Warning: Alarming Content Deaths continue in historical sports, the most dangerous of which are luge and downhill skiing, with athletes in both categories suffering serious injuries after reaching high speeds.
Olympic athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili
Horrifyingly, some of the worst deaths at the Winter Olympics were witnessed by thousands of people, including the tragic death of a 21-year-old man caught on camera.
With an illustrious career behind him, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili arrived at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics hoping to win gold.
However, his life ended in a violent moment after colliding with a metal pole in his final training round on the day of the inauguration ceremony.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said the death “clearly casts a shadow over these Games.” The committee met to decide how to proceed in relation to the incidents at the Sliding Centre.
Great Britain’s Amy Williams poses on the sliding track that took Kumaritashvili’s life (Image: PA)
Irakli Japaridze, head of the Georgian Olympic delegation, said, “We are all in deep shock; we don’t know what to do. We don’t know whether to attend the opening ceremony or even the Olympic Games.”
The local organising committee issued a statement saying that an investigation was underway to “ensure a safe playing field.”
Adam Rosen, a British luger whose hip was dislocated on the course last October, said, “You have to be very precise on certain parts of the track; otherwise, they can be disastrous.”
Andy Schmid, performance director at British Skeleton, said, “We need to be careful so that these games remain great action games and don’t become dangerous killer games.”
Nicolas Bochette collided with a snowcat in 1992
With speeds over 90 mph, luge is one of the most dangerous sports at the Olympic Games, according to NBC New York.
Following Kumaritashvili’s untimely death, the International Luge Federation conducted an investigation.
The conclusion was that the cause of the fatal training run accident was human error, which led to major changes in the construction of the luge course.
The beams are now padded and the walls are higher, limiting speeds to 87 mph.
Georgian luge candidate Nodar Kumaritashvili crashes during men’s luge practice (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
In another horror accident, a 27-year-old Swiss speed skier died in a training accident involving a snow machine in 1992.
Bochatay was warming up his downhill skiing on his way to the competition area in Albertville when he collided with a snow-grooming machine.
Hugo Steiniger, a spokesman for the Olympic organising committee, said Bochte was skiing on a public slope near a speed ski race.
Ross Milne, 19, died after hitting a tree during a downhill training run
Jorand said they jumped off a small hill, went airborne, and collided with the Bochette machine, and the Olympian tragically died.
Jean-Albert Corrand of the local Olympic organising committee said the snowcat was moving with sirens and emergency lights on when the collision occurred.
Downhill skiing and luge proved to be the deadliest overtime events at the Innsbruck 1964 Games, with two more athletes dying in each discipline.
Australian skier Ross Milne, 19, died from head injuries after losing control and hitting a tree during a downhill training run.
In another training incident, 58-year-old British luger Kazimierz K-Skrzypacki died after a crash during training just eight days before the opening ceremony.
The former Royal Air Force pilot was to compete in the first luge event of the Winter Olympics.
He survived the crash but suffered multiple fractures, including to his skull and pelvis, and died during surgery the day after the crash.
