Winter Olympics News

[Fencergrl]

Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was rushed to hospital after a life-threatening crash on Friday at the Whistler Sliding Centre during a training run.

The 21-year-old was hurled off the track and knocked unconscious near the bottom of the track during his second of two training runs.

Kumaritashvili was clocked at 144.3 km/h before he hit one side of the wall, crashed into the other, and was thrown off his sled and over the wall. He appeared to hit a metal pole on the side of the track after he flew over the wall.

The accident occurred on the outrun of a turn named Thunderbird.

Track medical staff immediately rushed to the scene, administered CPR and rushed him to hospital in an air ambulance. Kumaritashvili's condition is unknown.

"I've never seen anything like that," said four-time Olympian Shiva Keshavan, of India. "I'm afraid it's bad."

Kumaritashvili is ranked No. 44 in the world.

Training was delayed after the accident and race officials say there will be a hold on the track. There will be more to follow on this as details become available.

Just heard that this athlete just died. How tragic.

[Fencergrl]

Note: Whistler's run has a reputation for being both dangerous & fast.

The two fastest speeds in World Cup luge and bobsleigh history were recorded on that run last season. German luger Felix Loch hit 153.937 km/h. Janis Minins of Latvia became the first four-man bobsleigh driver to reach 153 km/h - more than five km/h better than the fastest time posted on the World Cup this year, on the natural ice surface at St. Moritz, a track with fewer perils than Whistler's.

[Fencergrl]

In lighter news... my friend who works for the German news station tells me that their crew were chasing down Canadian wildlife to film. They filmed a bobcat & some bears in Whistler. Ahhh... you got to love those Germans and their enjoyment of the wilderness.

My friend didn't understand what I meant when I said "it's funny how the Dutch & Germans come to our country and clean up our wilderness". Until he started travelling to various guest ranches, hunting cabins etc... in the middle of no where. There he would find either some Dutch or German guy in some cabin, and all the surrounding area was tidied up around him... in perfect order.... "living the dream".

[Fencergrl]

There are lots of Pavilions to visit. http://www.vancouveraccess2010.com/2...e-attractions/

The Irish Pavilion is a pub (naturally) and has been getting some complaints from the neighbours that they can't sleep even with earplugs in. According to rumours this is the best place to party.

I also hear that if you have a Russian passport you get special privileges in the Russian Pavilion. Hmmm....

There's even a Lesbian & Gay Pavilion called the PRIDE House Vancouver.

And yes... there's even a safehouse for Stephen Colbert called USA House.

Personally... I would love to take a zipline over the law courts of BC, but I'm not a stand in line for hours kind of person.

[erooMynohtnA]

I found it hilarious that the World25 song that just aired on NBC was not a joke.

[pacer]

Everyone at my house wanted to watch the Opening Ceremony, so I ran out to get take out hot wings. At the take out place they had 6 TVs on, all showing old NFL football games. When they told me I had a 15 minute wait, I asked (I thought nicely) if they could change one set to the Olympics. The cashier told me, "No, our TV's have to show sports, not the Olympics." Duh?

[Inquartata]

our TV's have to show sports, not the Olympics."

Translation: Professional hockey, eh?

[crquack]

Quite right, too! Not like the bastards at RSP who dropped the Champions' League in favour of the Owelympics.

[pacer]

Yeah, but these were the old (i.e, repeats probably decades old) football games. Oh well, I'll save my righteous indignation for a motion I need to this weekend.

[Empty Wallet]

I only saw a few bits and pieces of the opening.

The slam poet was funny --"yes, we say zed". "was say thank you".

I was rather bemused by what looked like cricketers dancing as Senegal and other teams marched in (that is when I first saw any of it).

[Empty Wallet]

On a much more serious note, I heard that one of the luge competitors had days earlier saying that the run was far too dangerous and expected a major accident. She said it felt like the competitors were being used as crash test dummies.

[Fencergrl]

The Whistler luge/ skeleton track is the most dangerous in the world. Partly because it is such a fast track, partly because of the curves. It has been used before in World Cups so athletes were somewhat familiar with it.

There is a state of the art hospital on site, but after seeing the video I suspect he died instantly & they didn't announce it until the family was notified. There was a police investigation on the death and they are in the process of making the track safer by keeping the athletes on the track.

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic..._274696sA.html

[Fencergrl]

I watched parts of the Opening ceremonies. I was happy to see they chose Para Olympian, Rick Hansen as one of the torch bearers. My husband and I played wheelchair basketball with him & they couldn't have picked a nicer guy. It was touching to see the athletes...Rick, Steve Nash, Wayne Gretzky etc... start to tear up.

[TripleTTT]

I watched parts of the Opening ceremonies. I was happy to see they chose Para Olympian, Rick Hansen as one of the torch bearers. My husband and I played wheelchair basketball with him & they couldn't have picked a nicer guy. It was touching to see the athletes...Rick, Steve Nash, Wayne Gretzky etc... start to tear up.

Ya, Seeing Steve Nash and Gretzky carry the torch was a very special moment. Both very important to me. I look up to both of them as heros. One of the most memorable moments of my life.

[Fencergrl]

Women's Hockey... le sigh! I wished that the Canadian Women's team didn't beat Slovakia by so much. I felt bad for them. Our team just outplayed them. It'll be nice when the other countries bring up their level of women's hockey to Canada & the US level.

I love and hate women's hockey for this reason. 30 seconds in, they took their first shot on net, and had a point by the 1st minute, I knew it was going to be another blowout. It's Slovakia's first Olympic team.

On the other hand, I love watching the skill of our players. It's a fast clean game.

[Empty Wallet]

We hardly have enough ice to keep our drinks cold, but if we did the magnificant and highly intelligent Elsewhereian women would do a bit of hockey wooping -- except that hockey is supposed to be played on grass.

We will make it to the coldy Olympics one day. We have hired Stephen (Last Man Standing) Bradbury and Eric (the Eagle) Roberts as our coaches and spirit leaders.

.

[Purple Fencer]

I found the luge crash on YouTube...sorry. it wasn't a pole he hit....it was about a 12" support beam. He just stopped in the air at 90 mph....dead before he hit the ground.

At least it was fast.

[Empty Wallet]

I am sure that he does not mean to be offensive, just like chase...

Oh, Canada
A guide to thriving in Vancouver, one smile at a time


It's always so cute when Canada hosts an Olympics. Canadians try so hard. This comes from living next to America and having an inferiority complex worse than Tito Jackson's.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/colum...ick&id=4906756

[Guided by Wire]

Am I a bad American if I hate Apolo Ohno?

[Inquartata]

No.


And characters.