Olympic luger dies: Nodar Kumaritashvili hits a post in training run
The Winter Olympics got off to a tragic start Friday (Feb. 12) when Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died after losing control of his sled and hitting into an unpadded metal post while training at the Whistler Sliding Center outside Vancouver.
Kumaritashvili was only 21.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said the death hours before the opening ceremony "clearly casts a shadow over these games."
Several videos of the crash posted on YouTube were quickly removed. We managed to find a piece of footage -- there's no sound, but you can still see the horrifying crash. And we should warn you: The video does shows the luger hitting the pole. It may be too upsetting for some people to watch.
[UPDATE: The You Tube video of the tragic crash embedded above has been removed per the Olympics Committee. The video is available for viewing at Los Angeles Times website.]
Prayers for Nodar and condolences to his friends and family.
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You say your condolences,yet you disrespect him and his family like that. The video really isn't necessary for the article.
Please take down that video Zap2it. It's completely unnecessary.
Carrie and wenmac, would you like some tampons? You don't have to watch the video, but a lot of people would like to see what happened.
Too bad someone at the IOC have their panties up in a bunch as they complained to YouTube and claimed it was a copyright violation.
I agree with Wenmac and Carrie. This isn't a cool video to watch. It's someone dying. Please take down the video out of respect for the athlete and the general public.
Yea thats not cool. Sad very sad. A lot of the athletes have said the track is too fast and they are worried about their safety.
A Sad loss for the Olympics.
I agree with everyone above who say the video should be removed. Not cool. Not cool at all. This is a very sad thing to happen.
its shown on nbc will you ******* relax
I agree, the video is inappropriate - take it down