Luge athlete killed in Whistler during training

[HOOT]

I know people want to blame the design and all that but IMO this is a freak accident. How many different athletes, in how many different sports have gone down that track since it was built? Hundreds? If none of them brought it up as a concern why would the people who built it be concerned?

I just find it hard to blame one person or group of people when that track had been tested so much. Horrible, horrible accident but I don't think anyone is to blame.

[FiftyBelow]

Whats even more worrisome is the fact that there have been several crashes on the course... so clearly its not just that corner. They have to seriously consider shutting it down and relocating the events. Definitely tragic news on the eve of the games. I can't even imagine what his family is going through and how the other athletes feel.

[OILFAN #81]

RIP. Such a tragic event for a 21 year old and his family. I cringed when I saw the crash take place a few hours ago.

[La Flames Fan]

Originally Posted by Peanut

I would say foreseen/preventable.

That's my initial thought as well...this is a horrible cloud over these games.

[photon]

Originally Posted by pylon

I clicked it and got about 1000 pages of gobbly .

Originally Posted by Komskies

The download link isn't working for me either. It's probably just my firewall at work blocking it but I can't get the download started. And unfortunately all streaming content is blocked.

Just right click on the link and choose "Save As..." and save it as a file first.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Anyone have a diagram of the track or a pic of the exit? I don't really want to watch the vids or look at the crash pics.

I took a screenshot from HOOT's movie ... doesn't show the body (just the luge). You can see the turn at the back. It looks damn near 90 degrees. He came from the top corner all the way into the opposite corner and was launched off the track. The giant metal beams are to the right of the track.

Even though there's no visible body I won't embed the picture.

http://grab.by/2nRJ

[Methanolic]

Originally Posted by Peanut

I would say foreseen/preventable.

without a doubt!!

[HotHotHeat]

I don't want to jump the gun - but in all likelihood, what are the chances of athletes pulling out? TWO serious accidents in one training day? FFS, this is training, they aren't even maxing themselves out yet.

Have to bet that there are very quiet discussions going on about whether the venue should be scrapped. In which case, I need binoculars to see COP.

[Ducay]

Hey HOOT, still think its a "freak accident"?

This is after 2 days

Originally Posted by AFP

One of the favourites also got a scare with 2002 and 2006 gold medalist Armin Zoeggler of Italy crashing.
On Wednesday there were several crashes during women's luge training runs on a track widely-regarded as one of the most dangerous in the sport.
Romania's Violeta Stramaturaru crashed and was knocked unconscious for a few minutes and was taken to the hospital.

[Delthefunky]

The cost of this facility was $105 million...

[Scoopdogg]

They should put up plexiglass along the whole track similiar to hockey rinks to prevent this. This would ensure safety and allow the cameras and spectators to see the athletes.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by photon

Just right click on the link and choose "Save As..." and save it as a file first.

Tried that. Using Firefox I hit 'Save Link As..', saved it, and when trying to open it with WMP it says WMP does not support the file type. or the codec used to compress the file.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Peanut

Even the photo on the Calgary Herald article is just sickening.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...569/story.html

So I guess I'm not the only one who thought that was in poor taste. I understand if he was injured, but he's dead ... change the picture.

[PowerPlayoffs06]

Originally Posted by HOOT

I know people want to blame the design and all that but IMO this is a freak accident. How many different athletes, in how many different sports have gone down that track since it was built? Hundreds? If none of them brought it up as a concern why would the people who built it be concerned?

There've been over a dozen crashes this last week during training runs and mounting safety concerns.

There had been several other crashes on the luge course. A Romanian woman, Violeta Stramaturaru was knocked briefly unconscious on Thursday and taken to a hospital after slamming into a wall several times.

Several sliders, including four American lugers reported terrible troubles finishing the course, while the gold medal favorite, Armin Zoeggler of Italy, also crashed on his training run, coming off his sled and holding it with his left arm to keep it from hitting his body. He walked away from the crash on Blackcomb Mountain’s southeast side. The cours has 16 turns and drops steeply for 152 meters — the world’s longest drop.

Article Here

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Anyone have a diagram of the track or a pic of the exit? I don't really want to watch the vids or look at the crash pics.

It happened as he came out of 16.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by dj_patm

Anyone think this could go down as Criminal Negligence?

Easily a lawsuit under professional liability. There is no way that should be allowed.

Unlikely, there is an inherent risk in such a sport as luge. I don't think there is much precedence for it. I am sure it will be talked about, but at the end of the day when you take off down a steep hill at high speed in any sport there is a chance you could be seriously injured or killed.

Very sad and puts a pall on the opening ceremonies. RIP.

[dj_patm]

Originally Posted by Scoopdogg

They should put up plexiglass along the whole track similiar to hockey rinks to prevent this. This would ensure safety and allow the cameras and spectators to see the athletes.

Too brilliant for canadian engineers to think of. C'mon now.

Although Plexiglass probably wouldn't have done much. You'd need Pyrex or something and that would've probably killed him anyway.

[kermitology]

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centr...ack+means+fear

Whistler's reputation was established in November, 2008 when Loch damaged shoulder tendons in a crash and was one of three lugers hospitalized, and Canadian bob driver Pierre Lueders crashed in Corner 7, which was instantly named Lueders' Loop.

Holcomb has since claimed that the course was designed backward, with tighter turns near the bottom where sleds max-out the speed. And American luger Tony Benshoof told NBC: "When I first got on this track, I thought that somebody was going to kill themselves."

[Peanut]

Is this the first time in the history of luge that someone has crashed and as a result came out of the actual course/track? I can't imagine that something like this has never happened before. And if it's reasonable to assume that the athletes could come out of the track, then there should be some safety measures outside of the track, not huge metal poles. Like plexiglass as someone mentioned. Or even hay bales or something to help slow them down (they do this at the edges of the ski runs, right?).

I know I didn't know him or anything, but I'm quite upset about the whole thing. Seeing it 3 times probably didn't help.

[Komskies]

How hard would it be to pad the outsides of corners and place all of the cameras on the insides?