Olympic athlete dies after luge crash

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An Olympic athlete from Georgia tragically died after crashing his sled on a notoriously fast luge track, raising serious concerns about track safety. Witnesses noted that the athlete flew off the track and collided with an unpadded steel post, prompting discussions about the need for better safety measures. Many participants expressed that the track design was excessively dangerous, with some athletes reporting prior accidents during training. Despite the International Luge Federation attributing the crash to human error, there is widespread belief that the track's design flaws contributed to the incident. The debate centers on whether the track should be modified to prevent such accidents, with suggestions for barriers or padding to protect athletes. The incident has sparked a broader conversation about the inherent risks of extreme sports and the balance between safety and the thrill of competition.
  • #31
97 mph + ice = me shuddering to think about being on that thing. Holy-moly that's nuts.

It's literally equivalent to crashing a motorcycle into a telephone pole.
 
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  • #32
So the conclusion in the report by luge officials is that the luger made a mistake which caused the crash. Therefore no major changes are being made to the track, but they are raising the wall and changing the ice profile (whatever that means). Here's the article, but it doesn't link the full report.
http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/story/olympic-luge-probe-completed-021310

It seems to me that these statements miss the entire point of the issue being discussed in this thread:

1. Of course accidents are the fault of the lugers: there is always a mistake that leads to a crash. But...
2. The faster and more difficult the course, the more likely accidents will be. In essence, they raised the skill level required to successfully navigate the course above the level of the olympic athletes! And most importantly...
3. Losing control and falling off his sled isn't what killed him: the unpadded steel column that he flew off the track and hit after he lost control is what killed him. Though they are raising the wall, they apparently didn't comment on the simple fact that the track had a design flaw that made it possible to leave the track and hit an unpadded steel colum. Because, simply put, it should be completely impossible for a luger to leave the track. Forget padding the column - there shouldn't be any chance of a luger hitting it.
 
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  • #33
Concerns about the lightning-fast course had been raised for months. There were worries that the $100 million-plus venue was too technically difficult1, and a lack of significant practice time by everyone but the host nation’s sliders would result in a rash of accidents.2

But the International Luge Federation and Vancouver Olympic officials said their investigation showed that the crash was the result of human error and that “there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.”3
-Yahoo! News

Here's my 2 cents on it...

1) Too technical?? These are supposed to be the top athletes in the world. Did they want an easy course? Or just to breeze through it? I thought the olympics were supposed to challenging, therefore EARNING the right of the title of the best in the world. They chose this sport, and strived to be the best in it. Take the course as a challenge and do everything to the best of your ability.

2) That's entirely and completely understandable. Considering it's an extremely difficult course, they should have a lot more time to practice on it.

3) I don't know if any of you read the other article about this on Yahoo!, but he had a few crashes before that run, so I don't understand why it wasn't assumed to be human error in the first place. Not to mention the luge is a dangerous sport to begin with. The only problem I have with this is that everyone went after the track... I'm pretty sure if the pole that this guy hit was that close to the track (however covered by the track it may have looked), it should have been padded. That may very well have been the difference between him living and losing his life.
 
  • #34
russ_watters said:
3. Losing control and falling off his sled isn't what killed him: the unpadded steel column that he flew off the track and hit after he lost control is what killed him.
Unpadded? At those speeds, I wondering how much padding it would take to keep someone from getting injured. Besides, they at least are admitting there was a problem with the track.
 
  • #35
dlgoff said:
Unpadded? At those speeds, I wondering how much padding it would take to keep someone from getting injured.
It may well be that no amount of padding would have saved him*. But that's why I said he shouldn't have even been allowed to leave the track.
Besides, they at least are admitting there was a problem with the track.
No, they explicitly stated just the opposite: "there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track."

*[edit]Ehh, I'm not so sure that's true. I mean heck, in motorsports, the "padding" on the walls will stop a car from 200mph without injuring a driver. If the padding has to be two feet thick to do it, I bet it is possible. Still, that's a secondary point. The main point is that lugers should not be allowed to leave the track.
 
