Olympic Luge Run Re-opens Following Investigation

The death of Georgian Luger sent shock waves through the Olympic Village in Vancouver just before the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. The 2010 Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies went on as planned, in memory of the late Nodar Kymaritashvili who was killed tragically when he was launched out of the luge track and struck a metal pillar back and head first alongside of the track.

Accident investigation concludes luger error.
The accident was investigated by the International Olympic Committee, the Vancouver Olympic Committee and the Vancouver coroner. The conclusion of the investigative body was that Nodar Kymaritashvili committed an error exiting turn15 that was compounded as he approached turn 16, leading him to bounce of the wall and exit the track, hitting the metal pillar at full force.

The International Luge Federation then performed their own investigation and concluded in their statement, ''It appears after a routine run, the luge athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make a correct entrance into curve 16,'' the statement said. ''This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the luge athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident." In their recap of the events the International Luge Federation failed to mention the metal pillars.

''The technical officials of the International Luge Federation were able to retrace the path of the luge athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.''

Why were there pillars right next to the track?
The deficiencies were not on the track though, the error was in placing the metal pillars so close to the track. The statement made no mention of the pillars and what action would be taken to prevent any other injuries or deaths. A measure has been taken to make sure no other lugers are launched off the track like Nodar Kymaritashvili, although they are not taking any responsibility for the death.

The International Luge Federation, along with the International Olympic Committee placed blame on Nodar Kymaritashvili's error in an effort to draw attention away for the actual cause of death, the pillar being too close to the track.

The International Luge Federation included in the statement, ''Based on these findings, the race director (of the luge track), in consultation with the International Luge Federation, made the decision to re-open the track. Following a raising of the walls at the exit of curve 16 and a change in the ice profile. This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.''

Plexiglass would appear to be the obvious answer not wood.
The Vancouver Olympic Committee also installed a wooden wall, where the pillars are along the track. Wood may not be the best answer though. Why don't they use plexiglass instead of wood? With wood a luger can get shunted back across the track hard while with plexiglass a luger would slim across the wall and fall back to the ice harmlessly.

Another measure being taken by the International Luge Federation and the Vancouver Olympic Committee was to start the lugers from the women's starting gate further down the track. The move was made by the Olympic Committee to slow the speeds down. Some lugers were flying down the course at over 90 miles per hour in practice and it was estimated the Nodar Kymaritashvili was traveling at over 85 miles per hour.

For more information on the 2010 Winter Olympics read:
2010 Winter Olympics Struck by Tragedy when Luger is Killed
Italy Has Inside Track to Gold Medal at 2010 Winter Olympics

sources:

http://www.olympic.org/