Kumaritashvili Feared Luge Track On Which He Later Died

Nodar Kumaritashvili, the 21-year-old Georgian luge slider who was killed in a horrifying high-speed crash while training on Friday, told his father that he feared the track on which he later died. (Warning: link contains disturbing images.)

The Wall Street Journal reports that Kumaritashvili called his father earlier in the week and confessed his anxiety: "Dad, I'm scared of one of the turns," he said.

In an interview broadcast on "NBC Nightly News," David Kumaritashvili appeared devastated. The dead slider's father said he hasn't seen the video of the fatal crash, adding, "I don't want to see it on TV. I don't want to see how he crashed." (Scroll down to watch the interview.)

The luge track had been described as the fastest ever built, and some expressed safety concerns even before the death on Friday. The track's designer, meanwhile, was shocked by the fatal collision.

While an initial probe declared that human error -- and not the luge track -- was at fault in Kumaritashvili's death, Georgia's President, Mikheil Saakashvili, rejected the bizarre rationale. "One thing I know for sure [is] that no sports mistake is supposed to lead to a death. No sports mistake is supposed to be fatal," he said.

The Opening Ceremony on Friday night was dedicated to Kumaritashvili, and fellow Georgian Olympians mourned his passing by wearing black armbands. A luge track will be built in his memory in Kumaritashvili's hometown.

WATCH:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Comments

[myopinion2010]

11:12 PM on 02/17/2010

THIS IS REALLY TRAGIC!! BUT THE OPINIONS, I SAID OPINIONS IVE BEEN READING MAKE ME SICK TO MY STOMACH. THAT THEY AGREE THE DEATH IS AT FAULT OF THE ATHLETE AND HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE CAREFUL. WELL HERE IS HOW IT IS...
DO YOU WATCH YOUR STEP WHEN WALKING...
DO YOU MONITOR YOUR CHILDREN PLAYING...
DO YOU PAY ATTENTION TO OTHER DRIVERS, NOT TO CRASH INTO YOU...

THESE ARE ALL MEASURES OF PRECAUTION TO PREVENT AN ACCIDENT...

WELL THE PERSONEL RESPONISBLE, AND PAID MIND YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN MORE PRECAUTION WITH THIS TRACK. AND THE SAD THING IS NO ONE CARES UNTIL SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPENS. AND FOR THE OTHER RIDERS, WERE THEY JUST STAYING IN SHAPE AND RIDING THE COURSE OR WERE THEY ACTUALLY PRACTICING AS IF THEY WERE RUNNING IN THE OLYMPICS. LETS ALL THINK ABOUT THE SITUATION AS IF WE HAVE A HEART AND IT WAS OUR FRIEND, OR FAMILY MEMBER, AND HAVE SOME COMMON SENSE ABOUT OUR SELVES. YES ITS AN ACCIDENT BUT IS THE RIDER AT FAULT FOR MAKING A MISTAKE NOOOO. THE "TRACK KEEPERS" SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THE CONCERN AS IF IT WERE THEIR SON OR DAUGHTER COMPETING THAT DAY!

[hpesr]

11:43 AM on 02/17/2010

Anybody find it a bit weird that they plan to build a new Luger in his hometown in his honor? I can understand a statue or memorial of some kind but to build a venue of what killed him is a bit macabre to me. If your kid was killed in a boxing ring would you want a boxing ring to be built so that you would be reminded of the incident all the time?

[CigarGod]

08:17 AM on 02/18/2010

The difference is...they will build one designed properly.

[fredisfred]

05:52 PM on 02/16/2010

Why doesn't the sled have some sort of safety belt? That would lessen the danger of someone flying off it, which is what killed the guy.

[pitako8]

12:52 PM on 02/17/2010

Are you serious??? The sled is so much lighter than the luger and you expect him to be tied down by it?

[landmine]

09:23 AM on 02/18/2010

That would make it more unsafe.
You don't want to tumble with your sled or have it's runners hook something.

[ilikebeer]

12:44 PM on 02/16/2010

Unprotected metal poles that arent even a foot from the side of a wall after the fastest turn in the track. Athlete error or not, this was a preventable death.

