Probe: Track didn't cause Olympic accident

WHISTLER, British Columbia (AP) - It took only three seconds.

Sliding faster than ever in his life, 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili had one turn left in his final Olympic training run. Flirting with 90 mph on a $100 million track pushing speed to the outer limits, the luger from the republic of Georgia tilted his head slightly forward as his sled climbed the high-banked wall.

His last move.

Kumaritashvili lost control, crashing into the wall entering the final straightaway. His body went airborne, arms and legs flailing over the opposite side of the track, his upper body smashing into an unpadded steel pole as his sled continued skidding down the track. It all took just 48.9 seconds, start to crash.

Paramedics began working on Kumaritashvili within seconds, quickly starting chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, all to no avail.

The IOC said Kumaritashvili was pronounced dead at a trauma center in Whistler.

Less than an hour after the accident, a representative from each team was told the grim news.

With that, tears began flowing across the close-knit sliding world and throughout the Olympic family.

"I have no words," a teary International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said, "to say what we feel."

Within an hour of the accident, an investigation was opened. Security officials closed access to the crash area and the remainder of the track for the rest of the day, and all further training runs scheduled for the day were canceled.

Vancouver organizers and the International Luge Federation said they would raise the wall at the exit of the last curve on the course, where Kumaritashvili lost control, and make other unspecified changes to the ice before reopening the track Saturday.

They called the accident "extremely exceptional," however, and said it was triggered by Kumaritashvili's failure to compensate for coming late out of the next-to-last curve, not by "deficiencies in the track."

After studying the crash on video, they said, it was determined that the luger was offline coming out of Curve 15 and "did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into Curve 16."

Men lugers, who were scheduled to finish their training Friday morning, will get two extra practice runs Saturday. Women will train four hours later than scheduled. Men's competition will be held later in the day as plananed.

"It is a nervous situation," Latvian luge federation president Atis Strenga said. "It's a big tragedy for all (of) luge. I hope, we all hope, it's the first accident and the last accident in this race."

The danger of the Whistler track has been talked about for months - particularly after several countries, including the U.S., were upset with restrictions over access to the facility by nations other than Canada, some noting it could lead to a safety issue. Some sliders, especially those from small luge federations, saw the world's fastest track this week for the first time.

Nikolos Rurua, the Georgian minister of culture and sport, said Kumaritashvili had been on the Whistler surface before, and it would be unfair to say that the slider was ill-prepared for the test of the demanding track.

"When you are going that fast it just takes one slip and you can have that big mistake," U.S. doubles luger Christian Niccum said Thursday, when asked about track safety. "All of us are very calm going down, but it you start jerking at 90 mph or making quick reactions, that sled will steer. That's the difference between luge and bobsled and skeleton, we're riding on a very sharp edge and that sled will go exactly where we tell it to so you better be telling it the right things on the way down."

At the opening ceremony, the crash was on everyone's minds, sliders and non-sliders alike.

"I hope they will make the track as safe as possible," said bobsledder Timothy Beck from the Netherlands.

"These accidents should not happen," Swiss figure skater Sarah Meier said.

"This is dangerous," German bobsled star Andre Lange said. "You should never forget that."

Rogge said he was in contact with Kumaritashvili's family - the slider's father is president of the Georgian luge federation and his cousin is the team's coach, VANOC officials said - and the Georgian government. The remaining seven members of the Georgian Olympic delegation said they would stay in the games and dedicated their performances to their fallen teammate.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the Georgian Olympic team," U.S. bobsled pilot Steven Holcomb said on Twitter. "The sliding community suffered a tragic and devastating loss to our family today."

Under giant Olympic rings near the medals plaza in downtown Whistler, mourners placed candles and flowers around a photograph of Kumaritashvili, on his sled and barreling down the track. Around the photo, an inscription read: "In Memory of Nodar Kumaritashvili, May he rest in peace."

There was a moment of silence in memory of the luger at the start of the Alpine skiing team captains' meeting.

Kumaritashvili is the fourth competitor to die at the Winter Games, all in training, and the first since 1992.

Crashes happen often in luge - at least 12 sliders have wrecked just this week on the daunting Whistler surface. Still, some who have been around tracks their entire lives couldn't remember someone actually being thrown over the wall.

"It's a very rare situation," three-time Olympic champion and German coach Georg Hackl said, clearly shaken after seeing Kumaritashvili tended to furiously by medical workers.

Shortly before the accident, Hackl said he didn't believe the Whistler track was unsafe.

"People have the opinion it is dangerous but the track crew does the best it can and they are working hard to make sure the track is in good shape and everyone is safe," he said. "My opinion is that it's not any more dangerous than anywhere else."

This was Kumaritashvili's second crash during training for the games, the first coming Wednesday in the opening session. He also failed to finish his second of six practice runs.

His last recorded speed Friday was 89.4 mph, measured near the last curve. He was on a higher path - line, they call it in luge - down the final turns of the track than most sliders prefer, and the combination of speed and gravitational pull was too much for his 176-pound body to control.

Sliding diagonally, Kumaritashvili smashed into a corner entering the final straightaway feet-first. He was knocked off his sled and sailed in the other direction, coming to rest on a metal walkway after his upper body smashed into the post. The first rescue worker just happened to be nearby and was at his side within three seconds.

"His competitive spirit and dedication to sports excellence will be remembered and honored during the games," Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper said.

This would have been Kumaritashvili's first Olympics. He competed in five World Cup races this season, finishing 44th in the world standings.

Earlier in the day, two-time Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy crashed, losing control of his sled on Curve 11. Zoeggeler came off his sled and held it with his left arm to keep it from smashing atop his body. He slid on his back down several curves before coming to a stop and walking away.

Training days in Whistler have been crash-filled. A Romanian woman was knocked unconscious and at least four Americans - Chris Mazdzer on Wednesday, Megan Sweeney on Thursday and both Tony Benshoof and Bengt Walden on Friday in the same training session where Zoeggeler wrecked - have had serious trouble just getting down the track.

"RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili," American skeleton athlete Kyle Tress, who did not qualify for the Olympic team, wrote on his Twitter feed. "Let's never forget how dangerous these sports can be."