Tragic Olympic Accident

On February 13 2010 08:19 inReacH wrote:
Here's video of the accident, not gory.

http://v6.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=hv1lps

On February 13 2010 08:19 inReacH wrote:
Here's video of the accident, not gory.

http://v6.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=hv1lps

On February 13 2010 08:19 inReacH wrote:
Here's video of the accident, not gory.

http://v6.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=hv1lps

On February 13 2010 09:18 duckhunt wrote:
wow that video...
why was there no guard rail or something on the track? T_T

On February 13 2010 09:20 PiePie wrote:

I think when you are going 90 miles an hour on a little sled a gaurd rail isnt going to work.. my main question is why would they design a track so that could even happen... and why was the pole not padded... sigh i feel horrible right now. the opening ceremony starts soon as well...

On February 13 2010 09:29 Wangsta wrote:
on the plus side, the way he hit the rail he probably felt no pain...

but seriously wow, that video...

On February 13 2010 09:37 Kenny wrote:
Yeah, I saw this earlier. Honestly, I just clicked on it to read the story...but saw the pictures included...and now a fucking video. I wish people would fucking have some respect and keep that shit off the internet. People are hurting now because of this accident, and it's only making it 100000x worse that the entire world gets to see it now.

Seriously..I wish media had a fucking brain.

On February 13 2010 09:37 Kenny wrote:
Yeah, I saw this earlier. Honestly, I just clicked on it to read the story...but saw the pictures included...and now a fucking video. I wish people would fucking have some respect and keep that shit off the internet. People are hurting now because of this accident, and it's only making it 100000x worse that the entire world gets to see it now.

Seriously..I wish media had a fucking brain.

On February 13 2010 09:37 Kenny wrote:
Yeah, I saw this earlier. Honestly, I just clicked on it to read the story...but saw the pictures included...and now a fucking video. I wish people would fucking have some respect and keep that shit off the internet. People are hurting now because of this accident, and it's only making it 100000x worse that the entire world gets to see it now.

Seriously..I wish media had a fucking brain.

On February 13 2010 09:46 PiePie wrote:


I completely agree to this. The videos and images do not need to be publicized as much like they are.. its a video of someones death.. its a terrible thing, and this video and pictures are on every single website right now... And I'm sure some people are watching it for.. other reasons..

Please keep the posts mannered, not like the idiot who posted the stupid poster of Cool Runnings. I'm not saying we all need to sob for this and become depressed, but at least show some respect... he was a 21 year old olympian with a dream. Show some respect...

On February 13 2010 09:55 Etherone wrote:


this isnt about respect, this is a 21 year old kid who lost his life, because some fucking retard decided it was alright to slack off on an olympic track

how much would it have cost to pad the steel poles at the VERY LEAST. sickening that this shit happens.

and to the retard who posted that picture, you are disgrace enjoy your ban, and i hope they IP check your ass in case thats a smurf.

On February 13 2010 08:20 gilligan wrote:
He rides around in a god damn sled in ultra high speed.. and dies?

Big suprise

On February 13 2010 09:55 Etherone wrote:
this isnt about respect, this is a 21 year old kid who lost his life, because some fucking retard decided it was alright to slack off on an olympic track

how much would it have cost to pad the steel poles at the VERY LEAST. sickening that this shit happens.

On February 13 2010 11:04 wishbones wrote:
i wonder if he broke any records, i mean to go fast enuff to go over the track, he must've right?

On February 13 2010 11:04 wishbones wrote:
i wonder if he broke any records, i mean to go fast enuff to go over the track, he must've right?

On February 13 2010 10:59 TimmyMac wrote:

Padding isn't going to do anything. The dude was going 140+kph - it's like padding the bumper of a car so it doesn't kill you when you run into speeding highway traffic. Nobody is slacking off. The tracks get faster and more difficult as the athletes' ability level increases, and there is a chance that by a freak accident you can exit the track during a crash.

Best idea would be to make higher sidewalls to the track, but then you lose light on the track as well which is never a good thing for safety or performance.

On February 13 2010 11:16 Kenny wrote:


I can sure as hell tell you it won't hurt. It's become very obvious from many Olympic athletes that this track is not fucking designed properly. When is the last time you heard big news of an Olympic Luger dying on a track? It's a dangerous sport, sure, but it's quite obvious this is a terrible fucking design.

On February 13 2010 11:47 Senx wrote:
Whoever built that course needs to be hung in public.

"Hey guys lets put METAL POLES right after a high-risk curve."

This shit is so scary, the complete ignorance and lack of knowledge people have, have ended this mans life, and it was supposed to be his first olympic apperance.

Wow..

On February 13 2010 13:27 [X]Ken_D wrote:
I don't agree with the design of the course.

The course allows greater speeds, but at the cost of decrease safety. I believe it would be better for all if it was design at a lower speed.

