Olympics Committee blames Kumaritashvili for crash, video cycles heavily in evening news

In what seems like an extraordinarily fast investigation, Olympics officials have indicated that 21-year-old luger Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death resulted from his loss of “control” over the sled and not, as has been suggested, the presence of massive steel poles flanking the track without a cover of plexiglass.

Granted, the extent of my expertise on the subject of luging stems from hours spent playing Winter Games on Commodore 64. But as Business Insider points out, Kumaritashvili’s death resulted from allegedly losing control of the sled in less than half a second and not “over a period of months,” which is strange juxtaposed with the officials’ use of the word “eventually.” In a statement, officials said:

It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16. This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident. The technical officials of the FIL were able to retrace the path of the athlete and concluded there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.

Calling the incident an “extremely exceptional accident,” the joint statement indicates that fundamental changes have been made in the track’s ice profile and by adding a wall. Georgia’s sport director has spoken out in defense of Kumaritashvili’s skills following the committee’s findings:

“The insinuation and speculation about his experience seems unfair and misleading,” Nikoloz Rurua said. “He was young, very promising. He was qualified, a hard worker. He was from a place in Georgia (Borjomi-Bakuriani) with a long history in winter sports.”

Rurua pointed out that other lugers had similar problems with the course, and that Kumaritashvili had limited opportunity to train on the site – despite the fact that the Georgian team had been in Canada for a month.

“There were some questions asked by other athletes, even before this accident,” Rurua said.

In the wake of the accident, international curiosity in seeing the deadly incident unfold has not waned. While video was initially pulled by the IOC pending the formal notification to the athlete’s family, the footage has subsequently been deemed newsworthy and footage of the event is readily available.

In our post yesterday on Kumaritashvili’s death, I included video that was pulled in the hours following the crash. Although it was horrifying to watch, it was indeed newsworthy and by extension, not my place to include or exclude based on personal sensibilities. However, seeing it replayed on primetime news with my children in the room repeatedly was surprisingly unnerving and very strange. It seems the most raw and shocking imagery is no longer the domain of the internet, and content that used to be associated with sites like Ogrish.com and Rotten.com are now not out of place on daytime television.

I have re-included the video below, but even on a subsequent viewing, it’s no less sickening, horrifying and tragic.