[Mary Collins]

10:56 AM on 02/16/2010

Look at the sport. Flying 90 mph down a steep, curvy ice track. Danger may not be the point but it's obviously a big factor. This is a tragic, freak accident. It's that simple.

[Hugh-Leighton]

06:18 AM on 02/17/2010

Mary, I take exception to your use of the word "freak", the probability that an accident would happen at that point on the track, as designed and built, was obvious to anyone who understood the basic physics of the sport. Number one is that no track designed with steel columns on the outside of a turn should have been approved for construction. Number two is that no track should be openned for use when the outside temperature is above -10 C, and certainly not when it had rained that same week. A wet track will increase the speed of the luge to dangerous levels and, at the same time reduce the athlete's ability to control stearing to almost nil. Nodar's goal was to ride that track as fast as he could; he succeeded! His coach, the administrators of the sport, those in charge of the venue and the designers all failed him and in my opinion should be brought up on criminal charges.

[CigarGod]

09:31 AM on 02/17/2010

Correct.
World Cup Champion, Maya Pedersen said yesterday that she would have crashed in that turn twice...if they had not fixed the ice.

[BushSmahers]

09:49 AM on 02/17/2010

You people who are claiming it could be foreseen are out to lunch. There is one fact you have to remember, no luger has ever been bounced out of modern constructed track in the history of them. No luger had ever been bounced out of this track in the thousands of runs that have taken place since it opened a couple years ago. Not even close. It was designed by a company who's business is to design tracks, all those involved in the sport approved the track. After you see what happened it's very easy to say a wall should be put up in that spot. We all said it.

BUT, having said that, they are the professionals who made a "mistake" in not designing it well enough to keep participants on the track and I expect there should be a generous out of court settlement to the family. But criminal charges are ridiculous. The people who are responsible for the track and the people of Vancouver feel terrible, just sick about this.

[zeitgeist79]

09:13 AM on 02/16/2010

Of course the track had a role in the athlete's death. To suggest otherwise is patently absurd. The designers should figure that not every athlete that uses the track will have the same level of skill and include safety measures that prevent a "human error" from being a fatal one. They wanted to design a track that was super fast and would allow the athletes with the highest level of skill to post record times, but that ignores that fact that many athletes are just starting their career even at the Olympic games and are still learning. So the "fastest" track in the world now has a reputation as a fatal and dangerous track. Additional safety measures (particularly a barrier wall between the metal poles) have now been installed, so obviously there were steps that could have been taken to prevent this and were not.

[scotia626]

02:27 PM on 02/15/2010

its possible he wasnt really "world-class" enough an athelete for this track. very sad that he dies and its not his fault- but its also not the "tracks fault". it has been open for 2 years- sometimes really bad stuff happens and the blame game helps no one.

[EuLupu]

03:36 PM on 02/15/2010

What do you mean by "WORLD CLASS enough"?? He passed the qualifications, the track cannot and should not be design with ONLY the first 10 in mind, if that's the case, they, the Luge Committee, should have not let him to compete and turn the Olympics in "WORLD CLASS ONLY" competition. When you know that you designed the fastest track ever, you know, for sure where the possible problems could arise considering the "super skills" need it to maneuver in such fast tube. The "protection" they build after, possible, just possible would have helped. The boy was "WORLD CLASS" enough to me, he followed the Olympic creed, "TO PARTICIPATE and FIGHT with honor".

[CigarGod]

09:22 PM on 02/15/2010

You have no expertise with the sport or track design.

[Ohsherri]

02:08 PM on 02/15/2010

Why can't they surround exposed areas with plexi-glass so that the person can't
fall out. He would have swirved high but still be kept in. He'd have an injury....but he'd be alive.

[Mirabai305]

03:02 PM on 02/15/2010

That's a pretty big leap to speculate that he'd be alive if there was a plexi-glass guard. Hitting plexi-glass at 90 miles an hour could just as easily kill a person as going over the rail.

[CigarGod]

09:23 PM on 02/15/2010

No.
The plexi-glass would have provided a glancing blow and kept him in the track.

