Bad start to the Winter Olympics..

[Yas786]

Go Team Canada go!!!!

Hoping that they have a good winter olympics seeing as its their own backyard...definitely will be watching Team Canada ice hockey team..should get a gold as they are pretty strong.

Was planning to go there for a week to watch some of the sports but couldnt get the time off

 

[Amp34]

Sad start to the winter olympics in Canada and RIP to the lad but fact of the matter is that any of these sledge sports ie luge, bobsleigh etc etc are all bloody dangerous and if your going to partake in these types of sports then theres a pretty good chance that if things go wrong your either going to end up being pretty badly injured or dead even.

TBH most of the winter sports are dangerous, things like Super G and most of the other downhill racing, we're talking about people hitting close to 100 mph on two small bits of wood. Its also why the winter olympics are infinately better than the summer ones which are done at a sedatory pace.

Interesting that on the coverage last night one of the presenters mentioned that the track had a 3% crash rate, which is apparently about normal.

 

[andi]

c) The Canadians have been very naughty with not allowing others to even book the track to try it out.

Apparently they did what the rule book required of them, and the italians and americans did exactly the same at previous games.

A good point was made last night on the coverage too, he'd only being doing the luge for 2 years, and wouldn't have been good enough for world championships.

The whole point of the olympics is that anyone can enter, but in a sport so dangerous, lack of experience and/or talent most probably played a part.

 

[Yas786]

TBH most of the winter sports are dangerous, things like Super G and most of the other downhill racing, we're talking about people hitting close to 100 mph on two small bits of wood. Its also why the winter olympics are infinately better than the summer ones which are done at a sedatory pace.

Interesting that on the coverage last night one of the presenters mentioned that the track had a 3% crash rate, which is apparently about normal.

True a lot of the winter sports are dangerous ie skiing, ski jumping is another dangerous sport...remember Eddie the eagle...gotta give it to him for doing something that a lot fo people including me wouldnt dare do. Ive been up to the ski jump in Calgary when the winter olympics were held there many yrs ago and freakin hell that is one very very high place to be.

Speed skating is another dangerous sport. those blades are super super sharp...imagine getting slashed by one of those.

The luge track is dangerous and its one of the fastest in the world but like any other luge track theree are big risks when hurtling down it near enough 100mph.

 

[Yas786]

c) The Canadians have been very naughty with not allowing others to even book the track to try it out.

Not really...anytime a place holds the winter olympics its a known thing to allow the home athletes to have more access than other nations. Nothing naughty about it at all...the americans and italians did it when they held the winter olympics....no rules were broken.

EDIT: Andi beat me to it.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Apparently they did what the rule book required of them, and the italians and americans did exactly the same at previous games.

Not really...anytime a place holds the winter olympics its a known thing to allow the home athletes to have more access than other nations. Nothing naughty about it at all...the americans and italians did it when they held the winter olympics....no rules were broken.

EDIT: Andi beat me to it.

Doing just what is required and doing what is morally right/fair aren't always the same thing of course though. If you've built a track that is faster and riskier than anything previous (as this one appears to be) then I wouldn't think it out of order to let people have a bit more practice - it's also a pragmatic thing, even if it is just to put aside criticism that you might have mitigated the risks by letting people practice.

 

[neon.uk]

Sad start to the winter olympics in Canada and RIP to the lad but fact of the matter is that any of these sledge sports ie luge, bobsleigh etc etc are all bloody dangerous and if your going to partake in these types of sports then theres a pretty good chance that if things go wrong your either going to end up being pretty badly injured or dead even.

Granted it is dangerous, anything at such a speed will be, however, the reason this tragedy happened was because he flew out of the track, something which should not be possible and is a failure in the track desgin/safety measures. Crashing but staying in the track, would have probably meant he would still be alive.

 

[Yas786]

Granted it is dangerous, anything at such a speed will be, however, the reason this tragedy happened was because he flew out of the track, something which should not be possible and is a failure in the track desgin/safety measures. Crashing but staying in the track, would have probably meant he would still be alive.

And on the flipside from what i heard and read, its his inexperience that cost him his life...he didnt compensate enough for that turn/corner.

Anyhow its a sad loss but one that comes with the job so to speak...he knew the dangers so took his chances..sadly it cost him his life.

