i am in tears right now......

[dalt01]

i just watched the video of the luge accident where the young man was killed. they need to close that event. the track is to fast. 90 miles an hour on a half a sled with what amounts to a football helmet for protection? dear god how stupid are we................

 

[karen l]

They were told last year that they needed to add reinforcements to that area but they never did it. It's such a tragedy.

 

[handinpocket]

i just watched the video of the luge accident where the young man was killed. they need to close that event. the track is to fast. 90 miles an hour on a half a sled with what amounts to a football helmet for protection? dear god how stupid are we................

Sadly, that can be said for a lot of the olympic sports. Downhill skiing is wickedly dangerous. Prayers for the family.

 

[aspen37]

i just watched the video of the luge accident where the young man was killed. they need to close that event. the track is to fast. 90 miles an hour on a half a sled with what amounts to a football helmet for protection? dear god how stupid are we................

I saw the video a little earlier and it was horrific. Last year someone was clocked at 96 miles hour on that track. The lugers and bobsleders have been complaining that the track is too fast. It is so sad that they did not listen earlier. Luge is not for the faint of heart, but they were pushing it with this track.
I feel so sad for his family and friends. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

 

[chirurgeon]

I work with the mother of a luger. He is on the US junior team, just missed the cut for this Olympics. I have a feeling she is very glad her son is not competing this year. They left for Vancouver today. Since they didn't know if he would make the team they had to have their reservations a long time ago, so they just decided to make it a family vacation.

Kim

 

[Joshua_me]

Absolutely *horrible*

It's so tragic and it seems all so senseless to me...

A loss of a young life for no good reason, IMO.

Prayers for his family and loved ones.

 

[ArielRae]

The news keeps stressing that the pole was not padded. At that speed and how he hit I don't think padding would have helped. They need to make those walls a lot higher if they are going to be going that fast.

 

[ratherbeatdisney]

while it is sad that he has passed, he died doing what he loved. They all know going in there is a chance of death or serious injury, the risks are kind of obvious when you are going 80+ MPH with little to no protection. He was not forced to do this, he did this because he enjoyed it. If you dont want to get hurt or killed, simply dont participate, same with downhill skiing, it is a VERY popular sporting activity with millions that go downhill skiing each year worldwide, and you can die doing that also, but far more people enjoy it without dying so i dont think they are going to eliminate it anytime soon. someone said earlier it was a loss of life for no good reason, well actually there was a good reason. he was doing something he loved, that happened to be dangerous. If you told that day there was a chance he might die, he still would have went. He faced that risk everytime he went down the track...

 

[alamode]

A very horrific tragedy. All efforts are made to make the sport as safe as possible, but by its very nature it's a very dangerous sport.

Although I have not competed, Duff Gibson, a Canadian gold medalist in skeleton, talked recently at my children's' school. He mentioned that he felt the Vancouver course was fast, but he felt safe riding it. Unfortunately, tragedy can happen at any time, even with precautions.

 

[princesskelz]

Its terrible this happend and my prayers go out to the family but i wish they did not show the video on the news. My grandmother was watching my little cousin and they showed the accident and my little cousin was very upset and kept asking if that man was going to be okay. My grandmother didnt have the heart to tell her he had passed.
But just like the Monorail driver he died doing what he loved.

 

[NancyIL]

Yes, it is very sad, but the athletes know the risks involved.

I e-mailed a friend who is going to the Olympics next week to see the bobsled and skeleton races. I asked if the bobsled races were held on the same track as the luge. He said, "It is SO unusual for someone to fly out of the track like he did (I saw the video online). Yes, luge, skeleton and bobsled all use the same track. Luge is going down the track on a sled on your back feet first. Skeleton is going on a slightly different type of sled on your stomach head first."

 

[locolala]

It is so, so sad. I don't think stopping the event is a good idea though. These athletes have put years and years into training for this event, and it would be wrong to deny them their careers.

 

[aspen37]

I'm not sure if anyone was asking for the event to be stopped. They have asked to try and make the track slower. I think they were meeting earlier to decide if they were going to do something to make the track slower.
Here is something I read.

