Nodar Kumaritashvili Report Angrily Dismissed By Dead Luger's Father

TBILISI, Georgia — The father of the Georgian luger killed during practice before the Vancouver Olympics angrily dismissed a coroner's report saying lack of experience played a role in his son's death.

Nodar Kumaritashvili died when he lost control of his sled at nearly 90 mph, flew off the course and slammed into a steel pole.

Coroner Tom Pawlowski said in a report released on Monday that Kumaritashvili's "relative lack of experience" set a backdrop for the incident.

The luger's father, David Kumaritashvili, reacted with dismay on Tuesday.

"I don't accept the statement about Nodar's lack of experience," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He wouldn't have won the right to take part in the Olympics if he lacked experience."

He added that no athlete's mistake should lead to death.

Georgia Sports Minister Georgy Natsvlishvili also rejected the coroner's verdict and blamed the organizers, saying the track was unsafe.

Further investigations into the fatal crash are not scheduled, though the British Columbia Coroners Service recommended "a comprehensive safety audit of the Whistler track" and urged the worldwide governing bodies for luge, bobsled and skeleton to take a hard look at what goes into designing, building and certifying tracks.

Comments

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

09:51 PM on 10/05/2010

If the luger had more experience, he would have survived the impact with the -- what the heck's that POLE doing here -- pole.

Fercrissakes.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

09:50 PM on 10/05/2010

The coroner is not an engineer.

So how the heck would he know whether the experience of the luger mattered relative to the design of the track.

Condolences to the father, and family.

The coroner added insult to tragedy.

[rh654]

04:05 PM on 10/05/2010

How in the world does "experience" help anyone when they go flying into a steel post on a track? That post had nothing to absorb any impact at all.

And even the most experienced people and best can make a mistake or have a problem during a run.

[davewill]

07:18 PM on 10/05/2010

By knowing how to control the sled so the person doesn't fly off the track into a steel post...or did you think this was like a roller coaster ride where you just have to sit there and wave your arms?

[papastruck]

08:13 PM on 10/05/2010

Ding ding ding! Assininaholics Anonymous, we have a winner!

Or did you really think if you built a 90mph luge course, there's absolutely NO possibility of someone wiping out?

[dsgeorge]

03:17 PM on 10/05/2010

very insensitive report -- how about the fact that the steel pole he hit was exposed at a dangerous corner?

[Snarkyone]

02:47 PM on 10/05/2010

I wonder how much money is at stake with his finding....

[wurzelsepp]

01:58 PM on 10/05/2010

It's quite insulting since some of the worlds best crashed as well. A few sheets of plywood could have prevented the tragedy.

[YankeeCanuck]

01:46 PM on 10/05/2010

The track was dangerous--that is why officials decided to start the race farther down for the competition, avoiding that portion.

[ruffdeezy]

04:09 PM on 10/05/2010

they started further down to reduce speeds and put up a barrier to block the steel polls

[sheaintsayin]

12:06 PM on 10/05/2010

Agree with the father and am insulted, too. Seems to be a personal opinion and not a 'cause' of death. The coroner's poor decision to insert his personal opinion would seem to reflect a 'lack of experience', and unnecessarily hurtful to a parent.

[KevinSutton]

03:08 PM on 10/05/2010

I don't you understand a coroner's job. It includes determining things like the whys and not just the hows of an incident that leads to death.

[sheaintsayin]

06:04 PM on 10/05/2010

You're right, I honestly had no idea!

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

06:17 PM on 10/05/2010

I understand a coroner's job is to give an informed opinion of hows and why...I am not sure he is qualified to evaluate the engineering of a luge track nor the amount of experience or level of skill of an Olympic athlete.

[Balzac]

11:53 AM on 10/05/2010

The father is right, and he definitely has a right to be angry, although his words did not seem angry. It's not just the unsafe track, but now the coroner's report which is justification for him to be even more offended.

It is not a coroner's job to talk about Nodar's skill. The coroner's job is to explain the cause of death, which was already apparent to all observers. The coroner's job is not the job of a lawyer. It was a badly designed course which did not contain his momentum.

[KevinSutton]

03:02 PM on 10/05/2010

The coroner IS doing their job. The cause of death includes all factors that lead to it. It's an investigation to determine all causes and relevant facts, not just an autopsy.

