Track concern for VANOC before luger death
Posted February 7, 2011 2:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — Almost a year before the death of a Georgian luger on the opening day of the 2010 Olympics, internal emails reveal there were concerns about the possibility of a serious accident at the Whistler, B.C. sliding centre.
The March 2009 emails between Vancouver Olympic Committee CEO John Furlong and other senior members of the VANOC team discussed possible problems on the track.
They were released Monday by Vancouver Olympic Committee spokeswoman Renee Smith Valade and are in response to a letter from the International Luge Federation letter to the track’s German designer.
The letter raises concerns about blistering practice times on the track but because it was written to ensure the luge track at the 2014 Olympic venue in Sochi, Russia, is not designed the same way, Vancouver officials noted the contents but ruled out any action.
But when Furlong is included in the loop, he suggests VANOC’s legal department review the details, saying the luge federation has offered what he calls a “cryptic” alert that the track is too fast and if an athlete were “badly injured or worse” the case could be made that VANOC was “warned and did nothing.”
Eleven months later, 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili died instantly when he flew off the track at high speed.
