Luge Crash Video in Slow Motion: Nodar Kumaritashvili

A slow motion of the luge crash video of Nodar Kumaritashvili has been posted. While checking my other article about Nodar Kumaritashvili's fatal luge crash, I discovered that the previous version of the video had been "upgraded," and is now crystal clear and includes a slow motion of the actual crash, tipping-luge and all.

Here is the link. The slow motion of the luge crash starts up after a real time showing. When you click on the start arrow, the luge crash video begins about 2-3 seconds before the sled rounds the course's last curve -- the location of Nodar Kumaritashvili's crash, and then the video automatically restarts, but in slow motion. Watch very carefully and you will get an idea of just how Nodar Kumaritashvili's body ended up in the position it did, relative to the position he was in while still on the luge, by the time he makes contact with the wall that he eventually becomes airborne over.

After the slow motion, the video then automatically restarts to show the luge crash in real time. In the real time video, a moment after Nodar Kumaritashvili's body rests lifeless and crumpled against the metal beam, a loud metallic thud is heard. There's actually two sounds, one in immediate succession after the other.

The second sound is the much louder of the two, and it clearly sounds like something hard hitting against something metallic. However, this disturbing sound does not coincide with the video image of Nodar Kumaritashvili's head striking the beam. The metallic "thwack" occurs half a second or so later, so I'm not 100 percent sure this sound comes from his head striking the beam.

The sound coincides with an object that flies away from Nodar Kumaritashvili immediately after he comes to rest. The sound occurs also after the luge disappears from view, so perhaps this noise is the sled banging up into something, which I seriously doubt, since the sled could only have banged against ice.

I hate to think this, but that sound most likely came from the impact of Nodar Kumaritashvili's helmet with the metal beam, and the reason it's delayed by about half a second is because the video and audio are not in synch.

As a result of the luge crash, the metal beam was thoroughly padded, and a 12-foot-high wooden wall was constructed. Obviously, authorities believed that these new measures would protect subsequent lugers. Why didn't they think of this beforehand? This should not have been a "20/20 is hindsight" situation.

Any layman looking at that exposed row of metal beams, especially since they were positioned precisely at a point where an out of control luge would end up, could instantly realize the potential threat of those beams. The slow motion of Nodar Kumaritashvili's crash is disturbing, but very telling of physics.