Winter Olympics Thread...aka 2010-2011 FIS thread

[Patler]

video of it

http://www.buzzfeed.com/akdobbins/nodar-kumaritashvili-luge-crash

that is absolutely fucking unbelievable stupid having all those pillars there

what the hell were they thinking

sounds like the whole event might be canceled do to the track being so unsafe

God-almighty! Presumably the Olympics, the international luge racing body and others would have approved it, too.

When I heard the story I thought, "What bad luck. He goes out of the track and hits a lonely steel pole standing there!" But, there appear to be so many pillars that IF you went out of the track it would be almost impossible to not hit a pillar.

[Scott Campbell]

"I think they are pushing it a little too much," Australia's Hannah Campbell-Pegg said Thursday night after she nearly lost control in training. "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."

[HarveyWallbangers]

I read somewhere that the luge track was roughly a mile long and in that mile there was the equivalent of a 48 story drop. Crazy!

[red]

I read somewhere that the luge track was roughly a mile long and in that mile there was the equivalent of a 48 story drop. Crazy!

up until this track was built the world speed record for a luge was like 89 mph. sounds like people are doing over 90 on a regular basis at this track, and one guy hit 95 or 95. the guy that died was going just under 89 in that curve

i think at the very least they need to put plexi glass walls (like for a hockey rink) along that last stretch with all the beams

[red]

what happens if you lose control in this turn? you get impaled by a freaking light

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/In-light-of-luger-s-death-IOC-should-cancel-eve;_ylt=ArfgtW3ChMKxzI7q6qN0C0gpsrV_?urn=oly,219393

[Joemailman]

I didn't want to watch the video, but this picture pretty much says it all. Who designed this?

[Scott Campbell]

Who designed this?

A Canadian.

They should stick to curling.

[red]

why are the beams even there, what are they holding up?

[Freak Out]

I read somewhere that the luge track was roughly a mile long and in that mile there was the equivalent of a 48 story drop. Crazy!

up until this track was built the world speed record for a luge was like 89 mph. sounds like people are doing over 90 on a regular basis at this track, and one guy hit 95 or 95. the guy that died was going just under 89 in that curve

i think at the very least they need to put plexi glass walls (like for a hockey rink) along that last stretch with all the beams

Pretty sad stuff.
The tracks are "supposed" to be designed so racers cannot come out even at full speed. Obviously they fucked that up. It is just as obvious that there is inherent danger in any sport where you ride down a track on your back at 90 MPH.

[MJZiggy]

It's hard to even begin to know what to say. How are the rest of the athletes supposed to compete there knowing how dangerous it is. The Georgian is not the only accident there this week.

[red]

road trip

who wants to go to vancouver with me?

my goal is to lay any one of the swedish female athletes. preferably the one hot blond they kept showing......

and her friend

[MJZiggy]

Good to aim high!

[Freak Out]

road trip

who wants to go to vancouver with me?

my goal is to lay any one of the swedish female athletes. preferably the one hot blond they kept showing......

and her friend

I'll meet you in Seattle and we"ll roll North if that's cool.

[channtheman]

Track held Blameless

http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/story/olympic-luge-probe-completed-021310

[digitaldean]

The Canadian approach of limiting outsiders access is coming to bite them. Input on the facility from outside competitors may have helped point out hazards like this.

I know they wanted to give themselves a homefield advantage to get more medals, but it's beyond childish, and creeps into negligence for the competitors' safety.