Joint VANOC – FIL Statement on Men’s Luge Competition

VANCOUVER, Feb. 12 /CNW/ – The International Luge Federation is deeply saddened by the death of the Georgian athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili, member of our Luge Family, who was fatally injured during the final training session in the last corner of the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre on Friday morning.

The Coroners Service of British Columbia, responsible for the investigation of all sudden deaths, together with the RCMP, concluded their on-scene investigations on the track and transferred the decision to FIL when the track can be re-opened. The FIL, through its technical officials, further investigated into the cause of this tragic incident. Based on a physical inspection of the track and a thorough review of the tapes they have concluded the following:

It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16. This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident. The technical officials of the FIL were able to retrace the path of the athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.

Based on these findings the race director, in consultation with the FIL, made the decision to reopen the track following a raising of the walls at the exit of curve 16 and a change in the ice profile. This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again.

The FIL will resume men’s training Saturday morning with two full training runs prior to the competition taking place as scheduled at 17h00.

FIL and VANOC will conduct a joint press conference on Saturday, 13 February, at 8h30am at the Whistler Media Center with Josef Fendt, FIL President, Svein Romstad, FIL Secretary General and Tim Gayda, VANOC Vice-President, Sport. Media in Vancouver will be able to follow the press conference and post questions at the Main Press Center (MPC).

Tur mir leid, aber ich nenne das zynisch. Sie warten nicht einmal 24 Stunden. Sie haben gar nichts geklärt. Sie fahren weiter.

1. Das System macht nie Fehler.
2. An der Bahn kann es genauso wenig liegen wie am System.
3. Nur der Einzelne macht Fehler. Das ist tragisch. Ein Unfall. Hat nicht mit dem System zu tun. Es gelten also die Punkte 1 und 2.

Das System macht nie Fehler, nur der Einzelne. Das ist immer so in totalitären Systemen.

Auf der Webseite des Rodel-Weltverbandes FIL wird der Tod Kumaritaschwilis bis heute, nach 24 Stunden, mit keinem Wort erwähnt. (Nachtrag, 12. Februar, 13.47 Uhr: Stimmt nicht ganz. Auf der Homepage findet sich kein Wort. Wer eine Weile sucht, aber gründlich suchen!, dem fällt vielleicht ein Button auf, wo es zum “Vancouver Special” geht. Dort findet sich weniger zum Fall als auf tausenden anderen Webseiten weltweit. Ist ja auch nur ein FIS-Rodler gestorben.)

In knapp drei Stunden beginnt im Hallenstadion die Eröffnungszeremonie der Olympischen Winterspiele. Doch Olympia trauert seit einigen Stunden.

Joint statement from IOC, VANOC and FIL

VANCOUVER, Feb. 12 /CNW/ – It is with great regret that we confirm the death of the Georgian luge athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili, during the final training session at the Whistler Sliding Centre, this morning.

Mr Kumaritashvili died after crashing on the last corner of the course during training. Doctors were unable to revive the athlete, who died in hospital.

“Our first thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of the athlete. The whole Olympic Family is struck by this tragedy, which clearly casts a shadow over these Games”, said the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge.

“We are deeply struck by this tragedy and join the IOC in extending our condolences to the family, friends and teammates of this athlete, who came to Vancouver to follow his Olympic dream”, said John Furlong, the CEO of VANOC, the Games Organising Committee.

For the International Luge Federation, President Josef Fendt said: “This is a terrible accident. This is the gravest thing that can happen in sport, and our thoughts and those of the ‘luge family’, are naturally with those touched by this event.”

An investigation is underway into the circumstances of the accident. Training was suspended and technical officials are now trying to establish the causes.

Die Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelt.

Nie zuvor in der olympischen Geschichte hat ein IOC-Präsident an einem Eröffnungstag sagen müssen:

“This is a very said day for the olympic movement. I have no words to say what I feel.”

Über die Gefahren auf der Bahn in Whistler wird seit Jahren debattiert. Doch es geht immer weiter. Das Wunder besteht eigentlich darin, dass es nicht schon vorher etwas passierte. In Whistler, wo Felix Loch mit 153,98 km/h den Geschwindigkeitsrekord hält, oder anderswo. Die Bahn in Whistler war für maximal 137 km/h zugelassen. Bundestrainer Norbert Loch hat schon vor einiger Zeit nach einem Sturz seines Sohnes Felix protestiert.

Die Bahn in Whistler (Quelle: IOC, VANOC)

16.16 Uhr: Sportminister Nikolos Rurua sagt, Georgien nimmt an den Spielen teil und auch an der Eröffnungsfeier, wo man heute Trauerflor trägt. Man habe schließlich auch 2008 in Peking teilgenommen, trotz der russischen Invasion damals. Kumaritaschwili habe genügend Erfahrungen für diese Bahn gehabt. Spekulationen, die das Gegenteil besagen, seien unfair und führten in die falsche Richtung. Schließlich sei schon vor dem Unfall der Sicherheitsaspekt diskutiert worden. Das müsse nun gründlich aufgearbeitet werden, so lange sollte in Whistler nicht gefahren werden.

16.55 Uhr: Ich höre, es soll WLAN und LAN im Stadion geben. Also mache ich mich doch noch flink auf den Weg. Mal sehen, ob sich rechtzeitig ankomme.

Nachtrag, eine Pressemitteilung von 18.57 Uhr:

WHISTLER, Feb 12 – The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games has confirmed that investigations are underway into the cause of death of Nodar KUMARITASHVILI (GEO) who crashed during the final Men’s Singles Official Training session at The Whistler Sliding Centre.

The investigation into KUMARITASHVILI’s death is being led by the Coroners Service of British Columbia and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The Coroners Service of British Columbia is responsible for the investigation of all unnatural, sudden and unexpected, unexplained or unattended deaths. No other details are available at this time.

An investigation is also underway by the Federation International de Luge (FIL).

VANOC and the International Olympic Committee will have another update on Saturday, February 13 at 11:00 at the Main Media Centre in Vancouver when the IOC and VANOC begin their regularly scheduled daily briefings.