Posted on 02/21/2010 3:30:31 AM PST by BykrBayb
WHISTLER, B.C. - The design firm commissioned to build the Whistler Sliding Centre vowed to create the "most challenging" course ever made.
It now promises to be the last of its kind.
The International Olympic Committee is investigating how the course, originally designed for speeds of 137 km/h, allowed athletes to set world records of more than 153 km/h. Those speeds had athletes and officials questioning course safety leading up to the Games and yesterday's death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.
"The track is too fast," Joseph Fendt, president of the World Luge Federation, told London's Daily Telegraph. "We had planned it to be a maximum of 137 km/h but it is about 20 km/h faster.
"We think this is a planning mistake."
When the course was proposed in 2005, Lorenz Kosichek, project manager for the design firm Stantec, said:
"It will be the most challenging track in the world."
Reached yesterday, after the death of luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili, Kosichek said it was "too soon" to address serious safety concerns which were expressed long before the tragic accident.
"I'm not going to answer any questions on the phone right now," Kosichek said. "It's too soon to have any discussions about this."
German engineer Udo Gurgel designed the track and all of the tracks for the 1998 Nagano, 2002 Salt Lake and 2006 Turin Olympic Games.
Stantec Architecture Ltd.'s Vancouver office was hired to put into practice Guergel's mathematical design.
Gurgel told the online edition of German sports daily Sport Bild that the horrific death of the 21-year-old -- who shot off the course and slammed into a metal column at almost 145 km/h -- meant changes would clearly have to be contemplated.
"We now have to consider how we can alter the piste. At the exit area we could......
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
Ping. Thanks for providing the article.
So the people who set records on this course can expect those records to stand a long long time.
My wife and I tried to watch the Bobsled event last night. and it is just so eerie watching them go down that track. and it just looks so dangerous.
I think it's safe to say that the firm succeeded considering that its course actually killed one of the athletes.
I trust the IOC and all others involved recognize that this incident probably calls for the proverbial circular firing squad. Not knowing anything about the sport, I imagine that the luge crowd is no different from any other serious sports fraternity, and that a "press the limits" culture is endemic. The designer produced what was expected of him. The design was reviewed and approved by the governing bodies. And it blew up on them.
There's one sure solution: turn the luge over the the British Health and Safety people. They'd probably make luge courses run uphill at no more than a 5 degree slope as a safety precaution.
The problem seems obvious. . .high speeds, low walls and steel poles at several locations. Whoever designed this course is an idiot. They should talk to some NASCAR boys. . .they would tell them the number one rule of safety: keep the car from flying off the track.
That turn was so dangerous! It was too sharp and then swung into a lip on the opposite side. I’m surprised that the Georgian luger was the only one slung off his sled!
HA!!!
I thought I was the only one whose brain that song ran through when reading the headline.
Exactly!
The International Olympic Committee is investigating how the course, originally designed for speeds of 137 km/h, allowed athletes to set world records of more than 153 km/h.
The speed really doesn’t make a bit of difference. The competition is judged on time elapsed.
I say slow the whole thing down and make safety the important issue. Or does the IOC value income over safety.
As far as I’m concerned, the IOC, along with the media, is exploiting the youth of the world for money, and in return giving them worthless medals.
Thank you BB.
You’re welcome CC.
; ~ )
But I thought the olympic officials claimed the fatality was due to operator error.
Completely correct. Even though they may find these things, will their report ever find the light of day?
You thought right. They did blame him.
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