Posted on 02/18/2010 7:37:58 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
WHISTLER, British Columbia — An Olympic luge athlete injured in a crash at the Whistler Sliding Centre in November warned Canadian officials about safety hazards at the track months before a competitor was killed last week at the Vancouver Games in an accident on the same course.
Werner Hoeger, who competed in the Turin and Salt Lake Games for Venezuela, said he lost consciousness and sustained a concussion during a training run on Nov. 13 after his sled caromed off...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I still want to know why they didn’t have a lexan barrier up on that curve. People crash in that sport. If you can keep them from going from 90mph to 0 in two inches, they’ll survive.
A simple lexan shield, 4 feet high or so, on each side of the track (designed to keep the athlete IN the track and thus slowing down gradually) would have saved that young man’s life.
I like how some of the officials palmed-off the accident as “caused by his errors and not by “deficiencies in the track…”
Oh, I see not the ridiculous liability trap of an indoor track that had pillars every 10 – 15 feet, so I guess they really did not need to put up bumper guards on the pillars after the accident. So, what happened to an open track whereby if someone went off or into the berm they were able to walk away?
Good article. Thanks for the link.
The video of the accident is extremely short and violent. It was just stupid stupid stupid not to have the metal braces covered. Just plain stupid.
The video of the accident is extremely short and violent. It was just stupid stupid stupid not to have the metal braces covered. Just plain stupid
padding them would have done no good at all.....their should have been a barrier, lexan, chain link or anything that would have kept him on the track.....I found ir unbelieveable that he could have hit those pillare....pathetic
The video of the accident is extremely short and violent. It was just stupid stupid stupid not to have the metal braces covered. Just plain stupid
padding them would have done no good at all.....there should have been a barrier, lexan, chain link or anything that would have kept him on the track.....I found ir unbelieveable that he could have hit those pillare....pathetic
Padding on those beams is like erecting a foot-high barrier to try to stop a 20-foot tidal wave.
dont whats dumber, paddin the beams, ridin the dang tube or actually standin in the flight path of a flyin human missle...
The coming lawsuit from the Luger’s family will pretty much wipe out the possibility of profit for the IOC.
Not all bad, at least no-slime ball Politico (Mitt) can use this Olympic as a Campaign Slogan.
I'd laugh except it's so tragic. You're exactly right - I was thinking the same things as I looked at the picture and read your post.
Actually, I believe more than just an oversight or stupid was in effect here…I do not bother to follow any of this. So viewing the accident after a FR posting, I could tell from the first second how bad that was going to be. The track layout from the presented view was obvious that no matter what was to happen if somebody went up or over would be hurt badly. I’ve done a lot of downhill Slalom, Giant Slalom and tried my hand at Super G. Moving at 40mph, even 60mph can be very dangerous where objects are concerned, no one would think of putting up solid steel gates (wait that might be a new class…naw), yet to be moving at 80mph on a sled with the possibility to crash and burn, let alone be ejected where steel posts are present is mind boggling.
I see more and more examples of Atlas Shrugged where boobs think their good intentions are enough. I’m stunned that someone thought these pads would help. We truly are living in a world where fewer and fewer people really think consequences through.
im not much on the olympics in general, but do these dim bulbs have any engineers or math people whatsoever on their design staffs ???
used to laugh at the old NFL goalposts, and tragically, there are many HS and peewee post that are easily hit by players [routinely going all of 5 mph with lotsa pads] who get injured...
in the first 1/2 second of the video, you knew it was gonna be quick and violent, and predictably un-avoidable...
Prayers for the family...
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