21 year old athlete killed in Vancouver

This morning, on a practice run on the luge in Whistler, Canada, a 21 year old Georgian athlete came off the track at 140km/h (a shave under 100 miles/h) and hit a metal pole. Despite efforts to resuscitate him, he died in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

I need to watch The Olympics more. I never knew this happened until now.

the olympics haven't started yet emgmod

Ouch. what a bad way to die. :X

Tyler wrote:the olympics haven't started yet emgmod

Which is why I need to pay attention to The Olympics more.

:shock:

I saw the video, (yes I looked it up...) the guy was flying I've never seen a luge track that fast, its obscene the guy was a blur on the track you didn't even see the crash all you saw was the guys legs lying out from behind the post he hit, it was just unbelievable that a sled could move at that speed and its no surprise that he was killed at the speed he was moving to just come to a complete stop.

They showed the video on CBS evening news.. they said he was going 88 mph.. you could see the accident better on that cuz it was a lot higher quality than a youtube video.

They just changed the track... Who watched the ceremony?

I feel sorry for him. You dream of participating at the Olympics and then die in the training

I did watch the ceremony. Had to wake up at 4 am, but it was good Some channels cut the last part, when the outside torch was lit

I watched it and loved it. It started at 1pm for us. A few weeks ago I watched the opening ceremony from Calgary '88 and it was... well... what's the most polite way to say "crap"?

But Vancouver was absolutely breathtaking. Canada has a lot to be proud of and now I'm waiting for the last few hours to tick down before the competition starts airing on Australian TV. The coverage starts at 6am for us, so I'm up super early.

It was touching that they dedicated the opening ceremony to the Georgian athlete. It took me a while to get my head around what a tragedy it was. One minute, you're training for your moment, looking forward to marching out into the stadium with your team mates, preparing for the competition you've worked so hard for and dreamt of for years, and then... in the blink of an eye... it's over. Everything is just over.

It is tragic, the IOC has announced that the track was not at fault, they will be making the wall by those poles taller, and 'changing the ice surface' what ever that means. I'm glad the events will not be canceled. Bobselding, luge and skeleton are my favorite events in the winter games.

On the note of the ceremonies, the indoor stadium idea was beautiful, worked well and i love the usage of the projection screens for visual effect. I loved the flags being projected on the crowd during the parade of nations (expecting to see those in upcoming simlympics)

more than 50% of all the medals won by Canada Team in Winter Olympics are won by Quebecers, so I'm proud of this! The ceremony weren't as good as the one in Athens I think, but they were special!




First medal! goes to a Swiss, Simon Ammann! It was on ski sault! 28 years old - 105 meters and 108 meters (2 saults) that he did to have the first place! Congratz!

That's just terrible, the guy dying. I feel sorry for his family.

Blakeway wrote: The ceremony weren't as good as the one in Athens I think, but they were special!
First medal! goes to a Swiss, Simon Ammann! It was on ski sault! 28 years old - 105 meters and 108 meters (2 saults) that he did to have the first place! Congratz!

Athens???? What about Torino, or Beijing? which both happened between those two. Maybe it's because I'm italian but I liked Torrino ceremonies better.
The ski jumping was interesting, they seemed to have trouble with the normal hill because they aren't used to it. My question though..... is there reason the landing area is covered in pine branches?

The best opening ceremony was definitely Sydney. No bias on my part.

yeah, to slow the riders when they land (think it's that)

I personally did not like the opening, found it dull and went on for ever. danspaceman I totally agree, Sydney made me want to be Australian I'm sure you where truly in awe by the rendering of the national anthem as I was.
As for my favorite winter ceremony, The remains to be Lillehammer.

Sydney and Vancouver both had the same director.

And, no - I wasn't in awe of our national anthem. I find our national anthem boring and dated. "Our home is girt by sea." WHO SAYS "GIRT"?

David Atkins did a great job in Sydney, Manchester, and Doha but I feel he missed the bar in Vancouver

And really? I thought it was the best rendition of an anthem at an opening ceremony

When you're forced to sing it on a weekly basis for 13 years at school, you'll think differently.

And I thought Manchester was one of the worst opening ceremonies of a Com Games I've ever seen. I didn't see Doha.

It's funny how the same guy was responsible for all of them and seemed to get some right and some very, very wrong. That being said, I liked Vancouver - but then, I've been itching for the games to start for months, so I probably would have liked it if the opening ceremony was this: