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Feb
Luge Politics Turn Deadly
On the fastest luge track ever, things have turned deadly. Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili from Republic of Georgia was killed today in a luge crash. This is certainly sad and something that many athletes face each time they perform their sport, although most of the time it is a very small risk. However, once you read some of the details, this possibly could have been prevented.
The number of practice runs on this track has been very limited, in comparison to luge tracks in the past.
Not only are speeds a concern, but the number of runs athletes have taken on the high-speed track have been a source of contention. It takes time to figure out a new track, and the more runs an athlete has, the more comfortable the athlete feels.
The speed of the track has been an issue since it was tested in 2007. In December 2008, Fendt said the high speeds at Whistler are “not in the interest of our International Luge Federation and it makes me worry.”
At the 2006 Torino Games, Benshoof reached 86.5 mph. On Thursday, Austria’s Manuel Pfister hit 95.69 mph during training, which is unofficially the fastest speed at the track.
There has been only one World Cup luge event — in February 2009 — at the Whistler Sliding Centre and pre-Olympic training sessions have been limited for international athletes: testing in December 2007, December 2008 and November 2009.
The Park City, Utah, sliding track used for the 2002 Olympicsopened in 1997, giving athletes additional time to learn the track.
Canada, it turns out, is playing politics with their luge track. (Although, it is not limited to just Canada). They gave Russia more practice runs on this track – the fastest ever – and denied more runs to other teams, particularly the United States.
Canadian officials denied extra training runs to U.S. lugers but gave extra track time to Russian lugers in exchange for extra runs at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Walden estimated he has had about 50 runs on the track while Canadians might be closer to 500.
The USA gave extra luge track time to the Canadians before theSalt Lake City Games with the expectation that the USA would get extra track time the next time the Olympics were held in Canada.
Rossi says the Canadians reneged on the deal; the Canadians say a change in leadership prompted them to take a different direction.
This is crazy. These kind of shenanigans need to end. All countries should be given track time if they so desire, and the track needs to host other events in the years leading up to the Olympics. At these kind of speeds, intentionally limiting athletes’ practice runs is wrong, dangerous, and deadly.