From what i was reading this morning i think they are going to put up the sides of that part of the track a bit higher so that theres no replay of that accident that happened....plus the track in question has a 3% crash rate so it isnt exactly majorly dangerous....so i dont blame the design/safety measures...surely the track would have to pass all the tests by the safety officers in charge or else it wouldnt be used.

Like i said earlier its his inexperience and his lack of compensating that cost him his life...now if and when the event gets underway and there are more crashes/fatalities then yes i would say the track is most definitely dangerous.

 

[Yas786]

Doing just what is required and doing what is morally right/fair aren't always the same thing of course though. If you've built a track that is faster and riskier than anything previous (as this one appears to be) then I wouldn't think it out of order to let people have a bit more practice - it's also a pragmatic thing, even if it is just to put aside criticism that you might have mitigated the risks by letting people practice.

Whether he practised or not, it seems like he was far too inexperienced ie had only a yr or so of experience from what i read today...its also being reported that he didnt compensate enough for that turn.

Now other lugers have been on that track and have came away relatively unscathed so that leads to me thinking his inexperience cost him his life. Which is sad in a lot of ways but the Canadians are not to be blamed for that....the track itself has a 3% crash rate so lets keep things in perspective shall we??...that 3% isnt very high tbqh.

 

[Settleddown]

Whether he practised or not, it seems like he was far too inexperienced ie had only a yr or so of experience from what i read today...its also being reported that he didnt compensate enough for that turn.

Now other lugers have been on that track and have came away relatively unscathed so that leads to me thinking his inexperience cost him his life. Which is sad in a lot of ways but the Canadians are not to be blamed for that....the track itself has a 3% crash rate so lets keep things in perspective shall we??...that 3% isnt very high tbqh.

What? The track cost him his life tbqh!!!! If the track was safe he would not had died, simple.

 

[Yas786]

What? The track cost him his life tbqh!!!! If the track was safe he would not had died, simple.

No it didnt...his inexperience and lack of compensation for that corner cost him his life...but yes lets blame the track why dont we because quite clearly its unsafe but yet has still passed all the safety tests that it must have been put through

Just to add that its like me skiing down a hill without much experience...not compensating enough for a corner...getting out of control and killing myself...but yet lets blame the hill because its not safe enough.

As i said its a highly dangerous sport luging is...the amount of times ive seen it on tv, it makes me wonder why the heck someone would put themselves in such great danger.

 

[Settleddown]

No it didnt...his inexperience and lack of compensation for that corner cost him his life...but yes lets blame the track why dont we because quite clearly its unsafe but yet has still passed all the safety tests that it must have been put through

Lack of experience? What kind of rubbish excuse is that? The track quite simply has a serious flaw which caused a death of a human. If the track was safe do you not think he would still be here?

 

[Westyfield2]

Apparently they did what the rule book required of them, and the italians and americans did exactly the same at previous games.

Citation needed.

I've heard first hand from a source at Whistler Sliding Centre and a source in British Sliding that what the Canadians have been doing is over and above what happens at other Olympics.
I'm not going to name either of my sources or quote specific examples but what they said just didn't seem in the spirt of the Olympics .

 

[JKD]

Hmm, watching that video wasn't my best idea of the day. Pretty horrific. Can't believe that the event hasn't been stopped and I'm shocked they've blamed the dead guy! Surely the point of H&S and safe track design is to mitigate when athletes make errors?

RIP

 

[Yas786]

Lack of experience? What kind of rubbish excuse is that? The track quite simply has a serious flaw which caused a death of a human. If the track was safe do you not think he would still be here?

Here let me explain it for you...the track would not be used if it WASNT safe...do you understand that??...if the track was deemed unsafe then the Canadians and Olympic committee could and would be in serious trouble.

The fact is that the track itself has a 3% crash rate since its been opened as said last night when i was listening to reports of the accident and as of yet no one else has been killed/injured using that track...you think that if it was that dangerous that the Canadian lugers who have been using it would be alive or have no serious injuries because of the track??. to me the track is safe but is very fast as its been said...one of the fastest track in the world.