[Balzac]

03:46 PM on 10/05/2010

The coroner's job is not so wide in scope as you seem to think. Their job revolves around the body as a source of forensic evidence.

Speculating on the athlete's skill is outside the scope of the coroner's job, especially in this case where he's not an expert in the sport, and the man's death was so thoroughly documented.

It appears the family of the deceased should have declined the coroner's service, as it doesn't seem to be very impartial, and his verdict may have a negative effect on the amount of money the man's family is entitled to receive as a result of the badly designed luge track.

[PatA]

06:42 PM on 10/05/2010

Are you saying that the coroner went to the track and investigated? I highly doubt that.

[PatA]

06:41 PM on 10/05/2010

If the coroner wasn't there, how could he say that the young man wasn't experienced enough to handle the track? Who is he to know about an athlete's experience? Hogwash.
The dad has a right to be upset.

[VanTroi]

11:44 AM on 10/05/2010

the tack was dangerous many of the athletes said it was so fast it scared them.

[Reyeshawk13]

11:32 AM on 10/05/2010

A more experienced luger might not have crashed and died, but the track was indisputably dangerous. The most experienced sliders out there said it was borderline at the best.

[LDM123]

11:09 AM on 10/05/2010

What would a coroner know about luge experience?

[wkb2texans]

11:02 AM on 10/05/2010

1) Luge is an inherently dangerous sport -- people die and many are injured.
2) Nodar made a mistake. He followed a line too high at the end of the run. Physics kicked in (as it always does)... and over the wall he went.
3) Just because he's an Olympian doesn't mean he's highly experienced. Remember that each country chooses its own athletes to compete. Some of the smaller countries, such as Georgia, from whence Norda hailed, best athletes may not be as experienced as those coming from the larger, much more populace countries. (The Country of Georgia is smaller than North Carolina and has a population of about 5.4 million.)

[Temsi]

11:49 AM on 10/05/2010

Other Lugers had complained about the track before he died.
It wasn't "just" his mistake that cost him his life, it was also the idiot who put a steel pole right next to the track.

When designing a race track of any kind, be it for Luge or auto racing, you have to take into consideration the possibility of someone losing control - it happens. So you make sure structures within striking distance are as safe as can be. This is why downhill skiing tracks often have nets around them, so the skier doesn't go flying into a tree.

Putting a row of steel poles right next to the track after a very difficult turn, was incredibly stupid and anyone involved in its design and/or construction could at any point have thought "what if someone goes over the wall?"
But nobody said anything if they ever even thought of it. And Nodar paid for that with his life.

I don't doubt that his mistake contributed to what happened, so his accident was his fault. Up until the point he left the track, he was experiencing what was to be expected as a Luger if you make a mistake. But once he left the track, the design of the surrounding area becomes responsible for what happens next.
The bottom line for me is that if the track had been designed with a possible accident in mind, he might not have died. It's that simple.

[The Scientist]

11:01 AM on 10/05/2010

Clearly the track design was poorly engineered from a safety standpoint as evidenced by the quick patching of the problematic design with an overnight patch job involving a few hundred dollars on lumber.

Designs like this need to address catastrophic failures and that track surely did not.

The father is absolutely right to be angered by this report, which seems to be a crystal clear case of CYA.

It's one thing to lose a son to an accident, quite another for said son to be blamed for a poor engineering as well.

Shame on Canada.

[wkb2texans]

11:06 AM on 10/05/2010

Actually, accidents like this point out weaknesses and deificiencies that are usually unknown, despite the best of efforts.

I think of airline travel, racing, football and other risky ventures that have all benefited from improvements made following someone's injury or death.

Blame Canada if you wish ... the real issue was the expertise of the luger, combined with the physical limitations of the track. Put those two together and you have a tragedy.

[Temsi]

11:53 AM on 10/05/2010

Have you heard of CAD with physics simulations?

There's no reason a person has to die to point out weaknesses in design anymore.
The real issue is the row of steel poles right next to a very difficult turn.

[Balzac]

11:54 AM on 10/05/2010

Agreed on all points.

[Stewpendous]

10:14 AM on 10/05/2010

I would have to agree with the father. It could have potentially been any of the luggers with the unsafe condition of the course. The course designers and organizers are to blame in my opinion. Now if I went out there and died the coroner could have said it was due to lack of experience!