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Georgian Luger killed during practice

O

OBIO

Retired SOH Admin
Catching the evening news, and heard that an 21 year old from Georgia (the country, not the state) was killed during a practice Luge run. His Luge actually left the track and his body slammed into an unpadded support post. Attempts to revive him failed. This is the first fatal accident at an Olympic Games for quite some time.

My condolences to his family and friends.

OBIO
 
OBIO said:
Catching the evening news, and heard that an 21 year old from Georgia (the country, not the state) was killed during a practice Luge run. His Luge actually left the track and his body slammed into an unpadded support post. Attempts to revive him failed. This is the first fatal accident at an Olympic Games for quite some time.

My condolences to his family and friends.

OBIO
Click to expand...

Very sad, I was quite shocked that they showed the accident on TV. Looks like it was instant.
Dont look at the link if disturbed be warned graphic.
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/ind...b-830f-09d957013d41&videoId=39433&PbContext=2
 
Just saw the accident as I was zapping.

Terrible... can't even describe how much it shocked me, I'm still numbed.
Life isn't much to go on, and it can be snatched in an instant. My condolences to his family, his teammates, his fellow luggers. Knowing that it is a risky sport is one thing, but having seen what it can do is quite another.
 
Well, I've always heard the most dangerous winter Olympic sports are luge, downhilll skiing, and bobsled.

Of those, luge has been the most dangerous.

Terrible situation.

Ken
 
What an awful start to the Olympics. :frown:

Hopefully the opening ceremonies will have a proper remembrance.
 
Kiwikat said:
What an awful start to the Olympics. :frown:

Hopefully the opening ceremonies will have a proper remembrance.
Click to expand...


The president of the IOC has commented these Games will be dedicated to this young athlete.
The Georgian Team wants to march tonight in the parade of athletes, in his honor. Should be very touching.

Ken Stallings said:
Well, I've always heard the most dangerous winter Olympic sports are luge, downhilll skiing, and bobsled.

Of those, luge has been the most dangerous.

Terrible situation.

Ken
Click to expand...

Skeleton is probably the most dangerous. It's Luge, but head first instead.

Whistler is the fastest track in the world.
Unfortunately this is a track for experienced athletes in their sport.
Even the best have been very challenged by this track.
It has been nicknamed the "Track of Fear" by the athletes prior to this incident. :kilroy:
 
Track of Fear prior to the accident. Likely now Track of Tragedy after!

Ernest Hemingway said that only sports like boxing, bullfighting and race car driving were sports in his eyes. He said sports had to carry risk to life.

I never forgot that quote because it really shocked me in how it revealed some of Hemingway's psyche. Of course, I really don't agree with him. But it is true that many athletic contests do carry high risks.

Ken
 
Video link isn't working. Looks like they might have pulled it off the internet. Very sad it happened.... my condolences to his family and team. R.I.P.
 
i always thought luge and bobsled were the coolest of all events, closely followed by the ski jump.
sorry to hear someone died, but he went out doing what he loved to do. who could ask for a better death?
 
It is so sad to read and see something like this after all the hard work he put in. My condolence to his family.
 
I saw the video. It was stunning to me how fast it all happened. I can only hope that it was so fast that the guy felt nothing...:frown:
 
Ken Stallings said:
Well, I've always heard the most dangerous winter Olympic sports are luge, downhilll skiing, and bobsled.

Of those, luge has been the most dangerous.

Terrible situation.

Ken
Click to expand...

It's hard to rate them Ken but almost all the speed sports have a greater risk for obvious reasons...
After a year of luge I swapped ends and rode headfirst!

Skeleton, in spite of the name, is said to be the safest of the sliding sports... lowest c of g, less likely to get sideways because of the way you ride the sled and the risk of 'crush' injuries is far lower than bobsled. Still, I had my share of bangs, bumps and 'excursions' on the track at Calgary.

Even so, I was surprised to see the increase in speeds at Whistler. Each track is different in speed and 'nature' but this is a big leap... Whistler luge runs reaching 2-man bob speeds from Calgary is like what would be the difference if you removed the restrictor plates at Daytona.

As a former slider I know how much of a shock it is to the community - it's been 46 years since we've had to deal with such a loss -- and I'm sure all your kind thoughts will be felt by everyone concerned.

Rob
 
Just awful...

My heart felt condolences for his friends and family...
 
cheezyflier said:
Sorry to hear someone died, but he went out doing what he loved to do. Who could ask for a better death?
Click to expand...

Exactly.
Better to live for one glorious hour than a lifetime of obscurity.
:salute:

And FTR, Hemingway regarded Motorsport, Bullfighting and Mountain Climbing as the most dangerous 'Sports'.
Personally, I really detest slaughtering an animal in the name of sport.
 
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