Sad news out of Vancouver today while Y1 and I are in Canton covering the North Coast Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. The death of a Georgian luger in a practice run has certainly changed the feel of this year's Winter Olympics. With an extended take on the latest developments, here's Brother Yohey...
This dreadful occurance has caused me, and undoubtedly many others, to undergo some reflection and put things in perspective. Events such as the luge are what the Winter Olympics are known for; speed and sharp turns on surfaces that have no traction. The downhill ski events where the athletes are flying off or ramps and crashing down on the snow to take a sharp turn between the flags at speeds in excess of 70mph. The bobsled, luge and skeleton where athletes are either sitting in cubby as they fly down the track (bobsled) or they lie flat on a platform with skates that is no thicker than your average cookie sheet. Images of crashing athletes have been long known as the epitome of the agony of defeat. But, it's only supposed to stop at defeat, never is the danger actually supposed to take an athlete's life.
It is sad that it takes a sad event such as this to bring safety into the spotlight while humanizing the athletes we place on a mythical platform. This may be the equivalent of Dale Earnhardt's accident in NASCAR for the Olympics. I can't imagine they won't start to regulate these tracks for compliance. There have been concerns about this particular track for weeks leading up to the Olympiad in Vancouver. Several nations were even restricted from seeing the track and planning for races; the smaller nations only saw the track in the past few days. Unbeknownst to me and other Olympic athletes, full access was only granted to the Canadians in the lead up to the event. I would hope the Canadians would trade that competitive advantage now if it meant preventing the tragedy we've just seen. I realize that the Olympics are in Vancouver but officials should have opened the track to all competitors at a much earlier stage to ensure safety. Officials may start lowering the angle of the sides of the tracks to keep the "catapult" effect from happening like it did to Nodar.
As I watched about 3 minutes of the Opening Ceremony tonight I could not put the death past me. Something like that is going to be a dark cloud over the ceremonies, no matter how much pomp and circumstance was on display tonight. This was not the only crash during the week; it is reported that there were around 12 in practice runs. Something has to be done because at the speed lugers and other athletes are reaching and with little protection they have, the tragedy that befell the Georgian Kumaritashvili may become the norm rather than the exception.
1 comment:
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it
Post a Comment