Though both bobsled driver Shauna Rohbock and skeleton slider Noelle Pikus-Pace of Orem have said they feel comfortable on the track, they agreed the course is challenging even for the best drivers. And veteran men's luger Tony Benshoof offered a haunting appraisal to NBCOlympics.com last year.
"When I first got on the track, I thought to myself, 'Someone's going to die on this damn thing,'" he said. "You have a 3- or 4-inch window. And if you're not right on that line, you're in trouble."
Benshoof was among a handful of lugers who already had crashed in training before Kumaritashvili, including three other Americans, world champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy, and a Romanian woman who was knocked unconscious and taken to a hospital.
But Lund worried that officials might overreact and change the course too much in an attempt to slow the sliders, potentially skewing the competition. He said the track can be made slower by decreasing the temperature of the ice to make it "softer," and by not "spritzing" the track with mists of water to create a fresh layer of ice.
"I can understand if they make some changes," he said, "but I hope it's not too much."
Other athletes might share his sentiments, though the head of the World Luge Federation told London's Daily Telegraph that the track is "too fast," having generated speeds about 10 mph faster than intended.
Just last week, engineer David Baranowski of Van Boerum & Frank Associates in Salt Lake City acknowledged that the track he helped design is "hard and very technical," but that most athletes like it.
"Our hope is that it's safe, it's fast, and it's fun," Baranowski said. "I've had a few athletes send me some e-mails saying that this track is a lot of fun."
The course conforms to international standards for track design, Baranowski said, though those regulations have allowed for a steeper slope than in the past. Holcomb has said it almost seems as though the course was designed "backwards," with the toughest turns lower on the course, by which point racers have reached higher speeds.
mcl@sltrib.com

 

[Joshua_me]

Was that his father in the audience during the opening ceremonies ?

I didn't think it was appropriate to keep showing close-ups of him crying over his loss...

I don't think anyone would want that image of themselves broadcast to the world.

 

[FireDancer]

I look at it in the same way I look at Ayrton Senna's death. There are dangerous sports, luge and auto racing among them. People know the risks and while no one wants to die doing a sport (or doing anything) it is a calculated risk. After Ayrton's death there were changes made to the sport to make it safer. The death shined a light on some of the failings of the sport on the safety front and they were addressed. That is what I hope comes out of the luge accident.

I don't want the sport canceled or completely neutered but if there are changes that can be made that keep the essence of the sport (even it's inherent danger) in tact while also making it safer for the competitors I am all for it.

I also have no problem with the accident being aired. It is a part of life and as long as there is a little warning that lets people know what they might see can be disturbing I think they should show it. That gives everyone the ability to choose for themselves if they want to watch it or not as opposed to forcing anyone to do either. Self censorship is always better then letting someone else do it for you.

 

[AnninIowa]

I don't know why NBC has to keep showing the video....then showing it in slow motion....then showing still photos. If the athlete were an American, there is no way they would show these images...yet it is somehow supposed to be different when the athlete is from another country?!

 

[MrX8991]

I don't know why NBC has to keep showing the video....then showing it in slow motion....then showing still photos. If the athlete were an American, there is no way they would show these images...yet it is somehow supposed to be different when the athlete is from another country?!

I totally agree. Luckily, Bob Costas said tonight that they would not be showing the video again "during these Olympics". I would have loved to hear "ever again" instead, but at least they're not showing it now.

 

[soupy11]

Was that his father in the audience during the opening ceremonies ?

I didn't think it was appropriate to keep showing close-ups of him crying over his loss...

I don't think anyone would want that image of themselves broadcast to the world.

No his parents were not in attendance.

 

[Joshua_me]

No his parents were not in attendance.

Oh... Thanks.

Maybe it was his coach.

As for the above post that talked about how they would not shown the video over and over again and in slow motion and all of that if he had been American...

That's an interesting thought. I don't know if his nationality had anything to do with the intensive coverage or not.

I would imagine if he had been from The States the American media would have made an even bigger story out of it...

But, it's hard to say.

 

[kaligal]

Everyone I know has watched this film. I have no desire to watch that young man die, but I do understand people wanting to see what happened, etc.

Since I haven't watched it, I can't discuss the film. If it were me, I wouldn't show it, but if others want to, far be it from me to say they shouldn't.

However, if we shut down every activity during which someone was killed, the whole world would have to come to a standstill and the population would die off quickly (people die doing THAT, too.)

Yes, it is dangerous. The athlete's know it and they do it anyway. I don't see why we should step in and say, "You can't any longer. We don't want you to."

People get paralyzed and killed playing sports...and driving...and doing all sorts of things. It's sad, but it happens.

You will never be able to stop people from dying in accidents. Might as well let them continue to live their lives the way they'd like to live them and not the way you'd like them to do it.