Jackass Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 Not half as stupid as the misinterpretation of what I said. Geezomighty. My only point was a tragedy which occurred at the Olympics will put some degree of tarnish/damper on the whole thing. This was also the case in Munich. They are similar only in that way. Still going too fast? sorry, still a dumb analogy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted February 12, 2010 Share Posted February 12, 2010 The athletes should demand it be moved... maybe Lake Placid? Salt Lake is closer and has a more modern track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pig devilz Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 the vid may have been pulled from you-tube, but they just showed it on the CBS Evening News followed by stop action photos of him hitting the pole and then paramedics trying to resuscitate him.... :shakeshead: there is talk of shortening the run to cut down on the speeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddahj Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Wow...that was brutal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 If my back of the envelope calculation is correct, he hit the pole with the same force as he would have had if he had fallen off a 28-story building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 (edited) Clearly, this track is unsafe. If they let the events begin, it would be gross negligent something or other....endangerment? Maybe even manslaughter, if another athlete dies. The athletes should demand it be moved... maybe Lake Placid? As BudliteBrad put it so eloquently earlier, flying down an ice tube with a skate up your ass is incredibly dangerous in it's own right. I doubt they will cancel the event. Do they scrap NASCAR for the season after a fatality? ETA: It's an event I've always thought only insane people enter but seeing this video brings home the extreme speed and vulnerability of the contestants. Edited February 13, 2010 by Ursa Majoris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 If my back of the envelope calculation is correct, he hit the pole with the same force as he would have had if he had fallen off a 28-story building. Easy there Galileo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 If my back of the envelope calculation is correct, he hit the pole with the same force as he would have had if he had fallen off a 28-story building. All I know is that he went from moving VERY fast to "stopped." When you know the end result, the video is tremendously jarring. I don't have the proper word....the best I can come up with is "sad." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cunning Runt Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Ugly. Just tragic. I'm having this feeling that this Olympics could end up having many problems and go down in history as one of the worst ever. Not the competition, but all the other stuff. I hope I'm wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chavez Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I have to say that the opening ceremonies have been fairly compelling; remembering Calgary, the Canucks seem to have an idea of how to do this stuff right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 the Canucks seem to have an idea of how to do this stuff right. you spoke too soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 you spoke too soon I was thinking the missing link was a last-minute tribute to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I was thinking the missing link was a last-minute tribute to him. now THAT is a nice interpretation--Canada should pay you a sh|t-load of money (seriously) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I have to say that the opening ceremonies have been fairly compelling; remembering Calgary, the Canucks seem to have an idea of how to do this stuff right. Are you serious? I thought it was as boring as a hippie from the part of the country figuring out shoelaces. It was horrible. I feel bad for the luge guy. They really need a minimum requirement to race a course that difficult. Reminds me of the Jamaican bobsledders....they could've easily died with their experience and it wouldn't have been such a cute experiment letting anybody compete at that level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 I feel bad for the luge guy. They really need a minimum requirement to race a course that difficult. Reminds me of the Jamaican bobsledders....they could've easily died with their experience and it wouldn't have been such a cute experiment letting anybody compete at that level. He qualified and also was ranked 44 in the world. I don't see how he could be denied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 best out to his family Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilthorp Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Sorry, but comparing a luge accident to a terrorist massacre is one of the stupidest things I've ever read here. You think? What a moran that dude is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainHook Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Traveling down an icy tube at 90 mph with a skateboard strapped to your back is inherently dangerous. Complaining about it being "unsafe" is ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatman Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Traveling down an icy tube at 90 mph with a skateboard strapped to your back is inherently dangerous. Complaining about it being "unsafe" is ridiculous. I'd agree on the whole - "safe" is a relative term here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 (edited) Traveling down an icy tube at 90 mph with a skateboard strapped to your back is inherently dangerous. Complaining about it being "unsafe" is ridiculous. NFL football is dangerous, NFL players complaining about the "unsafe" practices with concussion injuries are a bunch of ridiculous wussies also. I don't think you or anyone else probably really knows if all practicable precautions were in place on the track. Edited February 13, 2010 by bushwacked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainHook Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 (edited) Once again, you are participating in a highly dangerous sport. Not all outcomes are "forseeable". Nobody else has flown off the track so far, have they? I just think those that thought that the track was unsafe, or that the luge should be canceled, are overreacting. It's the first luge death since 1975. As a precaution, they moved the starting point further down the chute. They increased the height of the wall on turn 16. It is a regrettable accident in a very risky sport. And to BeeR comparing this to what happened in Munich. Edited February 13, 2010 by CaptainHook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duchess Jack Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 this being the huddle - I thought that it was spelt 'Lugh' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Nobody else has flown off the track so far, have they? I don't think so, but there have been multiple crashes in the same place on the track. “The track is too fast,” Joseph Fendt, president of the World Luge Federation, told London’s Daily Telegraph. “We had planned it to be a maximum of 137 km/h but it is about 20km/h faster. “We think this is a planning mistake.” After she nearly lost control Thursday, Australia’s Hannah Campbell-Pegg said this to reporters: “I think they are pushing it a little too much. To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we’re crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives.” Before Kumaritashvili’s fatal crash, Italy’s Armin Zoeggeler, the defending Olympic champion, lost control in the first run Friday. It didn’t appear he was injured. But on Thursday, Violeta Stramaturaru of Romania was knocked unconscious and airlifted to a nearby medical facility because of a crash. In an interview with NBC, American luger Tony Benshoof said: “When I first got on this track, I thought that somebody was going to kill themselves.” One of the corners is ominously dubbed 50/50 because the first athletes who tested the course thought their chances of making it safely through the corner were about the same as a coin flip. Again, I think it's too soon to be making blanket statements either way; but insinuating no-one should be complaining about the course just struck me as kind of doltish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 And they are already altering the course. After much hand-wringing about how to proceed in the wake of the tragic training-run death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, a 21-year-old luge slider from the Republic of Georgia, luge officials decided to proceed with today's men's singles competition. But it will start from what formerly was the women's start, lower on the mountain. The net effect: A shorter course and slightly slower speeds. Women and luge doubles, which typically start lower, from what is now the men's start, will move their starts even lower on the mountain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 Well, they had to do something. Yes, the luge is a dangerous event, but this was by far the fastest track in the world, and as noted above, there were a lot of questions raised prior to this Olympics by lugers and luge coaches voicing their concerns over it's "safety". It was just too fast. As for the NASCAR comparison, they have always monitored track safety and the speed of the cars to keep the risk to drivers and spectators to an acceptable level. That doesn't mean there still isn't plenty of risk. Still, they have made a lot of changes to manage the risk factor. The downhill is a dangerous event, but they don't use slopes that go straight down, do they? They select slopes that keep a dangerous sport as safe as possible while remaining exciting to watch and allowing the best skiers to excell in a dangerous event. I think the lugers are a pretty fearless group. If so many had voiced their concerns about the track before the accident, maybe someone should have been listening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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