Posted on February 17, 2010 - by Venik

Safety of Luge

The tragic death of Nodar Kumaritashvili on the luge track in Vancouver is the cause of online discussion about safety of this sport. Many criticize track designers and organizers of the Games for the track’s perceived lax safety standards. Others wonder if safety is even possible in a sport where one rides a tiny sled down an ice track at nearly a hundred mile per hour.

A quick investigation by the Federation of International Luge and by Canadian authorities concluded that the Georgian luger’s crash was his own fault. I am not a luge expert, so I will have to accept this conclusion. However, what caused the crash is not nearly as important as what caused the Georgian’s death. Nodar flew out of his sled at the sixteenth turn and crashed into a metal support column near the track.

As far as we know, the only video footage of the crash was shot by NBC. For a few hours the video clip of the crash was available on YouTube, but was promptly pulled not because of its disturbing nature but because of copyright claims. Some YouTube users reported that their clips of the crash were undeleted by YouTube after they complained. However, the clips were removed from search and renamed. There is no way to find them unless you know the exact link.

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There is plenty of video footage of major luge competitions from around the world. I’ve spent the past few hours watching dozens of clips on YouTube trying to figure out whether the exposed metal columns at the Vancouver course are a usual feature in luge track design. They are not. It would seem that placing some sort of a safety wall between the track and its support structure is customary.

The organizers of the Vancouver Games deny that the track is dangerous. Nevertheless, they could not ignore the fact of the first fatal luge accident in some forty-six years. The track was redesigned. Some corners were shaved down, a forty-yard wall was erected at the location of the crash, and the entire track was shortened by almost two football fields. An unusual flurry of activity on a track that is supposed to be safe.

Before the Games the organizers bragged that this was the fastest luge track in the world.  The average luge speed at major competitions over the past decade was around eighty miles per hour. The average speed on the $76-million Vancouver track – after it was shaved and shortened – is around ninety miles per hour.  Some blame Kumaritashvili’s relative lack of experience for the crash. This, however, does not explain an earlier crash by a highly-experienced Austrian luger.

Many lugers complained about limited access to track prior to the Games. It can even be argued that after twenty six trial runs the Georgian luger was better familiar with the track than most of his competition. I was able to find the video clip of the fatal crash. It is difficult not to think that this could have been an easily survivable crash if there was a wal between the track and the metal pylons. The sort of a wall built by the Games’ officials after the Georgian athlete’s death.

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