THE Vancouver Games

was plunged into crisis even before the opening ceremony began today when Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili  (21) was killed during the final training session at the Whistler Sliding Centre, regarded as the world's fastest ice track.

HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?

"We had planned it to be a maximum of 137km/hr but it's about 20km/hr faster - we think it's a planning mistake,''he said.

NO KIDDING!  Safety measures
SHOULD HAVE PUT IN PLACE!

Olympic champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy crashed earlier in the session, losing control of his sled on Curve 11. However the experienced Zoeggeler walked away after fending off his sled with his body and sliding through several curves on his back.

Crashing has been a feature of the pre-Games training period. A Romanian woman was knocked unconscious and many other athletes have struggled to get down the track.

"I think they are pushing it a little too much," Australia's Hannah Campbell-Pegg said the night before the fatal crash, after she nearly lost control in training.

"To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives."


Best Gay News Magazine