Olympics Open with Tragic Start

Typically, the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics mark a cheerful celebration only seen every four years.  Last night’s ceremony in Vancouver carried a somber tone after 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia careened off the Whistler Sliding Track and crashed into a metal support beam.

Kumaritashvili was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead after several hours.  The accident marks the fourth fatality in Winter Olympic history, and the first since 1992.

The Whistler Sliding Track has been marked as the fastest track in the world, and Kumaritashvili was clocked at 89.4 MPH when he went off the course at Curve 13.  NBC released the footage of the fatal accident, and the images are chilling.  Frankly, the human body isn’t meant to travel that fast on a tiny metal sled.

The incident in Vancouver finally begs the question, how fast is too fast?

The track was designed to be the fastest of its kind and lugers can be subjected to G-forces similar to those experienced by military jet pilots.  Racers have consistently broken 90 MPH on the 16-curve track, and on Thursday Romanian luger Violeta Stramaturaru was knocked unconscious after a similar crash during her training run.

There has already been an increase of crashes at this year’s Olympics, on The Whistler.  In fact, Kumaritashvili crashed on his second training run as well.  American bobsled pilot Steven Holcomb has gone as far as nicknaming the infamous Curve 13 “The 50/50 Curve” because of the chances of crashing.

Interestingly, the Georgian athlete is only the second luger to perish Olympic history, the first coming in the 1964 games at Innsbruck.  The luge is certainly one of the more dangerous winter events, and the fact that only two lugers have died since the first Winter Games in 1924 is impressive.

Fortunately for the lugers, the track has been shortened by officials in an attempt to slow down the course and protect the athletes.  Thankfully, the officials realized just how dangerous The Whistler Sliding track is and have finally made the health of competitors the top priority.

As the Olympics continue, look for every country and all athletes to honor the memory of Nodar Kumaritashvili whose life and promising luging career were cut drastically short on The Whistler Sliding Track.