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With the Olympics open tonight athletes have been training nonstop to prepare for the games. A week before the games begin, athletes have the opportunity for several trial runs to feel out the course.
Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luger from the Soviet republic of Georgia, died this past Friday during one of his trial runs crashing into an unpadded steel pole. Traveling at high speeds he lost control of the seld causing him to crash into the insidde wall of the track on his final turn.
Rescue workers were by his side just moments later and started compressions and mouth-to-mouth trying to save his life. He was quickly airlifted to a trauma center in Whistler.
This was the second crash for Kumaritashvilli out of six practice runs, in training for the Vancouver Olympics. Although none had died in competition, according to NBCOlympics.com, He was the third to die while in training for the Winter Olympics.
The remained of men's training was canceled for the rest of the day due to an investigation that will be taking place. Over a dozen athletes have crashed during this course, and now officials are beginning to question the danger of this challenging course.
I feel so bad for this guy. He has spent years training and trying to compete at the Olympic level and then a few days before he almost reaches his goal, he gets in an accident. The saddest part of this story is how he worked so hard and how his dreams were destroyed in one quick second, and a few days before the actual competition nonetheless. I still believe that his work payed off, even if he didn't get to compete, because he still made it on an Olympic team, which is a very prestigious team. I also think that the course should be under heavy investigation since so many athletes have crashed.
ReplyDeleteAfter the investigation officials deliberated that the course is too dangerous. They put a wall up where he crashed and now men start where the women start so their speed will be decrease significantly.
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