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Luge competition to go ahead from lower start

FIL representatives in uncharted waters after death of Kumaritashvili but say Whistler track is safe

 

It was an emotional Saturday morning in Whistler as the president and secretary general of the International Luge Federation (FIL) discussed the events leading to the death of Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili less than 24 hours earlier at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

President Josef Fendt, speaking through a translator, called Feb. 12 the "worst day, one of the saddest days in the sport... and that was the worst event that has ever happened," in its almost 60 years in the Winter Games.

Fendt expressed his personal condolences, and then, citing his limitations in English, turned the floor over to secretary general Svein Romstad to discuss the details of Kumaritashvili's death. Romstad, visibly shaken, choked up several times speaking to the media, but explained what had transpired since the accident.

He started off by apologizing for the lack of information at a press conference the previous day, as the FIL's own team were not allowed to investigate the site until the RCMP completed their investigation. The RCMP then handed over the results of their investigation to the FIL and IOC.

"Our tech officials studied the tape, the walked the track and retraced the event, and based on this they were able to render their opinion as to what happened," said Romstad.

"The run of Nodar appeared to be routine until Curve 15. At that point he came out late from the exit of the curve, which resulted in a late entrance into the last curve, Curve 16, the finish curve. Although he tried to correct the situation he shot into the roof of Turn 16, with the result that he experienced G (gravitational) forces that collapsed his body and rendered it difficult to control the sled, and in this case he was not able to do so. Once this happened he was literally at the mercy of the path of the sled.

"At the exit of Curve 16 he hit the wall, which resulted in Nodar being catapulted over the top of the wall, resulting in the final crash."

Kumaritashvili hit one of a series of metal posts that line the final straight section of the Whistler Sliding Centre track.

While some early media reports suggested that Kumaritashvili might have been inexperienced - he did not take part in the Nations Cup or World Cup events in Whistler last year - the Republic of Georgia held a press conference to clarify. Kumaritashvili had 26 runs on the Whistler track before the fatal run and participated in all five World Cup events this season. He was ranked 44th on the circuit.

It was the first fatality in the sport since 1975, when an Italian luger was killed in World Cup competition.

"As such I hope you can appreciate our unfamiliarity in dealing with a tragic event like this," said Romstad.

As a result of the accident, the FIL made the decision to move the start of the men's event down to the women's or junior start. Training runs were held Saturday morning and the first two of four runs will be held as planned Saturday afternoon.

Officials also said they would consider lowering the start of the women's luge event.

The FIBT, which sanctions bobsleigh and skeleton events, has not made any decision about lowering the starts.

As well, track crews worked throughout the night to reshape the track and build up the wall on the exit curve to keep athletes in the track in the event of a crash.

While the FIL admitted that this decision was partially a precautionary measure, they maintained that the course was safe. However, they were concerned about the psychological impact on the other athletes.

"The bottom line is the decision was made to deal with the emotional component for the athletes to alleviate as best as possible the circumstances of this tragic event," said Romstad.

Tim Gayda, the vice president of sport for the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) said it was the toughest day in his career of sport event management.

He explained how the track was developed in co-operation with the FIL and FIBT and the systems that were put into place to ensure that athletes had proper training to become familiar with what is the fastest track on the circuit. Athletes were clocked at 154 km/h during training, surpassing the track record set the previous year during the World Cup.

According to Gayda athletes have already made roughly 5,000 runs on the track and it has received good reviews from athletes and officials.

Romstad said team captains were consulted when making the decision to use the lower start on the track, with FIL making the final decision. He was not aware of any teams or athletes pulling out, either as a result of safety concerns or in protest over the decision to lower the start.

Fendt admitted that he had previously expressed concerns about the track design for Sochi in 2014, which was expected to be even faster than Whistler. However, he said they never considered the Whistler Sliding Centre to be too dangerous even at the speeds that were recorded in training.

As for the suggestion that more athletes were crashing in Whistler, Romstad said that nothing was statistically different than other tracks on the World Cup circuit.

"This is a fast sport and athletes do encounter problems on a regular basis," he said. "There was nothing out of the ordinary yesterday. Yes, there were some troubles, but what I'm being told is that there's nothing out of the ordinary. It's important to remember that this track is operational for over two years, and 5,000 plus runs, and too look at the overall - for lack of a better word - crash ratio, it's on par with other tracks. So really there were no signals that it was unique."

Reporters asked whether padding was considered, and Gayda answered that straw bales or padding would do little to help the athletes at those speeds. The goal, he said, is always to keep the athlete in the track, which is why the track was reshaped.

The B.C. Coroner's Office has not yet released its report on the accident.When they have completed their investigation Kumaritashvili's body will be handed over the Georgian Olympic Committee to be transported home.

 

Questions over CTV's decision to air crash

Within an hour of the luge accident that claimed the life of Nodar Kumaritashvili videos of the accident were posted on the Internet, most of the them taken down soon afterwards. But many are questioning CTV's decision to broadcast the footage no fewer than three times on Feb. 12, including slowing the footage down in an instant replay.

Users of Twitter and other social networking sites were critical, although a few posters defended CTV.

Some other media outlets made the decision not to show the video or post it online. However, CTV defended its decision to air the crash.

"Too often, events covered by news organizations are tragic and shocking," Bonnie Brownlee, CTVglobemedia's vice-president of corporate communications, told the Vancouver Sun. "Our news policy is to treat graphic or disturbing images with care and restraint. After much consideration we decided to make available the images of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili's run.

"We strongly warned audiences that they may find the video disturbing."