CANADA: WINTER OLYMPICS VANCOUVER 2010 - Olympic Luge course designer says track is safe

Record ID: 231030

  • Title: CANADA: WINTER OLYMPICS VANCOUVER 2010 - Olympic Luge course designer says track is safe
  • Date: 15th February 2010
  • Summary: COMPUTER TAKING VIEWER AROUND THE LUGE COURSE CURSOR SHOWING CURVE WHERE ACCIDENT HAPPENED
  • Embargoed: 2nd March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Canada
  • Country: Canada
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA1OO242QSGRLPE8BVQ084NCOU7
  • Story Text: The German designer of the winter Olympic luge track said on Saturday (February 13) he was saddened by the accident that cost a 21-year-old Georgian athlete his life.
    Udo Gurgel, who has designed six Olympic courses, said the track walls may have to be raised but he believed Nodar Kumaritashvili's accident was an exceptional tragedy. Speaking from Leipzig where he is based, the 71-year-old designer said he believes the track is safe.
    "In the first moment one of course asks oneself, what went wrong? But after letting it sink in for one or two hours and thinking over the whole project in my head, then you realise that we worked with great care and that we didn't make the decisions alone," he said.
    Olympic luge tracks are subjected to advice by international bodies and Gurgel said the Whistler track, which is the fastest in the world, had been approved more than once by the two world-wide sport federations and the operator of the site throughout its construction.
    The 2010 Luge course is about 4,115 metres for the men's race with a vertical drop of about 151 metres and includes 16 turns.
    Safety precautions include the track curving upwards towards the end to start reducing the slider's speed. The track is designed so that the racer enters the course at 144 kph and slides out at 120 kph.
    Despite the high speeds, Gurgel says the accident rate per 1000 runs is under 5 percent.
    It is still not clear what exactly caused Kumaritashvili to crash, but driver error is suspected.
    "It looks like it was a driver error and the people onsite said it was a driver error. It seems to be a result of the sport itself," Gurgel said.
    There have been 5,000 runs at Whistler without incident so far.
    Kumaritashvili is reported to have been sliding at 145 kph coming out of the final turning in training Friday (February 12) for the Vancouver Games.
    "Speeds are increasing," Gurgel said, about the trend towards building ever-faster sled runs.
    "It's a new allure and a new technical aspect and level of difficulty. What is sure is that with this track the (speed) barrier has been reached and one shouldn't push it any further in this direction because it doesn't make any sense for the development of the sport," he added.
    Gurgel said it was impossible to tell if the accident could have been avoided, referring to the precise way the Georgian athlete's body was thrown as terrible luck. Had he missed the metal post, Gurgel said, the 21-year-old might have walked away with minor injuries.
    Organisers shortened the track for safety on Saturday as the fatal accident threw the design of future luge courses into question.
    The Olympic men's luge competition at the Whistler Sliding Centre was running from the lower women's start as an added precaution.
    Gurgel says a decision had already been made in 2008 that tracks had to be designed differently and to move away from pure speed.
    "The track for the next Olympic Games in Sochi will have a completely new character. It will be more defined by technical difficulties and lower speeds. It will still be a very interesting track," Gurgel said.
    Luge organisers in Vancouver also raised the walls at the course's curve 16 exit where the first-time Olympian died and changed the ice profile as preventative measures, despite concluding there was no indication the accident was caused by a deficiency in the track.
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