What are these sports where serious injury and death are a consequence of getting it wrong?

Yes there are, thing is there was really simple and easy stuff they could have done to mitigate these risks. Or should they have put spikes and flailing chains by the side of the road.

On dangerous stuff I was about 100ft of Paul Bass when he hit the deck and broke his back. They had medics on the scene in under a minute and a chopper swooping in. It was a hell of a moment wondering what we were pushing people to do in the name of sport and if it was worth it. Cam Zinks doc is a tough film as it’s badly edited but it does convey the fact you have asked somebody to risk their lives to entertain you and is that right.

5 mins before the guy in this helicopter could walk
IMG_3752 by Mike Smith[/url], on Flickr

DH MTB
Skiing/Boarding
Red Bull Rampage etc
Motosport in general

etc etc[/quote]

Rampage is the only one in that list which doesn’t make significant investment in protecting participants who crash.

I think the least they could have done is put straw bales in the massive gutters in the bits where an off was likely.

I don’t know if you can straw bale 6km of descent though. Question is whether that route made sense or not really.

FTFY 😛

Is that the padding? Or just stopping the mountain from falling down?

Where do you put the straw there?

So rampage means all sportsmen are expendable?
See my post above

Has anyone seen the roadside video of Van Vleuten’s crash yet? Harrowing just seeing her lying there for a few minutes on her own before she gets attention. https://www.facebook.com/marcelo.demattosgomes/videos/918206821641894/%5B/url%5D

That video highlights the clear lack of care being exhibited by the organisers of the road race, on a descent that must have been highlighted on the pre-race risk assessments. There appears to be no mitigation, and no immediate medical care for the inevitable crash. That she was left lying face down for minutes before anyone attended her is in my mind unacceptable.

Agree aP, though it’s not obvious what may have been going on via race radio. Poor girl, gutted for her.

DH MTB: padding/crash nets/PPE.
Skiing: as above.
Motorsport: a HUGE amount of safety measures put in.

The problem with the Olympic Road Race is that the road had so much potential to cause harm if a mistake was made.

FFS the netting wasn’t even fixed after Porte’s crash!

Redbull/BASE jumping etc are at the extreme end of sport where death is more likely for a mistake & it is very hard to mitigate for any mistakes.

The point being, that keeps getting missed, is that the Olympic Road Course does not appear to have had adequate protection installed given the level of risk that was on hand.

As I’ve already said: they hadn’t even bothered to fix the netting after Porte’s crash.

What does that tell you about the attitude of the organisers to rider safety??

Christ, that FB video is awful. Where the **** were the medics, it really shouldn’t take that long at the Olympics.

At a guess the risk assessment said the dangers are no worse than what is found in the normal pro cycling calendar.

Lets for example take the Passo Giau descent into Cortina d’Ampezzo (picked because i’ve done it and knew it made a good example). Included in the Giro on a very regular basis, no mass outcry about the dangers, and yet we find the following blind corner which is approached at very high speed.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@46.5223945,12.1194374,3a,75y,91.64h,67.47t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-C5Ja0juAbdysb1vY5ovtg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Which if you get it wrong leads to sheer rock face:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@46.5224628,12.1200604,3a,75y,73.88h,62.83t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8q2a9jGXJicUPHkV9BpV-w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en

And a wheel height wall ready to launch you into oblivion:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@46.5224995,12.1201379,3a,75y,68.57h,64.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suUgNhZsE1Y4eEabGvvvM-w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

If that section i’ve linked has been deemed suitable for racing umpteen times, then there’s no reason the Olympic RR course shouldn’t also have been deemed safe.

Its a case of the riders using their judgement about the level of risk they are willing to take. In the case of the Olympic RR, the riders will all have been out and recce’d the descent in the week leading up to the event, they all knew the risks, and they all made the decision they were worth it.

I’ve been posting on STW for many years (10+?) but I still find myself caught off-guard by the amount of keyboard expert bullshit bellendery posted by some people.

This thread has seen everything from comparison with Rampage to criticism of her skills. Some posters are perfectly able to criticise their own shadow.

Given the outcomes I’d disagree.

Quotes from Porte were that the guy in front went downeft him nowhere to go, could easily have done the slide into the kerb too.
Just because there are dangers elsewhere doesn’t mean you can’t make one safer. Otherwise we wouldn’t bother with Road safety.

No-one’s saying it wasn’t deemed acceptable for racing on and as you say they all made their choices.

The fact is, it could have been made safer.

That video is awful, but she was breathing, clearly, couldn’t have been moved (first guys there immediately protected her neck), and as in all first aid courses the first priority is danger – no point the motorbike guys attending to her if the next thing that happens is the next riders or cars down run them all over. Also the paramedic types couldn’t have parked there for the same reasons, seems like they had to park on the preceding straight and run down first. I don’t think in those circumstances the ‘delay’ is avoidable, short of stopping / neutralising the whole of the following contingent.

I was shocked and really upset watching it live, I really thought she was dead. Horrible crash.

My view is some hay bales on the exits of those corners wouldn’t have been a bad idea at all, considering the tightening compound corners and off camber. But hindsight is a great thing.

I don’t think having already ridden before makes it ok, at that point in the race I’d imaging fatigue impairs judgement somewhat and vastly increases the chances of mistakes.

Mitigate the consequences, reduce the impact of the risk. Would you suggest spikes on the outside of the corners to focus the mind

Did I go anywhere near suggesting that?
You win one whole internet point. 🙄

No, you made the link between risk, consequences etc. So if asking if making it safer makes people take more risks then it’s logical to assume that increasing the consequences would make people pay more attention and ride safely.