The Blame Game – Death in Vancouver

A memorial to Kumaritashvili near the luge track that took his life last week. Getty Images

The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili last week has certainty put a dark cloud over what should be a joyous event – the world’s best competing on the world stage.

But now people are wondering why he died and whose fault it was. Olympic and Canadian officials say it was human error, that Kumaritashvili was inexperienced. Others say it wasn’t his fault but the track’s. The track, some say, was built to extremes, making it too dangerous for some competitors.

Many questions will be asked in the sport because of Kumaritashvili’s death, but here are some simple ones: Is the course created in Vancouver the limit? Was it too dangerous? If it was human error and inexperience, shouldn’t there been someone to say, “You can’t do this, you don’t have the skill?”

It seems that in any scenario like this, the questions are only asked after someone is hurt.

But there is one other question I have – Is this a surprise?

Everything in life is dangerous. You get in a car, you could get hurt. You cross the street, you could get hit. When you lie down on a small sled, going downhill on a sheet of ice at speeds in excess of 80 miles per hour, you could get hurt. That’s a fact.

Associated Content has more of these questions and the controversy.

-Justin Franz