Imagine if this wasn't held in those other corrupt countries where they cut significant cost in construction so they can pocket the money.

On February 13 2010 08:20 gilligan wrote:
He rides around in a god damn sled in ultra high speed.. and dies?

Big suprise

On February 13 2010 15:06 Sadistx wrote:
Was his sled made by Toyota?

On February 13 2010 08:24 neobowman wrote:
They need to implement safety measures like making the thing a complete tube if it's just training.

On February 13 2010 12:42 Valentine wrote:
Anyone know why this seems to be the only death in the General forum that people are getting butt-hurt over the lame jokes? I'm not saying it's cool to make shitty puns about anyones death, but I just feel this hypocrisy is laughable.

On February 13 2010 15:06 Sadistx wrote:
Was his sled made by Toyota?

On February 13 2010 08:20 gilligan wrote:
He rides around in a god damn sled in ultra high speed.. and dies?

Big suprise

On February 13 2010 17:18 Sadistx wrote:
In all seriousness, I wonder why they don't put higher plexiglass walls on those tracks. I mean there was a wall on the actual big turn, but it ended at the point when his trajectory became unstable and he shot out. Had it continued maybe for 10 more feet, he might have lived.

On February 13 2010 18:20 Eskii wrote:
Here is the thing, it was completely foreseeable... I don't know why people are shocked when athletes who perform in high risk sports die in accidents.

Joint VANOC - FIL Statement on Men’s Luge Competition

Feb 12, 2010

The International Luge Federation is deeply saddened by the death of the Georgian athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili, member of our Luge Family, who was fatally injured during the final training session in the last corner of the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Friday morning.

The Coroners Service of British Columbia, responsible for the investigation of all sudden deaths, together with the RCMP, concluded their on-scene investigations on the track and transferred the decision to FIL when the track can be re-opened. The FIL, through its technical officials, further investigated into the cause of this tragic incident. Based on a physical inspection of the track and a thorough review of the tapes they have concluded the following:

It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16. This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident. The technical officials of the FIL were able to retrace the path of the athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.

Based on these findings the race director, in consultation with the FIL, made the decision to reopen the track following a raising of the walls at the exit of curve 16 and a change in the ice profile. This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.

The FIL will resume men´s training Saturday morning with two full training runs prior to the competition taking place as scheduled at 17h00.



FIL and VANOC will conduct a joint press conference on Saturday, 13 February, at 8h30am at the Whistler Media Center with Josef Fendt, FIL President, Svein Romstad, FIL Secretary General and Tim Gayda, VANOC Vice-President, Sport. Media in Vancouver will be able to follow the press conference and post questions at the Main Press Center (MPC).

On February 14 2010 02:39 SultanVinegar wrote:
"Officials have modified the last turn where he crashed, erecting a 12-foot-high wooden wall to cover the exposed steel beams. In the last hour before practice was set to resume, workers scraped and shaped ice from the edges in the last turn. Officials said they have modified the exit in the curve."

from espn
http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2010/luge/news/story?id=4911258

On February 13 2010 15:06 Sadistx wrote:
Was his sled made by Toyota?

On February 14 2010 08:09 Bosu wrote:
A pad wouldn't do anything other then shut up the hundreds of thousands of people that think a steel pad would have helped.

WHISTLER, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The Olympic men’s luge competition will run from the lower women’s start as an extra precaution after the death of a Georgian slider in training, organisers said on Saturday.

On February 14 2010 09:11 AtlaS wrote:
i feel fucking sick after seeing that picture of the luger covered in blood with his lifeless eyes staring lifelessly into the sky. I keep seeing my own face instead of his.

i just got into a snowboarding accident on tuesday and i feel like i just cheated death. i was following a friend down a trail that I wasn't very familiar with nor am I as good of a snowboarder as my friend and I didn't see this ski lift pole with a giant concrete block on the bottom of it until it was too late and I hit it head on.

i broke every bone on the right side of my face including the frontal bone in my forehead that is supposed to take 200Gs of acceleration to break. the orbital bone that holds my eye was completely shattered and they had to cut the top of my scalp from ear to ear and literally peel my face back in order to insert 10 titanium plates in order to piece my face back together.

If I would've hit the block two inches higher, I would've been blind. If I would've hit the concrete block two inches lower, I would've been paralyzed. If the back of my head would've hit the concrete block, I would've have been brain dead. If my I hit two inches upper-right in my temple, I would've died on impact. The sheer fact that I had my sinuses to act as a buffer is the sole reason I am not worse off than I am now. I'm going to be most likely partially blind in my right eye and my face slightly misshapen, but nothing even close to what could have happened.

I'm fucking shook up and sick to my stomach after seeing this. I've never been this close to an encounter with death and I can't believe that I escaped death within inches of my life. It's fucking sickening to think that my life could have ended on tuesday. Never knew how much I took it for granted until I almost lost it.


Rest in Peace, Nodar Kumaritashvili.