Olympics Luge

non sequiter wrote:

People calling for slower tracks and 10-foot walls must be their equivalent of when people tell runners to quit before it ruins their knees.

No, those are not equivalent. People telling lugers to quit before they hurt themselves would be equivalent to people telling runners to quit before they ruin their knees. People saying that courses should be constructed with appropriate safety precautions would be more equivalent to people who think that pole vault pits should be constructed safely.

Yeah that's a better comparison. I imagine there was similar resistance when various athletics organizations started requiring pole vaulters to wear helmets.

non sequiter wrote:

Reading luge veteran's responses to this tragedy it almost sounds like they define their sport by risk of life. People calling for slower tracks and 10-foot walls must be their equivalent of when people tell runners to quit before it ruins their knees.

i don't think anyone is against a risk of injury. you'd have to get rid of half of the winter olympic sports.

but having those posts placed like they were, particularly on a course that is known to be unusually fast, is like having a downhill ski race course just a "usually" safe distance from a 1000ft cliff. If someone has a really bad spill and goes off...oops. just a "freak accident."

I agree and this evening they showed the Sept. 12 short track accident that almost took out our # 2 short track guy. Blood everywhere, almost sliced his femoral artery with his own skate..... I guess restraint is not NBC's MO.

That is why others call our sport of running a girly boy sport.

MarathonMind wrote:

As an architect I cannot believe they allowed those skull crushing steel posts to sit right outside the track, ready to catch a vulnerable head or limb. Also, this track generates average speeds 15 MPH above those of other tracks. Really inexcusable.

Do you have an architecture license? If not, don't call yourself an architect. It's unexcusable.

Georgia are where the Mongol Oriental bastards settled after they raped and ravaged Austria and Germany. They can all burn in hell.

Freedom of the Press wrote:

Showing whites getting wasted has always been controversial to the US white public. White people don't seem to mind seeing Arabs, Asians, Haitians, Jews, or Africans dead and mangled though. It just goes to show that the United States is the most racist nation in the history of the human race.

When have they showed footage like this of anyone before? Forget whether or not they were white. If you're being serious, then you obviously are delusional.

So, what footage of black guys or arabs do you have getting mangled that they showed on a major news source?

Georgia was war-torn, former USSR. you know zero about the country and its people if this is what you think. Way to disrespect a soul even further as his country mourns this tragedy.

People get killed walking across streets EVERY day. Should we close all streets?

I understand the ideology of wanting to find blame or possibly close the event for the Olympics, but really, is that really doing anything? No. It is just inducing more FEAR into our society than already exists. I'm not sure if we need to constantly find ways to remove any possibility of ANY danger in our lives. You almost need a helmet to go to work, because a computer monitor (old style) may fall on your head if your coworker goes postal and pushes it off his desk.

Tragic event. Track may be a bit too fast. People will die regardless of what the speed of the track is. Is 93 MPH so different from 90?

don wrote:

Do you have an architecture license? If not, don't call yourself an architect. It's unexcusable.

Actually it's illegal and yes I do.

Prices Double wrote:

I feel bad for his family and for Georgia but gravity sports, motor sports, leisure activities, horseys, and guns do not belong in the Olympic Games.

So you think all they do is lie down and hope for the best?

Moron.

Do you think downhill skiiers just stand there and let gravity bring them down?

Idiot.

Sorry, I'm being a bit over-sensitive to stupidity today.

I've got some real issues with this accident and how the Canadians have handled it ...

1. Some competitors were complaining to the media about how fast and dangerous the track was *before* the fatal accident. Several serious crashes had happened, including a female luger who was knocked unconscious and had to be airlifted. It is the fastest track ever by about 10mph. The organizers of the next winter games had already been told to not build such a fast track, again *before* the accident.

2. The "investigation" into the fatal crash took all of about 10 hours, so it's hard to argue it was thorough. Not surprisingly, it absolved the organizers of any blame. Showing wonderful sensitivity, they released the results the same day the luger died.

3. If, as the "report" concluded, the track had nothing to do with the accident, then why did they make major changes to the track?

4. From ESPN.com: "There was no consensus among the lugers whether the change in starting position was correct. The Canadians were furious when they learned about the lower start, complaining it took away their home-track advantage.'This track was certified by the International Luge Federation, certified by the Vancouver Olympic Committee,' said Canada's Jeff Christie [Uh, Jeff, in case you hadn't heard, someone died. That would seem to trump certifications by committees]. 'We gave all the training runs we needed, plus more, from the top of the track. We held a successful World Cup last year, and moving it kind of takes away some of our advantage.'" So a fellow competitor dies, and you're outraged ... that it detracts from your home track advantage? Congrats, Jeff Christie, you are now the gold medalist in the "clueless a-hole" competition.

5. The President of Georgia made, I thought, an excellent statement: "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." This isn't car racing. Last death in luge was in 1975. There's never been a luge death in the Olympics before.

Great post. But the 10 hr investigation was predictable. The show must go on! I think the changes they made were rational but still means the initial design was poor - a good wall might have eliminated the risk of death tremendously.

It's like this bike crash. You just can't plan for every possibility of crashing.

I bet nodody thought this guy would go over the top rail and fall 30 feet onto concrete.

The question in my mind is whether which of the following might apply:

a) A careful (but flawed) analysis was done, but the accident was simply a result of unforseen variables that nobody could predict.

b) A careful (and correct) analysis was done, and the risk was known, but a cost/benefit decision was made to not add extra protection (i.e., higher walls in the turns)

c) a superficial analysis was done, or less than thorough effort was made.

Based on what I saw in the video, my opinion is that perhaps option "b" or "c" is the case.

It's the straightaway coming out of a turn that need walls. Someone forgot that people flying through the air don't come off the track and land where things went wrong.

This accident probably is a bit like the one where the puck struck a fan and resulted in the netting being put up.

OMG WHEN HE HIT HIS HEAD ON THAT STEEL POLE HIS HEAD CRACKED OPEN LIKE A EGG.BLOOD WAS COMING OUT HIS NOSE,EARSOMG I THREW UP ALL OVER AFTER SEEING THAT.