The Luge Accident at the Olympics

Last Friday, a Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashivili, died in a tragic luge accident at the Whistler Sliding Centre. He was coming around the sixteenth and last turn, when he lost control of his sled, hitting a wall and flying into a steel pole. He died later in hospital. This turn is called the Thunderbird turn because it’s the most dangerous and fastest corner in the track that puts 5 Gs of pressure on your body. But luge hasn’t been the only sport with crashes in it. The Snowboard Half pipe is bigger and the athletes get more air off these jumps. There is an athlete in a coma right now supposed to be competing with Shaun White for the gold. So, do you think, in Sochi Russia 2014, that they should make their sliding centre slower and less dangerous? Also, are the Winter Olympics more dangerous than the Summer Olympics?

The Sochi 2014 Olympic organizing committee already stated that they will make their sliding track less dangerous and slower than the Vancouver 2010 track. Do you think that this is right, or that this course should still be fast and dangerous, putting the sliders live on the line? I don’t think this is. We should think of peoples’ lives before we think of a cool fast show for the people to watch.

If you have been watching or listening to the news lately, or even not lately, that when you hear of somebody getting hurt through sport, it is a winter sport mainly that the athletes get hurt in. You don’t hear things like, ‘In the 100m Sprint Usain Bolt died in the last 20m of the run.’ No, you’re more likely to hear something like this, ‘In Short Track Speed Skating, 4 competitors crashed and all of them are seriously injured.’ Now I know that neither of those sound nice, but the second one would more likely happen, so in my opinion winter sports are more dangerous, more challenging and most demanding sports.

So what is your opinion on this whole deal? Do you think that Sochi 2014 should make their sliding track slower and less dangerous or the exact opposite? Do you think that winter sports are more challenging, more demanding and, most importantly, more dangerous than summer sports? Please leave your comments and answers, WYATT!