By now there's probably video on YouTube, and if you want to see it, you're going to have to go there yourself--I won't link it. Suffice it to say that Kumaritashvili was going an estimated 88 mph (141 km/hr) when he missed the final turn in the course, flew free of his luge and up and over the wall--and into an unshielded metal pole.
It's the adjective there that shames. If a metal pole just had to be where somebody could conceivably hit it, it should have been padded to a fare-thee-well. I'm far from the only person whose first thought was what the almighty hell is that pole there for?
I'm not a racer. In fact, I'm not much of a competitor, and certainly not in anything dangerous. You go right on ahead there. I'm therefore possessed of a puzzled admiration that anyone would willingly attempt that course again, much less the members of the Georgian team, who have said they will compete. The thing is, Nodor was ranked #44 in the world. The man who's ranked #1, Armin Zoeggeler, also crashed. The difference between #44 and #1: Zoeggeler walked away.
The Whistler Sliding Center is widely considered to be the most technically challenging course in the world. It's certainly the fastest, averaging an 11% grade, with some sections at a stomach-churning 20%. I can't help but wonder what the point is. Lugers, bobsledders, and skeleton athletes compete against each other, not some track standard. In other words, the point is who can get down the course the fastest, not who can hit a hundred miles an hour.
The show must go on, I suppose, but what an awful way to start it.
1 comment:
The video is pretty horrific. The p[ole is there for structural reasons I believe. I think they'll have to go over the course and add plexiglass around dangerous parts, like we have in hockey as you can't move the pole. I read that they already had complaints etc... about the course and how fast or too fast it was. It's sad.
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