http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/vancouver_2010/luge/8513595.stm

How could something like this happen should of hoped these tracks were safer.

Read that too, 21 yrs old -poor kid.

Extreme sports are dangerous it's a reality check bearing in mind mountain biking isn't always the safest sport

sad news but he died doing something he loved

Extreme sports are dangerous it's a reality check bearing in mind mountain biking isn't always the safest sport

agree to a point but there should never have been columns at the side of the track, particularly at the exit to a fast corner, so sad!

but he died doing something he loved

Why do people say that ?? Like it's gonna make him come back or smoething, He was 21 ffs

no it wont make him come back.

I think its a healthy thing to say.
Life is ALWAYS fatal, there are a million crap, miserable ways to die.
Dieing while taking the risk of doing something you want to do has to be better than some others that I can think of. At any age.

I think it's a cop out statement when people can't think of something better or more compassionate to say

its not a cop out. i mean it.

I have to wonder whether the restriction on use of the track to the Canadian team in advance of the games was a factor – would it have been less difficult for people to learn the track away from the pressure of the games? Some questions will be asked I reckon.

God, people argue about some tedious shit on here.

Only STW – a well meant comment of compassion over a young person's death gets turned into an argument inside two posts.

What plebish behaviour…

says the accident happend on a section not previously deemed dangerous.

;-( but I guess he went doing something he believed in and wanted to do.

Why did they have them posts at the side of the track like that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWG1vS5x6zM

90mph on a sledge :0

Bloody hell, what a shame. At least it would have been quick. The accident itself looks freakish. Isn't that the finish straight he's turning into when it happens?

just seen it on local tv (austria) its absolutly shocking!
i cant belive , poor guys family too xxx

Agree with jedi, our lives are fleeting why not go out giving it everything?

It was quite moving watching the IOC press conference, thoughts go out to all affected by it.

man that's crazy fast.

15mph faster average speed than other tracks sounds a little like bad planning…

Poor fecker. Feel for his team-mates too. only 7 of them….

Why was he able to hit a concrete post ffs. can't be difficult to put up padding or nets. Hardly looks like a 'freak' accident. 90mph on a tea tray, people ARE going to leave the track

no excuse, there should have been nets or padding

Theres a vid of the crash here:

http://www.techbanyan.com/9220/nodar-kumaritashvili-crash-video-graphic-warning-youtube/

http://www.techbanyan.com/9209/nodar-kumaritashvili-luge-youtube-video/

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT/NOT MEANT TO OFFEND

and the point of watching that footage is what?
vouyerism of the worst sort

suggest you get a life, like that poor kid just lost, and you are watching him lose it…..hmmmmm

cheers

tosser

+1 dasnut

Organic355 sick voyeur

+1 Dasnut from me too.

Good to see that there was a minute's silence at the opening, as well as a standing ovation for the Georgian team as they came in. Rogge looked visibly moved by it all as well.

I dont think Organic355 is a sick voyeur, he clearly states that it has graphic content and is not intended to offend, unfortunately one of the bi-products of a Democracy is you have a choice, in this case to watch or decline the offer.

In any case what a tragic incident and my condolences to all concerned.

I agree with jedi here.

It's a mega dangerous sport but I can totally see the appeal.

His family will miss him terribly, very sad.

I cant believe they dont have padding on those pillars.

Why all the holier-than-thou criticisms of organic355?

If an incident is significant, why should people not want to see it? People are interested in sport, they're interested in crashes, but as soon as someone loses a life, photo/video relating to this is supposed to be ignored?

Why? Will this sportsman's life be restored if no-one watches the video? Of course not.

Do you assume that everyone who watches a video like this is rubbing their thighs with glee at the horror? Or maybe people just want to know more about an incident they've read about?

anokdale is right. You may feel it inappropriate to watch the video. So don't watch it. But don't lecture people who view it differently to you. You're not saving anyone's life or sparing anyone's suffering – you're just telling others what to do.

A very sad event – a sportsperson losing his life doing what he loved.

(On a related note – Maybe if TV news reporting was more open when reporting on traffic incidents or war events, people would realise the consequences of our collective actions and fewer people would die. But the sanctimony of the masses holds that 'tasteful' TV viewing is more important than people being honestly shown the horrors of the world.)

did you hear the commentator explaining things : from the floor to the green line was only 2ft then straight after that was those horrid railings ??? i mean c,mon its not rocket science , anyone can see thats dangerous …why build it like that….its outrageous and now the price has been paid for someone to loose there life…. just terrible…

All sorts of follow up actions on this one i fear and i suspect there is abundance of padding everywhere now. Tragic.

The papers in Canada and the US are saying that he made a mistake a corner or so back that he didn't correct in time and this was the result. Look at any track based sport; they mitigate the accidents you're more likely to have, not the one in a million accidents.

Even other competitors have said that they were surprised he crashed there. Added to that, apparently he crashed earlier and was visibly nervous on all his runs. To my mind, the question is why they let him run at all if he was struggling.

Good news is he'll be able to enter the skeleton next year……

(sorry, sick joke I know but we have a dark sense of humour in A&E)

Aahh good one doc….Having watched the vid, it would appear that it was indeed an freak accident in terms of regular type crashes in this sport. Those posts were probably of no major concern before now, but i guess this changes things a little, or alot…
As said above, if you consider that kind of vid offensive then don't watch it, for me it's a case of seeing what actually happened and in no way is it some kind of sick turn on 😕

vouyerism of the worst sort

Not even remotely, simply examining the evidence as it were..Death is never nice really but will come to us all some day..I guess i would like to go doing something i loved doing if my time comes early, those final few moments of the thrill have got to be better than something drawn out and ever looming.

Not really sure if that gets my point across but hey ho.

Uh, Kumaritashvili hit a metal beam at 145 km/h.
Hitting a padded beam at 145 km/h wouldn't have made one bit of difference to the poor guy.
That said, why are there ANY beams exposed?
And I find it incredible that they're actually going ahead with the luge today, even if it is from the women's start.

I'm not, I think if I were a competitor I would want to go ahead and if I die on my bike tomorrow please don't stop riding because of it which I imagine is the sentiment of many people.

It's a dangerous sport and all involved will know this, it may even form part of the reason that they do it.

That's what I mean.
I find it incredible they can muster the courage to go out on a "killer" track and compete.
More balls than I've ever had (which is why they're at the Olympcis and I'm sitting at a computer).