21-Year Old Georgian Dies in Luge (Team USA)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy-tZGk8Qao

Absolutely brutal. 

He's from the country of Georgia, not the state of Georgia.  His name is Nodar Kumaritashvili.  Sad story nonetheless. RIP

   that's awful, what a sad start to these games

Wow I wonder if they would have had some kind of padding like around goal posts if that would have mattered. Hitting those metal poles going 90 mph ...

I can't believe they can't at least have nets in the "trouble" spots on a course like that.  He certainly made a mistake, but coming out of turns is the most dangerous part.  Just seems like they could do something for more protection with modern technology.  I'm sure it will be a topic of discussion now.

Just like in NASCAR.  Dale Earnhardt would still be alive if he had been in the same crash with the cars and equipment they have now. 

Canadians are going to take some MAJOR shit for not allowing athletes to practice at the facilities until the absolute last minute as required by the Olympic rules. 

Fair or not, get ready because it's coming.  They are going to take it on the chin for this because people warned them of the possible outcomes if they did that (not allowing as access to train like many have in past Olympics). 

The IOC already removed the link of the accident

Anyone else have a working link?

I was thinking the same thing----even if there had been no pole there he still would have sustained awful injuries just by hitting the ground at that speed.  I have a new repect for the dangers of that sport----bobsledding and skeleton are also really dangerous, not to mention downhill skiing which looks just frightening.

I don't think padding would've helped in this situation.  He hit the pole pretty square on. 

I've always wondered what drives a person to enter into luge/skeleton/bobsleigh. the speeds that they go are absolutely insane.  I would think skeleton is the most dangerous as they're going down head first. 

I actually have tickets to the luge prelim's tomorrow.  Wouldn't surprise me if they cancel it though. 

I've run into a chair lift pole before and they DO have quite a bit of padding.  This was at 15-20 MPH and that did not feel good AT ALL.

IMO, padding would just be window dressing if you hit that thing square on at 90 miles an hour. 

Yeah, that would help.  But they could have a clear plexi-glass covering the WHOLE top of the track for a distance coming out of the turns.  It's not like it would have a major affect on the picture....they are going so fast anyway.  Track is unsafe no question, but there is absolutely a way to make it less likely something like this happens....even if you do have a dangerous track.  That's all I'm saying.

This is why Canada is going to get lambasted...and rightfully so.   

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Earlier this week, Andy Schmid, the performance director of British Skeleton called the Canadian decision to limit practice time for overseas competitors (compared to the more than 300 runs set aside for Canadian athletes) as irresponsible. “Please, let there be no accidents there because that could kill the sport,” he told Britain’s Telegraph.

“People have the argument that it’s just home advantage and that’s normal for an Olympic host country, but it’s different for sports involving high speed. Can you imagine in Formula One nobody being allowed on a track because somebody has home advantage?”

A lot of the athletes raised concerns about the track before the accident so it will be intereting to see what will happen in the next few days concerning this event