Actual Footage




The crash happened on curve 16, known as Thunderbird, where sliders experience a G-force of 5½ — more than a Formula One driver. Kumaritashvili came up too high, banged down into the inside wall and was then flicked into a metal beam holding up the roof. He had also crashed in a similar spot during the first training run on Thursday, along with a handful of other athletes.

Joseph Fendt, the president of the World Luge Federation, said: “The track is too fast. We had planned it to be a maximum of 137 kmh (85mph) but it is about 20kmh faster. We think this is a planning mistake.”

Training was immediately cancelled and the opening luge event for later on Saturday is in doubt.

Kumaritashvili’s death came shortly after two-time Olympic gold medalist Armin Zoegller, of Italy, crashed higher up on the course. He slid for 200 metres but was unhurt.

Australian women’s luge competitor Hannah Campbell-Pegg said two days ago that the lugers were being treated as crash test dummies down a dangerous course.

American slider Tony Benshoof said the physics of the curves meant there was virtually no margin for error.

“On the first run, I had some problems in the lower portion of the track. Because of the physics of the curves, and going at 95 miles per hour, there’s a really small margin for error. You really need to get it right from curve nine to get as far as curve 13, because once you get to curve 11 and 12, you’re going too fast to correct yourself.”

The IOC moved quickly to remove footage of the training incident, preventing access to it on the official broadcast channel and YouTube.

The death is the fifth that has occurred at the Winter Olympic Games — all of them happening during training — and the first since 1992 in Albertville when an athlete died during a demonstration sport of speed skiing.

- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...-accident.html

They showed the actual video of the incident on Canadian station CTV not sure if it is gonna show it in any other country.

saw it live. so fucked... rip