Death of a Georgian Luger

A Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili died in an accident hours before the official start of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. 

The athlete, who was traveling almost 90 mph, lost control of his sled as he traveled down track, went over a wall, and crashed into a metal support beam.  The Vancouver Olympics would have been Kumaritshvili’s first Olympic competition.

Kumaritashvili was unconscious after the impact and was airlifted to a Whistler hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The 21-year-old’s accident happened at the fastest part of the track that had a steep decline of almost 500 feet, labeling it the world’s longest luge drop.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Kumaritashvili spoke with his father before accident and explained to him that he was scared of the track.

After the luger’s death, the starting location of the track was lowered and padding was added to the metal support beams that caused Kumaritashvili’s death.