This was a tragic accident.

What it really highlights though is not a problem with the track—the track is no more dangerous than others, just faster—but rather another problem no one wants to talk about.

The more serious issue is properly qualifying the competitors. With all the new break-off republics in the former Soviet Union and even African nations etc. getting into the winter games, everyone wants to field teams for as many events as possible, with the result that some of the athletes are simply too inexperienced for the events in which they are competing.

This is an issue the IOC urgently needs to address—particularly in the case of high risk sports. Athletes that compete in the Olympics have to be able to compete at the very highest level of their sport. Anything else is folly.

Yes, the ones that made it to you-tube have since been removed....

That is not necessarily accurate. The best in the world crashed yesterday, so are you saying he is not qualified to be here either? I see your point but this guy was ranked 44th in the world.

they have now made some changes

-starting from the womens gate so speeds should be lower
-built the wall up higher in the area of the accident
-reshaped some of the ice in the area of the accident

hopefully the track will be safer and they can hold the event without incedent.

I saw the photos of the crash area around the track. There's not just one steel pole but a series of them (sun block support tubes), all within striking distance of anyone who manages to go off. Considering the potential speed and expected elements of driver error and/or equipment failure this is massively failed oversight. Even the best crash on occasion. Ask Mr. Schumacher. Name one famous race driver who hasn't bent metal.

Did Olympic coverage and commerce overshadow good judgement?

Sherwood

The video that I saw wasn't graphic, and was at an angle that didn't really show much. I just saw the guy get flung out and off to the side, but you couldn't really see what happened clearly.

The track designer says this is the sixth track he has built. He claims he has NEVER seen a slider leave the track in any previous designs. Consider that 'reporters' routinely take a run to 'get a feel' for the speed, albeit at reduced speeds.

So this track has had thousands of 'trips', his tracks all told have had hundreds of thousands. And this is, reportedly, the first slider ever to leave the track. On previous occasions the worst accidents involved the sled leaving the track, not the slider.

It would be negligent not to expect crashes, that's why the paramedics and doctors are on site. I am not convinced that a slider leaving the track was foreseeable. I suspect the 'experts', of which there were many, thought it impossible. Obviously they were wrong, I doubt anyone said 'let's make a death defying run, that will be good for ratings'.

One can look to the megabuck world of F1 racing where cost is seldom an object. Multi-million dollar race facilities are designed with much riding on the success of the event. Yet there are constant improvements and fixes discovered to ensure a safe event for both drivers and spectators, even after the facility is operational. IOW, no one is perfect.

From my decidedly amateur observation of the corner in question, it looks like the wall height was designed for a typical run. That is, the wall after the corner only appears a few feet high, not nearly high enough to contain an uncontrolled luge or luger at speed. That is now tragically obvious.

However, like they say, hindsight is 20-20.

Sherwood

I'm not a luge expert. But I'm reliably told that many tracks have posts of the sort people are now talking about. The fact is that luge riders never fly off the track. This has never previously happened in Olympic competition.

The emerging consensus seems to be that the Georgian rider made a very amateurish mistake in that corner. No one likes to speak ill of the dead, so no one is making very much about this. Besides a "defective and deadly" track makes for a better news story.

But I go back to my previous post. I think the focus on the track is wrong—and is really detracting from where the real lessons from this tragic accident ought to be, viz., that athletes partcipating in these games are not always properly qualified to do so.

The luge is damn dangerous. If you want to see how many amateurs have been killed and maimed at this sport read up a bit on the Cresta run in St.Moritz—where amateurs are allowed to run. Just two years ago we watched as one of these amateurs had his arm torn off right in front our eyes. It was horrific.

Have all the folks who are blaming the track design looked at all of the other tracks these guys run around the world to see if anything similar exists in terms of danger? is there a Luge governing body that would have given the A-OK to the track? Or is it just a tragic accident? Or is everyone just saying that it was a bad design to have the pole there? Is a street poorly designed if a motorcyle rider or driver of a car ends up in the lamp pole?

Anyways, I don't participate in that sport so I can't really comment and will wait until the experts (the real ones) take a long hard look at it.

Tragic accident, and very sad. I wish my Canadian athletes came into the stadium last night wearing black arm bands.....

Cheers

looks like Dottore and I were typing at the same time....

other tracks may have similar posts, but none have such high speeds.
this is the fastest track in the business... the track designer designed it that way...


if he raises the stakes, then he should consider what implications that will have towards safety....

What was it again ? 20-30 mph faster then any other track?
that's quite a big increase

I don't believe it's 20-30 mph faster, but would need to look into it.

i think i got the mph wrong , should be km/h faster

I haven't read all the posts, but the first thing I thought when I saw what happened was that his death could've been avoided if they'd had some sort of net or chainlink in that area right after that turn that would keep racers from bouncing over that short wall.

What a tragedy. The sport is dangerous but something needs to be done to help reduce the risk

then perhaps designers will need to have certain elements made standard. like the chicanes in many road racing courses. My understanding is Whistler was built steeper and faster than any other track in the world. Perhaps the design should be mandated to have "flats" or maximum downhill angle requirements built in?

It needs 'containment' in that area. Nets, fence, or higher walls. I believe the walls were modified yesterday, and the top speeds are being limited by moving the starting point further down the course.

They are still hitting 89 - 90 MPH on the course. It's all relative, Canadians still have the advantage from more experience on the course, people just won't be dying in the process.

I'm thinking something like plexiglass or something to contain the body and sleigh inside, that way they'll slip down. Possibly waaay to simplistic.