Tragedy in Luge

The 2010 Winter Olympics started on a tragic note, as Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed during his training run Friday morning as he was throw from the track and into a steel pillar.

The Whistler Sliding Centre, home of luge, bobsled and skeleton, is rightfully billed as the fastest track in the world. On Friday, the concerns that many in the sport had came to a devastating fruition. The 21 year old Kumaritashvili was one of the least experienced sliders in the field, but the training runs produced numerous crashes including men's luge gold medal favorite and two-time defending champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy. Training was immediately halted, and the International Luge Federation called an emergency meeting to discuss how to proceed with the men's competition beginning Saturday at 8:00pm EST.

In the last several Olympiads, the sliding sports have sought to limit the number of participants in the field to qualified athletes through World Cup competition. No longer are there bobsled teams from Jamaica, Mexico and the Netherlands Antillies. The athletes in these sports must be experienced, but there still remain athletes from nations without a great deal of a luge tradition.

The ILF has decided to go ahead with the competition on Saturday, although apparently the IOC is send a team to Whistler to investigate on their own.

For the future, each time a new track is constructed, especially for an Olympics, the maximum speed should be considered. Tracks should be challenging while limiting the needless dangers.

Athletes in these sports are well aware of the dangers and the possibility of crashing. John Morgan has been covering bobsled for American television since 1981 and is working his 8th Olympics. While a rookie broadcaster in 1981, covering the World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, John Morgan was calling the event for ABC's Wide World of Sports in a race in which his brother Jim was killed while competing for the United States. At the time, John Morgan, from a family of bobsledders, let it be known that his brothers death was an inherent risk of the sport.

From a competitive aspect, how will this tragedy impact the medal contenders? Which athletes will be willing to risk a crash of any sort, let alone a potentially devastating crash, to get to the bottom of the track as fast as they can?