[BushSmahers]

09:52 AM on 02/17/2010

Yes, there is a huge difference between momentum being deflected in a glancing way and HEAD ON! This would not be a head on situation.

[viewfromuphere]

08:09 PM on 02/17/2010

right....like how Christopher Reeves was "still alive" after his neck fractured with show jumping his horse.

there are a wide range of outcomes between a fatal accident and a walk away accident. There's no guarentee that plexiglass is the "miracle" will solve the danger that comes with luge and it's sharp turns and hard ice.

[pissedmichael]

01:23 PM on 02/15/2010

I think the attempt to place the blame on this boy is unconscionable. Every Olympics, Summer and Winter, has it's share of the inexperienced and poorly trained (remember the dog paddler in the swimming events, or how about the Jamaican bobsledders?). My point? The committee organizers and the people who built the tracks in the firs placet have to be aware of this--that many countries are sending as little as a single athlete to the games and often the sport isn't even performed in their own country. They have to know this, and yet they still do not take appropriate measures to ensure something like this does not happen. I am certainly no expert, but even I can see that having all those posts so close to a portion of the track wall that is so low was just plain negligence and downright stvpid. And now they're saying that the solution is to put a speed limit cap on the event, possibly down to 85 mph? As if someone crashing into a post at that speed would have a better chance of surviving if the worst happens? Come on, that beyond ludicrous. I also agree with another poster that putting thin padding around the posts is not going to accomplish a thing. Why can't they simply put some kind of 'overhang on the edge of each wall, so that the athletes would merely be redirected back onto the track? They could assess a penalties when they do.

[Libertarian09]

03:06 AM on 02/17/2010

Apparently he had doubts about the safety of the track, yet he went against his instincts and paid the price. All of us are responsible for the decisions we make.

I agree the design of the track (not the layout and speeds, but the location of the supporting structures) was rather foolish.

Why not have "Remotely Piloted Luges" and remove the athlete from danger entirely?

[CigarGod]

09:37 AM on 02/17/2010

So, you think a design that allows you to be thrown from a track, is okay?

[pissedmichael]

10:37 AM on 02/17/2010

Isn't that just a bit simplistic? I realize your last sentence was meant as sarcasm and that's your prerogative, but it implies a solution which I endorse and nothing could be further from the truth. As for 'All of us are responsible for the decisions we make?' The same applies to the individuals responsible for the design of the run. Instead, they immediately place the blame on the competitor. I will never understand a sport whose main attraction for many (and apparently you count yourself among them) is the possibility of violent death, take NASCAR for instance). And please don't insult my intelligence by claiming that spectators are fascinated by the prospect of spending hours and hours watching objects hurling around the same oval for 500 miles.
As for the support posts. If they weren't there, the athlete would still have been seriously, if not fatally injured. That is a serious flaw.

[Professor MoFo]

12:42 PM on 02/15/2010

If Nodar was that scared of the track I wish to God he would have listened to his gut and just 'chickened out'. There is no shame in realizing that something is beyond our ability to accomplish. Had it been my child I would have advised that he 'err on the side of caution' and live, rather than risk his life when he was trepidatious.

Hindsight can be a b*tch sometimes.

Rest in peace, Nodar.

[k6007]

12:10 PM on 02/15/2010

Sad, sad, occurance. I can't help but wonder how much his fear of the track had to do with his accident..

[jsgaetano]

11:55 AM on 02/15/2010

I heard they put foam padding on the metal posts.

If you are going that fast, is the foam really going to help? Couldn't hurt I guess... but it still seems insufficient.

[PengieP]

02:07 PM on 02/15/2010

Just looking at that track at the fatal turn, even someone as ignorant of track design as my self could see that some sort of smooth barrier should have been in place to keep a rider from exiting the track and colliding with metal poles incongruously placed RIGHT NEXT to the track! Thick Plexiglas like in a hockey rink would have done the job and not obscured anyone's vision. That the designers and organizers blame the dead sportsman for this is just unforgivable.

