Tragic accident in Vancouver, luge crash

reply to post by stumason

Originally posted by stumason
Unfortunately, this seems to be par for the course with this "sport". Never heard me complaining when I got injured in Rugby. One of my mates broke his neck in a scrum. Just a risk you take.

There are certain risks to it, certainly. The question is, was the placement of a series of uncovered metal support beams three feet from the track along the outside of a curve an unnecessary risk? A few simple preventative measures could have kept him on the track and away from those beams.

If you watched the opening ceremony, which we did on CTV, you would have seen the heavy illuminati symbols. The letters were the esotoric ones before they formed peace, their godd ess Isis reference in the moon, the horned violinist, and then afterwards a flying episode resembling Peter Pan, so the violinist was pan.

If someone died I would be very suspicious of it and pressume it was set up, and a ceremony for their opening magic.

Look at the symbolism in this:



The London 2012 logo, which they paid a known insider 800,000 dollars to form spells Z/Sion, its an anagram. Its not 2012, the i is dotted. Its not worth 800,000 either, my kids could have designed better.

[edit on 13-2-2010 by Unity_99]

Its a shame someone had to die for the olympic commitee to put the wall a bit higher and padding on the beams(common sence would have told them to do that in the beginning) truely a sad day for the olympians and the rest of the world

My heart goes out to the olympians and the loved ones of the man who died may they continue competing in his honor

I have always thought that the Luge as a sport should be run in a type of large glass like tube. A large round tube perhaps like Plexiglas that allows for seeing in and out but if the Luge loses its line and decides to attempt breaking the laws of physics, well, this is where the tube would keep the Luge runner from leaving his sled and going air borne like Evil Ken-evil. It would most likely eliminate serious injury and death from the sport.

With the ability to use such a glass like tube, the run tube could then be designed to allow for different skill sets and or points obtained for successful runs and then for runs of the best time category in that skill set. All leading to points and so on and so on. The design of the tube could even incorporate the many camera lenses needed to capture the run along its path to the finish line.

By designing the tube and incorporating all the technology to capture who's the best and capture all of the media angles needed to market it and I for one think Luge could go a long way by rethinking and redesigning the run along a tube like structure. It would be by its own design, safe to use and would allow for mistakes to be made without losing your life.

Anyway, I have always enjoyed the Luge, but have always felt that when someone dies from time to time, its fed upon like vampires feeding off the blood of an innocent victim. The sport of Luge has much to offer the mechanical engineer in all of us and I for one think redesigning the tube to create an interesting and challenging run would bring out the best in the Luge runners and perhaps even bring many into the sport.

It was just a thought, but thanks for the posting.

Originally posted by stumason
Whilst it is sad that this chappy died, I am puzzled how zipping down a track on a souped up tea tray is considered a sport. Same with the Bobsleigh. I know I will get flamed for this, but bollocks to it.

It's how we get through winter without going postal. And take a look...there is skill to it:



To the Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili...his death is tragic, indeed, but I'm guessing that given a choice of how to die, it would have been by taking his passion to the limits.

Well take a look at what happened to the gorgian luger. One critical false move, a fraction of an INCH is all it took to end his life. Risk factor, coupled with Insane speeds over 144kms/hour without any real protective chasis, makes it even nuttier than most car races.

I def. have respect for the men who cheat death on the slide.

the following video is not a fake. Dont worry no gore, just plain insanity and perfectly calculated physics.


This one if just plain fun, pay attention to around 2:53 in the vid.


back to kuge,its a very technical, very skilled and very calculated sport. This coming from an ex skateboarder, freeskier and BMX rider.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEOS!

My sincerest condolences to the family, friends and team members of the gorgian athlete. His teammate was is so shooken up that he has forfeited his place in the olympic games.

reply to post by misfitofscience


for the broken links upabove....Thats twice today I have used the YOUTUBE video entering tab and it hasnt worked. sorry guys.,

It was a sickening collision with the pole....it shouldnt have taken an unnecesary death for them to change the track though, even after the luge competitors themselves were concerned about it.

And OP, thankyou for not trying to turn this into a conspiracy thread unlike a certain other disrespectful thread on the boards

RIP

Watching it from the beginning knowing something tragic was going to happen at some point was very intense. You see him going faster and faster, and then it happens. Phew. It's a heart beat increasing video for sure.

My condolences. I hope that's the right word.

Those posts were a hazard,this much is obvious.Why they were left not even padded and not redesigned completely before anyone ever tried out the track is a question."When Men lose sight of the Way,then come the laws."Lao Tsu.

When he flew off the sled,he should have had a clear path to land on a safety mat.This is a tort.Someone should not only lose their license but do jail time.

Final note is to add that the concept of the Olimpiad is a substitute for warfare,wherein many innocents die.This is the lesser evil.

Originally posted by stumason
Whilst it is sad that this chappy died, I am puzzled how zipping down a track on a suped up tea tray is considered a sport. Same with the Bobsleigh. I know I will get flamed for this, but bollocks to it.

There appears to be little actual skill aside from holding on for dear life. Whoever has the right balance of weight coupled with whoever is the most aerodynamic will win, nothing to do with any real skill...

