Nodar Kumaritashvili

Kumaritashvili was born on 25 November 1988, in Borjomi, Georgian SSR, present-day Georgia, to David and Dodo Kumaritashvili. He had one sister, Mariam, who was four years younger. Kumaritashvili's family had a long association with luge. His grandfather Aleko Kumaritashvili introduced luge to Georgia after first training for it in East Germany. Aleko helped build a primitive luge run in Bakuriani in 1970; a more finished track, funded by the Soviet authorities, was built in 1973. Kumaritashvili's uncle and coach, Felix Kumaritashvili, served as the head of the Georgian Luge Federation. His father David won a USSR Youth Championship when Georgia was part of the Soviet Union, and he was a three-time champion at the Spartakiad: once in two-man bobsleigh and twice in luge. Kumaritashvili's cousin, Saba Kumaritashvili, later competed in luge at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Kumaritashvili grew up in nearby Bakuriani, which is known for its many ski slopes. He enjoyed several winter sports and started luge when he was 13 years old. While attending the Georgian Technical University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in 2009, Kumaritashvili maintained a rigorous training and competition schedule. Though his family endured economic hardship, Kumaritashvili attended as many luge events as he could, often driving for days to reach World Cup events. As a devout member of the Georgian Orthodox Church, he prayed at church before every competition. He finished 28th out of 32 competitors at the 2009–10 Luge World Cup event at Cesana Pariol in January, which was his fifth and last World Cup event. At the time of his death, he was ranked 44th out of 65 competitors in the 2009–10 World Cup season and was regarded as one of the best lugers to come from Georgia. By 31 December 2009, the cut-off date for luge qualifications for the Olympics, Kumaritashvili was ranked 38th overall. He qualified for the luge men's singles event at the 2010 Winter Olympics, his Olympic debut, by racing in five World Cup races over two years. == Olympic luge track ==

The venue for the Olympic luge competition, the Whistler Sliding Centre, was designed by Udo Gurgel and his firm, Ingenieurburo Gurgel (IBG) of Leipzig. Using the specified track dimensions for a variety of sled entrance and exit trajectories, IBG calculated the predicted speeds and G forces an athlete would experience in each curve of the track. After a series of studies and track realignments, the final design was produced on 23 October 2004. Although a top speed was not requested for the design, IBG indicated that it was in the nature of sliding sports to have a faster track than the one before. However, the new curve configurations were expected to provide the main challenge, not the speed alone. The maximum calculated speed for men's luge was . In February 2005, concerns arose regarding the difficulties posed by Cesana Pariol, the track built for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Several serious crashes occurred, prompting calls for physical modifications to that track. The International Luge Federation (FIL) was concerned that similar modifications might be required at the Whistler track and communicated these concerns to the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) in March 2005. Uncertainty about the track design persisted into 2006 until the scheduled start of track construction, when it was determined that construction would be based on the original design. The letter also said that "overstepping this limit would be an absolute unreasonable demand for the athletes." He asked IBG to respond, in particular with regard to the future Sochi Olympic track. Fendt also informed VANOC that the Whistler track was not supplied as ordered. VANOC, however, concluded that no action was required regarding the Whistler track, since the focus of Fendt's letter to IBG was the new Sochi track. In April 2009, IBG explained that the differences between the calculated and actual observed speeds were caused by new sled technology that reduced drag coefficients and ice friction coefficients. Because of the secrecy inherent in sled development, the IBG engineers had difficulty obtaining the latest sled specifications required for their engineering calculations. In the view of the Games organizers, the high speeds and technical challenges could be safely mitigated by imposing additional practice and graduated training requirements on the athletes. == Fatal accident ==