[jsgaetano]

03:21 PM on 02/15/2010

Well that's odd, because all the lugers are complaining about the changes made after the accident. They were perfectly happy with the course as-is.

[Libertarian09]

03:20 AM on 02/17/2010

Containing an out of control rider is no solution. The track should be designed to allow egress from the frozen track surface into some energy absorbing barrier. If he had hit your barrier only to be throw back onto the ice, I doubt if the outcome would have been any different.

People routinely make decisions to engage in life threatening activities and must be willing to pay the price. When somebody gets in a car and drives beyond their abilities and kills themselves, we don't blame the road builders. To place all blame on the designers and organizers isn't entirely fair.

[Tony Owusu]

11:35 AM on 02/15/2010

Good Lord, I couldn't imagine how terrifying that must have been to see. I watched that event yesterday on tv. Those guys are going at crazy speeds.

[DianeTreehugger]

11:10 AM on 02/15/2010

Georgia's President, Mikheil Saakashvili, rejected the bizarre rationale. "One thing I know for sure [is] that no sports mistake is supposed to lead to a death. No sports mistake is supposed to be fatal," he said.

Lots of sports mistakes can be fatal, people. Skiers and mountain bikers hit rocks and trees, equestrians fall off and break their necks, and their horses' necks, mountain climbers die on the mountain...all mistakes,,, ...the list goes on and on. Underneath all of those incredible highs lies the risk.

[jsgaetano]

11:56 AM on 02/15/2010

IMO, that's what separates a sport from a liesure activity.

If you aren't putting life and limb at risk, it's not really a sport.

[maybealittlecommonsense]

01:35 PM on 02/15/2010

That still doesn't make it acceptable to have those exposed steel poles right where you can fly off the track. Maybe in some sort of macabre sport where an accident or failure results in death. Like some crazy movie.

This is a huge oversight in the design of the track in my opinion. To blame it on "user error" and then immediately modify the track is just a legal CYA move by the people in charge.

[StringOfLights]

02:13 PM on 02/16/2010

Right, and that's why we take precautions and wear helmets, use proper gear, or, oh, I don't know, not leave bare metal poles right next to a dangerous turn on a luge course. You can't justify this by saying that sports are dangerous. Using your rationale, football players shouldn't be wearing pads or helmets.

[BushSmahers]

10:05 AM on 02/17/2010

How can they leave mountains next to airports where a plane might hit them if they fly off the runway?

[40ishMom]

10:45 AM on 02/15/2010

I noticed yesterday while watching speed skating that the ice rink has padded walls. When the competitors fall, they merely slide into a huge padded surface. Why in the world wouldn't sledding have similar safety guards? Granted, going at 90 mph you are taking a huge risk even with some kind of padding, but it seems that SOMETHING should be done to make the track safer. At the very least one should not fear hitting a concrete column that his merely inches away from the track!

[Libertarian09]

03:25 AM on 02/17/2010

Have you ever driven down a road with telephone poles strung along only feet off the roadway? Should SOMETHING be done to make all these roads safer for me to travel on at speed?

[Cailleach9]

12:14 PM on 02/17/2010

You know, that's what I like about Libertarians. It's always the victims fault, because they believe in every man for himself. Maybe someday you'll learn that lesson when you slide on black ice and hit a telephone pole at highway speed! But then you'll be dead, won't you? Or maybe you will just be lying injured in you car and a Libertarian passing you won't stop to help, because it's your own fault and not the fault of the highway department which didn't sand the road. What goes around, comes around, even cold-blooded indifference.

[Lucid284]

03:21 PM on 02/17/2010

Um...FYI...telephone poles are designed to break away when a vehicle hits them, thereby absorbing some of the impact and lessening the possibility of serious injury to the occupants of said vehicle. Guardrails, too, as a matter of fact. And roadsigns. Actually, just about everything about roads is designed with driver safety in mind. And they're contained within a car/truck/bus/whatever. Luge sliders are just laying on top of a sled. One would think that there would be more safety precautions taken for someone who is basically open to injury from every angle.

So, nice try with that telephone pole comparison, but it's not a valid argument. Sorry!