Seems they will add any old sport into the Olympics these days..

These days??

Luge has been in the winter Olympics since 1964. Bobsled since 1924. Cresta - an early form of Skeleton - had it's debut at the 1928 games. As competition sports, they're all over 100 years old. They're hardly recent additions.

As for your commentary on the skill involved, it's kind of like saying that surfing is just a matter of standing on a board in the water and waiting for a wave to come along.

There's an incredible amount of skill and athleticism involved - and I'm speaking from experience. If it were simply a matter of hanging on for dear life, I'd have been a multi-gold medalist by now - because hanging on for dear life was about the only thing I was able to master.

There are some news about the Track: first, there's a statement by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili:
Saakashvili dismisses Olympic officials's claim that accident was Kumaritashvili's fault
Canwest News Service
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili flatly rejected the contention of Olympic officials that luge driver Nodar Kumaritashvili's fatal accident on a training run on Friday was his own fault.

I heard the remarks made by the international federation and they said what happened yesterday was because of human error: With all due respect, and I'm not a competent person to talk about these issues and I don't claim to know all the technical details, but one thing I know for sure – no sports mistake is supposed to lead to a death. Questions were asked about this place. We were told there were some suggestions these walls should have been higher there because there was some eventuality of this happening. The good news is they've built it now. But I think the best news would be in the future that they listen more to the grievances of sportsmen and they don't have to do things in the aftermath. If this death can lead to improved security and improved response to people expressing concerns maybe it's not in vain.
As we heard there were much more decorated sportsmen as well that had seen the problem. This sport of luge is a matter of experience and the most successful sportsmen are after age of 30. Some are over 40. It's like Formula 1, you need to have experience over years. There are no restrictions for young people to participate in these sports.

The Georgian President also defended Kumaritashvili against suggestions that his lack of experience may have led to his fatal accident.
Full article

Following the accident (and the many statements coming from the lugers themselves, including double Olympic champion Armin Zöggeler and Hannah Campbell-Pegg, who stated that the track was too fast) now Joseph Fendt, the head of luge federation, stated:
Track is too fast
The International Olympic committee is investigating how the course, originally designed for speeds of 137 km/h, allowed athletes to set world records of more than 153 km/h. Those speeds had athletes and officials questioning course safety leading up to the Games and Friday's death of a Georgian luger.

"The track is too fast," Joseph Fendt, president of the World Luge Federation, told London's Daily Telegraph. "We had planned it to be a maximum of 137 km/h but it is about 20km/h faster.
"We think this is a planning mistake.''
When the course was proposed in 2005, Lorenz Kosichek, project manager for the design firm Stantec, said: "It will be the most challenging track in the world."
Reached Friday, after the death of luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili, Kosichek said it was "too soon" to address serious safety concerns which were expressed long before the tragic accident.
"I'm not going to answer any questions on the phone right now," Kosichek said. "It's too soon to have any discussions about this."
German engineer Udo Gurgel designed the track and all of the tracks for the 1998 Nagano, 2002 Salt Lake and 2006 Turin Olympic Games.
Stantec Architecture Ltd.'s Vancouver office was hired to put into practice Guergel's mathematical design.
The course was planned for speeds of 137 km/h. But this week, a racer hit 154 km/h.
The accident occurred near the bottom of the course. It was not the most dangerous area. But it was near the spot where athletes were approaching top speeds. Kumaritashvili was going an estimated 144.3 km/h. Kumaritashvili careened off the course and hit an unpadded support beam.
In a sport that pushes athletes to be faster, and more dangerous, there were more than a few who expressed concern that a tipping point had been reached because of the speed of the Whistler course.

After she nearly lost control Thursday, Australia's Hannah Campbell-Pegg said this to reporters:

I think they are pushing it a little too much. To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives.'

Plus, the incident occurred to Zöggeler himself, the one occurred to Violeta Stramaturaru of Romania, who was knocked unconscious of a crash, the statements from Hannah Campbell-Pegg, who said:

I think they are pushing it a little too much. To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives.

, or the one from American luger Tony Benshoof, who said:

When I first got on this track, I thought that somebody was going to kill themselves.

www.vancouversun.com...

In my opinion, while the general consensus among lugers, experts and witnesses is that Kumaritashvili made a fatal mistake, there are also no doubts that there's something very wrong with the speed: what for an explanation is suposed to be "We think this is a planning mistake''?
If it was planned to be a maximum of 137 km/h, then why Kumaritashvili was going 144.3 km/h, and why did Mr. Manuel Pfister hit 154 km/h?
Another point is the track: if the track was ok, then how comes that overnight they had the final corner remodelled, how comes they've been smoothing the ice in some spots? How comes that they decided to raise the wall of the track at the exit of the last corner? How comes that they've decided to start the men's race from the women's gate? How comes that the track designer Udo Gurgel himself stated that Whistler luge track must be modified?
Of course i'm glad that they've somehow improved the track safety, but their behavior sounds definately hyopocrite: they stated "no emergency" but in the same breath they modify this, raise that, move that, change that, etc...
I just hope that this has been the last fatal crash ever in this sport
[edit for spelling]

[edit on 14/2/2010 by internos]