Rubbish excuse??..not really but maybe for you its a rubbish excuse...tell me would you do something equally or as dangerous as luging without much experience??..of course you wouldnt unless you were naturally gifted at it...its like giving a 12 yr old a set of car keys and letting him drive...he hasnt got any experience so therefore will either kill himself or kill someone else...

As ive said its a shame and its sad that this accident happened but the glaring thing that stands out for me is his relative lack of experience at the event and also his basic mistakes that he made during that fateful run.

 

[Yas786]

Citation needed.

I've heard first hand from a source at Whistler Sliding Centre and a source in British Sliding that what the Canadians have been doing is over and above what happens at other Olympics.
I'm not going to name either of my sources or quote specific examples but what they said just didn't seem in the spirt of the Olympics .

LOL of course you wont because quite simply its probably a lot of hearsay...although feel free to prove me wrong but making a claim like that without any evidence doesnt make your point any more stronger.

 

[Yas786]

Hmm, watching that video wasn't my best idea of the day. Pretty horrific. Can't believe that the event hasn't been stopped and I'm shocked they've blamed the dead guy! Surely the point of H&S and safe track design is to mitigate when athletes make errors?

RIP

The point of H&S is to make sure the track is safe for its use...which it obviously was or it wouldnt be used.

Why stop the event when its clear to see from the video, yes ive watched it that he didnt compensate for that corner...why is it none of the other competitors that have used that track have been seriously injured or killed??...as ive said plenty of times it was his lack of experience at the event that cost him his life...shocking yes but sad at the same time.

Anyhow i think they are increasing the sides of the track so that it doesnt happen again...ive been reading that people saying they should have covered the concrete pylons with padding...wouldnt have made a blind bit of difference in all honesty...he still would have been killed.

 

[Settleddown]

VANOC and FIL said the British Columbia coroners service had also completed their investigation and although the accident was not caused by track deficiencies, alterations had now been made to avoid similar "exceptional" crashes.

"Based on these findings the race director, in consultation with the FIL, made the decision to reopen the track following a raising of the walls at the exit of curve 16 and a change in the ice profile."

"This was done as a preventative measure, in order to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again," they said.

All from, Yahoo.



Now answer me this, if the above was done before the incident would he still be here? The fact they have had to make changes to me says the track was not as safe as it should be.

I don’t give a monkeys that he was inexperienced as you claim, every preventable measure should have being taken to make sure every competitor was safe, he died due to being slammed into a pillar, this shouldn’t have happened it did due to bad design of the track.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Whether he practised or not, it seems like he was far too inexperienced ie had only a yr or so of experience from what i read today...its also being reported that he didnt compensate enough for that turn.

You're probably right, inexperience may well have played a part but if the track is badly designed (and exposed pillars on the high side of a corner suggest to me it might be) then giving a bit more practice time at slower speeds would probably allow a safer way to experience it.

Now other lugers have been on that track and have came away relatively unscathed so that leads to me thinking his inexperience cost him his life. Which is sad in a lot of ways but the Canadians are not to be blamed for that....the track itself has a 3% crash rate so lets keep things in perspective shall we??...that 3% isnt very high tbqh.

From the BBC link in the opening post it appears that the mens gold medal favourite has also had an accident, you won't be suggesting that he is inexperienced too?

I've got no idea whether 3% crash rate is high for luge or not, I'm also unsure how they calculate the rate either - is it anytime the rider makes a mistake and has to slow up or is it only if they come off the track/fly off the sled? Basic point being that the track may not be particularly safe but if the other 'more experienced' lugers have been able to avert the crash then it might well seem the accident rate is low comparative to the actual risk.

Luge is of course a high risk sport but because of that the people governing it and providing the track are due them a duty of care to eliminate unnecessary risks e.g. putting in safety features where they can.

 

[JKD]

OK so we now know that any athlete who either forgets to compensate for the corner, or is too inexperienced to know to compensate at that corner, will likely be very seriously injured or die when they hit the steel supports on the outside of that last corner.

Good H&S design dictates that you try and plan every possible point of disaster and mitigate against it. That would be why F1 tracks have kitty litter on the outside of bends, rather than a metal grandstand for example.

It's poor track design, (also evidenced by the fact they're raising the sides now - as it should have been in the first place) but hey, at least every other athlete won't need a reminder to compensate at that last corner now