  • #36
Nah, padding the pole wouldn't have saved him at all. These aren't race cars that are desgined to take high speed impacts against anything.

Sure he shouldn't have flown off the track but I think it is CLEAR that it was his own mistake that CAUSED him to go flying off the track. In any sport you can have a big enough mistake to cause the most random, unexpected accidents, how's that the tracks fault?
 
  • #37
russ_watters said:
Because, simply put, it should be completely impossible for a luger to leave the track. Forget padding the column - there shouldn't be any chance of a luger hitting it.


Yep my thoughts exactly.
 
  • #38
Such a sad turn of events. I feel so very sorry for his family and team.
 
  • #39
We use Air Fences at many sportbike races. I think they are about 6-8 feet deep when inflated.

I also agree that preventing leaving the track should be a primary track design goal.
 
  • #40
berkeman said:
I also agree that preventing leaving the track should be a primary track design goal.

Absolutely.

In the case of the pole I don't think there is any amount of padding that would keep you uninjured if you're hitting it at >80mph. Non-injury should be the main goal, but failing that, the least amount of injury possible should be second. He didn't need to be uninjured, he just needed to be less injured, and that is what I personally meant, to increase the chance of saving his life.
 
  • #41
zomgwtf said:
Sure he shouldn't have flown off the track but I think it is CLEAR that it was his own mistake that CAUSED him to go flying off the track. In any sport you can have a big enough mistake to cause the most random, unexpected accidents, how's that the tracks fault?

This is why there are guardrails on the freeway. It doesn't matter who or what is at fault - these things are there to save lives. Now that the Olympic officials know that there is a potential problem there, IMHO it would be criminal for them to not rectify the situation.
 
  • #42
You think that if guardrails were positioned around a steel pole and you drove into one without using breaks driving say a motorcycle that you were strapped into that it will save your life?

Luge sleds are NOT cars.
 
  • #43
Plexiglass would have been enough to save him. At the angle he would have hit a plexiglass extension running up from the side of the track, he'd be very unlikely to break through it and he would have stayed on the track. The damage comes in hitting an obstacle full on instead of at an angle.
 
  • #44
zomgwtf said:
You think that if guardrails were positioned around a steel pole and you drove into one without using breaks driving say a motorcycle that you were strapped into that it will save your life?

Luge sleds are NOT cars.

No. I gave an engineering example that is specific to cars. I did not imply that the same solution (freeway guardrails) should be used on a luge track. As I and others have stated, there are engineering solutions that would have kept him from leaving the track.
 
  • #45
BobG said:
Plexiglass would have been enough to save him. At the angle he would have hit a plexiglass extension running up from the side of the track, he'd be very unlikely to break through it and he would have stayed on the track. The damage comes in hitting an obstacle full on instead of at an angle.

Plexiglass with small holes is much better than mesh.
 
  • #46
I am very surprised that they are declaring the track to be okay. They had better hope nothing else happens. If someone else dies or is seriously injured because they fly off of the track, there may well be criminal charges filed.

It seems to me that even a simple overhang could prevent such accidents.
 
  • #47
I'm watching NBC right now and they have put up a wall in that area. Good. They also reduced the men's starting point down to the women's starting point.
 
  • #48
Borg said:
I'm watching NBC right now and they have put up a wall in that area. Good. They also reduced the men's starting point down to the women's starting point.
"There's nothing wrong with the track, but we're fixing it."

I hope that they've fixed it enough.
 
  • #49
Evo said:
"There's nothing wrong with the track, but we're fixing it."

I hope that they've fixed it enough.

:smile: My thoughts exactly. I only got a quick look at it but it is reinforced plywood positioned directly at the edge of the track. It appeared to run the length of that entire area but, I didn't see what the other side of the chute looked like.
 
  • #50
Evo said:
"There's nothing wrong with the track, but we're fixing it."

I hope that they've fixed it enough.