look down the track as sliders pass the point where Kumaritashvili crashed. On 12 February 2010, after 25 previous attempts, 15 of them from the men's start, Kumaritashvili was fatally injured in a crash during his final training run, after losing control in the last turn of the course. He was thrown off his luge and over the sidewall of the track, striking an unpadded steel support pole at the end of the run. He was travelling at at the moment of impact. Medics were at Kumaritashvili's side immediately after the crash. Both cardio-pulmonary and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation were performed. It was luge's first fatality since 10 December 1975, when Italian luger Luigi Craffonara had been killed. Kumaritashvili became the fourth athlete to die during preparations for a Winter Olympics, after British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki and Australian skier Ross Milne (both 1964 Innsbruck), and Swiss speed skier Nicolas Bochatay (1992 Albertville). He was also the sixteenth participating athlete to die during the course of the Olympic Games, including practice at the Olympic venue before the opening ceremony. Mourning After footage of Kumaritashvili's death was televised, there was shock and mourning in Georgia. At the opening ceremony, only hours after Kumaritashvili was killed, the seven remaining members of the Georgian Olympic team wore black armbands, bore the Georgian flag with a black ribbon tied to it, and left a space vacant in the procession, as marks of respect. Upon entering BC Place Stadium, the Georgian team was greeted with a standing ovation from the assembled crowd. The team left the stadium immediately after the procession. Fellow teammate and luger Levan Gureshidze, who was to compete with Kumaritashvili, withdrew after the crash, telling teammates that he "couldn't go on", and went home to attend the funeral. The lugers who stayed to compete all wore a black stripe on their helmets in honour of Kumaritashvili. In Bakuriani, the street of Kumaritashvili's childhood home was renamed in his honour. Felix Loch of Germany, who won the gold medal in luge at the Vancouver Olympics, had his medal melted down and refashioned into two disks, giving one, etched with an image of Kumaritashvili and the years of his birth and death, to Kumaritashvili's parents. The tragedy remained hard on them; twice in the years afterwards, Dodo, who continued to fix a meal for Kumaritashvili every day, attempted suicide, while David dealt with severe health problems resulting in multiple hospital stays. but as a preventive measure the walls at the exit of curve16 were raised, and the ice profile was adjusted. Padding was also added to exposed metal beams near the finish line. Olympic officials claimed the changes were "not for safety reasons but to accommodate the emotional state of the lugers." Training runs on the track resumed on 13 February, after the changes to the track were finished. Three lugers, including the departed Gureshidze, did not participate in any training runs on that day. The report found that the sled used by Kumaritashvili had met all FIL standards. It attributed the accident to "driving errors starting in curve 15/16 which as an accumulation ended in the impact that resulted in him leaving the track and subsequently hitting a post... This is a tragic result that should not have occurred as a result of an initial driving error." As the sled hit the wall at the curve-16 exit, it catapulted off the track, causing Kumaritashvili to lose control of it entirely. This was a type of accident not seen before, and therefore "[w]ith the unknown and unpredictable dynamics of this crash, the calculation and construction of the walls in that section of the track did not serve to prevent the tragedy that happened." However, the report also determined that during the homologation process and later sessions at the Whistler Sliding Centre, the track was faster than originally calculated. Instead of the expected , the highest speed recorded was . The FIL felt that luge athletes were able to cope with this speed, but "this was not a direction the FIL would like to see the sport head [in]." FIL President Fendt wrote to the Sochi 2014 Olympic Organizing Committee that the FIL would homologate the proposed Sochi track only if speeds did not exceed . The FIL also said it was "determined" to do what it could to prevent such accidents from occurring again. It would re-examine changes to the sport, sled design, and track technology. FIL Secretary General Svein Romstad summarized: "What happened to Nodar has been an unforeseeable fatal accident." In a report dated 16 September 2010, the coroner ruled Kumaritashvili's death an accident brought on by an "interaction of factors," including the high speed of the track, its technical difficulty, and the athlete's relative unfamiliarity with the track. He wrote that during Kumaritashvili's training runs, it was reasonable to assume that "Mr.Kumaritashvili was sliding faster than ever before in his life, and was attempting to go even faster, while simultaneously struggling to learn the intricacies of the track and the dynamics it created." Mont Hubbard report In 2013, Mont Hubbard, a University of California, Davis, mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, issued a report claiming that Kumaritashvili's crash was probably caused by a "fillet," a joint between the lower edge of the curve and a vertical wall. Hubbard suggested that the right runner of Kumaritashvili's sled rose up the fillet, launching him into the air. The luge track built for use at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, was designed with two uphill sections to reduce speeds, and for runs about slower than the Whistler track. == See also ==