Sunday, February 21, 2010
More Problems in the Winter Olympics.
More problems are currently happening with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Things went from bad to even worse in just a couple of days. If you guys are familiar with the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger, they are having problems with the same track in which he was killed. They felt that they had everything in check until that day Nodar did the unthinkable and went up and over the track and hit the steel pole and was killed instantly. The Luge track is used and just extended for the bobsled races. Many people are having a serious problem with this track, because of all of the crashes going on. Just on the first day of training, seven bobsled teams crashed while doing testing runs. In the first week, they had 14 crashes. Since that week, more crashes have happened. The safety and the speed concerns are constantly brought up. They have reported that the runs have been reported as over 90 miles per hour. Some of the participants have even been taken out of the races, because they received injuries like concussions, bruises, broken bones, etc. Crashes are very common especially in training runs, because the teams are trying to find the right tracks. By doing so, they will be able to have their best runs once the competition officially starts. Officials say that they have no intention on changing the course. They state that they have done everything so that the course is safe. The participants are the ones that are hurting themselves. Also, the psychological effects on the participants are the worst effect on them. Many coaches were constantly after the officals to make changes, but nothing got changed. This was very dissapointing to hear, because of hearing all of the injuries that were happening. After seeing and hearing about Nodar's death and maybe even crashing, they are holding back and causing their own injuries. Are officials taking this event way to serious, so they aren't putting the participants health into effect? I feel that they are not putting much thought into this. The speed is one of the biggest things that needs to be changed I feel. Going over 90 miles per hour down a track with only a helmet on is nuts. Although the adrenaline probably has a lot to do with it, throwing your body down that track is crazy!
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I wonder if the reason that the officials are so insistent that the track is fine is because they do not want to take the blame for Nodar’s death. I watched the video and it was a really horrifying thing to watch. I have been keeping up with the problems reported on the track and I am starting to think that all of these injuries would be avoided if they would alter the track. If there are that many people still being injured, there is obviously some changes that need to be met. If it was just one person crashing it would be different, but fourteen is an alarming number and I cannot believe they are not looking deeper into this.
ReplyDeleteIn this years Winter Olympics, I agree there has been alot of injuries, and some leading up to death. Nodar's death was very tragic, and what I didn't like most was the network showing his death over and over again on the air. I think if a person dies in a special event it should be kept private and not to the public. I agree with you on the fact of the Olympics should protect their athletes with a little bit more protection then what they already have. This way you can least expect an accident or an injury. Even though at some point there will be some injuries invovled, but not as brutal as deaths.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you have to say about this year's Olympics'. Nodar's death was very tragic and I personally wrote a blog on it so I got quite a few dramatizing picture's and even a video. I personally don't think this information should be public and they should have more protection for these amazing athletes.
ReplyDeleteI too, wrote a blog about Nodar's death. I think it's very ridiculous that officials are blaming atheletes/competitors for their own accidents. If that many accidents have occured (14 in just 1 week) I really don't think it's the athelete's faults. Obviously there is a safety issue going on here. And like I titled my recent blog, "Should the Olympics brush up on safety?" I think yes. Since many people feel that way.
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