There ISN'T anything wrong with the track, the problem comes from the RACERS. For instance if we compare this again to racing cars there is nothing WRONG with the tracks, the safety mechanisms are in place because of DRIVER error, not TRACK error. That includes, going too fast, not paying attention, making mistakes while racing, trying stupid moves... etc. the list goes on.
 
  • #51
There has to be a balance between progression and safety. The layout of the track is fine, it is challenging to the mind and the body. But what isn't right about this track, is that the safety is lacking. There should be a way to prevent lugers from leaving the track, and have all hazards properly protected, or moved far enough away as to not be a problem.

Of course this is easy to say after the fact.
 
  • #52
BobG said:
Plexiglass would have been enough to save him. At the angle he would have hit a plexiglass extension running up from the side of the track, he'd be very unlikely to break through it and he would have stayed on the track. The damage comes in hitting an obstacle full on instead of at an angle.
Exactly. A high lexan barrier angled back down onto the track would have fed him back onto the course. He might have gotten bruised up, but the sliders know how to act when they're sliding on the course without their sled. I heard a bit earlier that the officials are moving the start for men's luge farther down the course.
 
  • #53
zomgwtf said:
There ISN'T anything wrong with the track, the problem comes from the RACERS. For instance if we compare this again to racing cars there is nothing WRONG with the tracks, the safety mechanisms are in place because of DRIVER error, not TRACK error. That includes, going too fast, not paying attention, making mistakes while racing, trying stupid moves... etc. the list goes on.
You're making the same mistake in logic that luge officials are: that if a luger makes a mistake that everything that happens after is his fault. That just plain isn't true. The fact that the luger made a mistake does not mean the track design isn't flawed. These things are not mutually exlcusive.

The logic you use would also imply seatbelts and airbags aren't needed in cars. After all, these safety features have nothing whatsoever to do with causing/preventing accidents. Speaking as an engineer, that logic just plain doesn't fly. It is a design requirement to build-in safety features that anticipate all likely crash scenarios.

Heck, consider another hypothetical: what if the sled had broken due to the speed? That would change nothing about the discussion we are having (though we'd have an additional discussion about the equipment safety): the track would still be considered to be flawed.

...[edit]:
...the safety mechanisms are in place because of DRIVER error, not TRACK error.
Maybe you're just splitting hairs here, saying that the surface of the track is "the track". These "safety mechanisms" such as walls above the racing surface are part of the track. A track that does not include generous safety features - just like a car or a road that doesn't include safety features - is a flawed design.
 
  • #54
"The program crashed."
"Why?"
"I put a letter in the quantity field."
"Ah, user error. Nothing to worry about."
 
  • #55
zomgwtf said:
There ISN'T anything wrong with the track, the problem comes from the RACERS. For instance if we compare this again to racing cars there is nothing WRONG with the tracks, the safety mechanisms are in place because of DRIVER error, not TRACK error. That includes, going too fast, not paying attention, making mistakes while racing, trying stupid moves... etc. the list goes on.

The entire point in competition is to push the limits. The racers are supposed to go as fast as they possibly can. Your comments are at odds with the very nature of the competition. It should not be possible to make a mistake, fly off of the track, and hit a solid post. This is a sports competition, not a war or survival contest. No one is supposed to die. It is the job of the track engineers to make sure that this sort of thing cannot happen.
 
  • #57
There doesn't appear to be any barrier, it's completely exposed to those pillars all along that turn. That's outrageous.
 
  • #58
They fixed the turn now, just saw it on NBC. the whole section is basically the same idea that was proposed here, only a plywood wall with a slick surface.
 
  • #59
MotoH said:
They fixed the turn now, just saw it on NBC. the whole section is basically the same idea that was proposed here, only a plywood wall with a slick surface.
So, a body traveling at ~90mph thrown at a piece of plywood. How well will that work?
 
  • #60
Wow, that accident was not only preventable but predictable. Shame on the designers of that track.
 

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