Rogge Promises To Prevent Repeat Of Luger's Death In Future

Rogge Notes IOC Will Work With Int'l Luge Federation To Avoid Another Tragedy At Games

IOC President Jacques Rogge said that he would do "'everything in my power' to prevent a repeat of the crash" that killed Georgia luger Nodar Kumaritashvili and "raised questions about the safety of speed events," according to Stephen Wilson of the AP. Rogge said that the IOC would work with the Int'l Luge Federation (FIL) to "'take all the steps that might be needed' to avoid another tragedy at future games." Rogge: "There is one thing that is certain. I will do everything in my power that this should not happen again in the future." Rogge noted that the IOC is "awaiting the results of investigations by the coroner, Canadian police and the [FIL], which is due by early April." Rogge: "We will look into that in collaboration with the international federation and we'll take all the steps that might be needed." While the IOC runs the Olympics, Rogge said that the "responsibility for 'field of play' issues rests with the international sports federations." He also said that the IOC and FIL will look at Kumaritashvili's case "on three levels -- the competition venue itself, the competition rules, and the qualification standard and quality of athletes." Rogge "dismissed suggestions that the IOC was pushing the limits of speed and risk too far" (AP, 2/20).

MORE COMPLAINTS ABOUT SPEED: In N.Y., Wayne Coffey reported two elite bobsled teams from Switzerland withdrew from the Games "because of injuries sustained in training crashes" as the "intense debate over the safety" of the Whistler Sliding Centre continues. However, U.S. Bobsled & Skeleton Federation CEO Darrin Steele "insisted that the Olympic track is 'as safe as other bobsled tracks around the world." Steele: "It's certainly challenging, but every track has its own personality" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/21). Also in N.Y., Filip Bondy noted officials "were pretending not to notice Saturday when the two-man and two-woman bobsledders were sent hurtling down the ... dangerous course." The track was "still too fast, just as it had been on the day that Kumaritashvili died. And it was still scaring some participants half to death." U.S. bobsledder Shauna Rohbock said, "It's just fast, it's like 15 mph faster than anywhere else in the world. It's just curve after curve after curve. It's definitely not the safest track but everyone has to go down the same" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/21).

ADJUSTMENTS MADE SHORTLY AFTER OPENING: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Crawford & Futterman reported Olympic luge officials "were told three years before the Vancouver Games' track was built that it would send racers downhill at speeds that would easily eclipse records -- and once it was built, they made two sets of track adjustments out of apparent safety concerns." There are indications that the FIL "began hearing concerns about the safety of the ... track shortly after it opened in 2008." FIL spokesperson Wolfgang Harder said that his organization "insisted on changes to the track following the February 2009 World Cup competition," including the construction of walls at several turns, but not the one at which Kumaritashvili flew out of the track (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/20).

TOO SOON TO PUSH AGENDAS: In Vancouver, Stephen Hume wrote critics who were "so swift to condemn while everyone else was still trying to assimilate [Kumaritashvili's death] were doing precisely what they accuse the Olympics of doing. They were exploiting the young man's inexpressibly sad death to further their agendas." Hume: "There is nothing wrong with expressing opinions about the merits of the Olympics. Or demanding a full investigation; or expressing doubts about its findings. But assuming an outcome before any investigation had even begun and then shamelessly spinning it to serve a political end seemed distasteful" (VANCOUVER SUN, 2/20).