Luge death raises flag on safety

The death of an Olympic athlete in the luge competition is heartbreaking and troubling.

Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, died during Friday's practice in Vancouver when he lost control of his sled and slammed into a trackside steel pole at nearly 90 mph.

Kumaritashvili represented the Russian country of Georgia and was making just his sixth practice run.

Part of the appeal of the Olympics, particularly the Winter Games, is the spectacular speeds at which the athletes compete - leaving those who participate in such sports as luge, bobsledding and skiing at risk.

Luge, for those who may not be familiar, requires participants to ride a sled while lying flat on their backs on a lightning-fast course similar to water slides. Lugers wear helmets but are otherwise unprotected.

Svein Romstad, International Luge Federation President, felt the death was avoidable.

"A mistake appeared to take place," he said. "He made a mistake on the way down the track. That is something that every single athlete deals with in the sport. Unfortunately this one here, that small mistake had a fatal consequence."

Kumaritashvili's father, David, didn't agree. In a conversation shortly before his son's final run, David Kumaritashvili said his son feared the turn on which he ultimately died.

"My son was training since he was 14. He ran tracks in France, Austria and Canada, and he never suffered an injury," said Kumaritashvili, a former luge champion of the Soviet Union. "He has passed through all stages of the World Cup and made it to the Olympics. He couldn't have done that if he were an inexperienced athlete. Anyone can make mistake and break a leg or suffer some other injury. But to die!"

Kumaritashvili concluded, "They tested that track on my son."

The course has since been shortened by 98 meters to slow down the racers and make the event safer.

While we won't know if padding the steel beams would have saved Kumaritashvili, it's hard to believe the course, built for this Olympics at a cost of $110 million, was constructed without more protection.

After the crash, the poles were wrapped in padding.

We think they should have been wrapped in the first place.

When it comes to the pomp and circumstance of the Olympics, no money is spared. The Opening Ceremony alone cost $38 million, the most ever for the Winter Games.

The Olympic glitz ought to be replaced by more safety precautions.