By Samantha Sciarrotta

Image courtesy of Patrick Hoesly

The event that marked the unofficial beginning of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver had nothing to do with lighting a torch. There was no celebratory ceremony, no medals awarded. Nodar Kumaritashvili, a 21-year-old Georgian luger, was tragically killed on Friday, February 12th, just hours before the opening ceremony, after being thrown off of the course from his sled and into a steel pole. The luger was participating in a practice run.
Kumaritashvili’s untimely death sent shockwaves throughout the Olympic community; this was certainly to be expected, as there have only been three other deaths at the Olympics. Secretary General of the International Luge Federation Svein Romstad said, “We are unfamiliar with how to deal with this.” He later went on to say, in tears, that Kumaritashvili’s fellow Olympians “lost a friend…and it is emotional for everyone.” German bobsledder Andre Lange was quoted as saying on HuffingtonPost.com that “This is dangerous. You should never forget that.”

The luger’s death also stunned his fellow Georgians. A funeral was held in his hometown of Bakuriani; thousands of mourners were present. The Georgians knew that Kumaritshvili, one of the country’s most promising and recognizable athletes, had a long, hopeful career ahead of him. They expected to welcome him home in festivity, now Kumaritshvili’s teammates wore black armbands to the opening ceremony, where they received a moving standing ovation from the massive crowd.

Unfortunately, however, this tragedy has been overshadowed by the controversy with which it is coupled; the root of this lies in the actual sliding track. The track at Whistler cost over $100 million to build and was considered to be one of the most dangerous in the world because of its lightning-fast speeds before the games even started.

Sliding, however, is a fast, dangerous sport; extreme speeds are to be expected and should not be problematic. For these athletes, though, it was. Canadian officials refused practice runs to other countries since the course was first opened two years ago. In fact, Canadian sliders averaged about 400 practice runs on the track. Non-Canadians were limited to an average of thirty.

The controversy surrounding the track prompted the addition of several safety precautions near the sixteenth curve on the track, nicknamed the “50-50 turn;” sliders call it that because there is a fifty percent chance of crashing there. This is where Kumaritshvili was killed. ESPN.com’s Jim Caple said these alterations included the raising of the wall, modification of the ice surface, and moving the starting position down, which reduces speeds by up to ten kilometers per hour. According to The Daily Mail Online, cushions were added to the steel poles on the outside of the track.

It is unfortunate that these matters of safety which should have been put in place from the start only exist because of a death that never should have happened. Track officials attempted to force the blame upon Kumaritshvili, but the sport’s athletes know that this is not the case. “The blame needs to fall on the sport’s federations, the race organizers, and the designers of the track. To say it was the athlete’s fault is a disgrace,” luger Patrick Singleton told The Daily Mail Online ().

The 2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver will forever be coupled with the tragic death of 21-year old Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritshvili. His death could have and should have been prevented; the safety precautions were simply instated much too late. The games continued without him, but Nodar would have wanted it that way. As ESPN.com’s Steve Caple put it, “There are two proper ways to show Kumaritashvili the proper respect. One is for the lugers to do today what he would have wanted: Compete for Olympic glory. The other is to make sure they aren’t risking their lives in doing so.”