catastrophe on the courses, tracks, etc. that they build, and precautions such as fences, rubber tires (in car racing), padding, etc., are put in place. Those poles on the luge track, IMO, should have had a fence, or barrier, or padding on the poles at least, in the first place. It could have saved his life, and now that they did put the fence up, in hindsight, there's no telling if it will save others' lives, but it was obvious it needed to be done. It's terribly sad that this young man, and other Olympians, had to pretty much be the guinea pigs, to see if all the bugs were worked out of the track. I really feel so bad for this young man, and his family.
Coming from a small nation myself, I cried for all of Georgia when I learned of Nodar Kumaritashvili's tragic death. The footage of this terrible accident should never have been posted out of respect for the young man and his family. Somehow this kind of footage seems to rob a person of his dignity. Whichever channel chooses to replay this chooses to inflict pain on others over and over again. It is shameful. I really feel like it's gone too far. May Nodar's family know that there are countless Americans grieving along with them and feeling a csense of outrage and a profound sadness. RIP.
Laying blame on the luger, the Olympic committee or whomever/whatever will not change the fact that this man died. With that said, there is danger in every sport (some more than others). The footage of his last moments would've made its way to the web sooner or later. Truthfully and I mean TRUTHFULLY, how many people watch sports (at times) waiting see a crash or a huge misstep (not death, but something that makes you say OMG!! DID YOU SEE THAT?) Be honest. I wouldn't doubt there are more people watchng the luge to see if something similar happens again. The athletes all assume risk when they partake in their respective sport - he passed competing in a sport he loved. RIP.
Just my opinion-NBC horrible timing, poor taste, heartless, lack of consideration. Ethical Egoism must run high within NBC.
@ B - I think everyone else understood that. I too think that showing footage of the crash and his death was disrespectful. This is such a sad time and people need to concentrate on his talents as an athlete not the way he dies. The commitee is turning all this around to save their skin and that IS disrespectful... ugh. R.I.P.
I was heart broken when I heard about his death. He was so young, and it is such an honor to compete in the Olympics. Its just so disappointing that he never got to actually race in it. I honestly don't know what to say about who's to blame. I don't think anyone will really know what exactly went wrong. Whether it was his fault or the tracks fault, his death was an unfortunate event.
Hmmm..., I don't believe that, and they need to more than make the Luge turns different for this to never happen again!?
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February 14, 2010 - 1:32am Hey, B! Says: Hey B, I guess shame on this web for posting your comment!What, NBC was too much for you and no one should even talk about poor boy? I am sorry NBC hurt your feelings. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxIt's also a shame that you can't READ comments correctly. I wrote "shame on NBC and the other news outlets for SHOWING FOOTAGE OF THE CRASH AND HIS DEATH. I never said no one could talk about him. NBC did not "hurt my feelings" as you so ignorantly stated. Have some compassion for his family, team mates and friends who do not want the world to see his final moments and the crash that led to his death. Maybe this will clear things up for you, but I doubt it as you seem to be a complete moron.
So because the Olympic Committee doesn't want to get in trouble or have this over their heads, they have to blame him? Is is really that hard to put up padding or even a wall??? Wow...I'm glad I don't watch the Olympics