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By now, almost everyone knows about the tragic and fatal crash on the luge track in Vancouver that took place before the opening ceremony. Georgian Olympian, Nodar Kumaritashvili, had a fatal accident on the luge track that he was said to be afraid of competing on earlier. Officials and organizers from Vancouver say that the accident was not caused by “deficiencies in the track,” but by Kumaritashvili’s own inexperience; however, the Georgian Olympic committee’s chief, Giorgi Natsvlishlili, blames the track, “I exclude the possibility that Nodar was not experienced enough. From my point of view the track was at fault.” There had also been around 70 crashes in the days leading up to the accident; only after the accident was a wall built and the starting point lowered. An Olympic hopeful in February 2009, after officials wanted to him to start from the highest men’s starting point said it “would be suicidal” and even further explained his refusal by saying, “I had heard enough horror stories. Every athlete treats this track with the upmost respect. Nearly every athlete is scared to death of this track.” The officials did not try to fix the known problem spot on the course or allow other countries more runs on the course, despite their many requests.
However, the Canadians technically did no wrong according to an international official. A spokesman for the Whistler Sliding Centre, John Gibson, said, “We have actually surpassed the requirements set forth by the international sport federations in terms of athletic access.” Canadians were allowed more practice time after it was discovered that athletes were reaching speeds over the maximum speed of the track, 85 m.p.h. Kumaritashvili only had twenty-six runs in comparison to the average of 250 runs the Canadians got, which I feel played a big role in why this accident happened. Many of my questions are questions that many are asking. Why was the course not changed before this crash happened, even though there had been over seventy more crashes? Why was a home advantage more important to the Canadians than the safety of young athletes? I say young because Kumaritashvili was only a mere 21 years old when he died.
The most disturbing thing about this whole tragic fiasco is it could have been easily avoided if more precautions had been taken. For instance, officials could have listened to the athletes fears of the track being too dangerous, but instead they decided to do nothing.