2010 Winter Olympics Vancouver

I just read the CP story, apparently the sports governing body was not happy with how fast the track turned out to be, it sounds like it was faster than the designers intended it to be as well. sounds like there have been a pile of accidents already, this being the most severe, apparently it was his second already during training. If you watch, it looks like his troubles begin when he enters the turn, my guess, and keep in mind I've never set foot on a luge track, is he over corrected and wound up going far to high on the wall, causing him to come down at too severe an angle into the side wall.

 

Experienced people in Canadian luge/bobsled had their input as well.

 

Thank you (?), Republica, for showing us what the aftereffects of a skull fracture look like.

 

But thanks to not letting any other countries have any practice time of note, Canada's got that home-track advantage. So what if a foreigner or two has to die?

Own the podium!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/sports/21olympics.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

 

Pathetic response from a pathetic organization (from the Wetzel article)

IOC president Jacques Rogge was non-committal on what would happen next with the luge, although the IOC promised a later press conference. “It’s a time of sorrow,” Rogge said. “It’s not a time to look for reasons.”

MB, the whole practice issue was a bunch of hype that unfortunately is just not true. It makes for some fun on Colbert but the facts do not match reality.

 

Other Olympic hosts have given competitors less access to venues than their own athletes. This is not unusual.

That said, I don't know for sure if that's been the case with luge tracks, where crash incidents lessen as racers get to know them better

That said, suggesting that Canada is in any way OK with letting people die for the sake of medals is incredibly offensive.

 

While deaths are not common in sliding sports, crashes and major injuries are. When Bill Morgan died in Cortina, the track tha thad been in use fro 25 years was reconfigured. To think that a host country would knowingly build a dangerous track is unreasonable.

 

HuffPost dug up a different video. Actually a video of a TV that was showing the original video (which is here).

 

Well, let's see ...

Apparently Canada decided to end a decades-old agreement with the US (I don't know what kind of deals were or weren't in place with other countries) over luge training time. And the course they're limiting access to is, from everything I've read, the fastest and most dangerous course ever.

But, hey, spin it however you want.

And I've read a lot about why the wall wasn't padded. Frankly, I doubt that would have made a difference. This looks an awful lot like what I've read of Dale Earnhardt's death (basal skull fracture, I think). From the video, I'm not sure how any amount of padding would have kept his head from snapping forward the way it did.

 

Well, you sure are spinning it how you want. Was it an American who died? I agree that limiting access could in hindsight be a contributing factor, but your crass remark "So what if a foreigner has to die? Own the podium!" is pathetic.

 

Fastest and most dangerous course ever.
Limited training time for all non-Canadians.

It adds up to exactly what you'd expect it to add up to.

 

You have to wonder why those metal poles were that close to finish line. It makes no sense.