Vancouver Sun and Canwest News Services report that the International Olympic Committee tries to make safety improvements after Georgia luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed instantly in a crash during a Vancouver Games training run on Feb. 12.
The luge track in Whistler, British Columbia, used for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. By Jeff Lee
Vancouver Sun
In the wake of the fatal luge accident at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the International Olympic Committee will ask for a "neutral expert" to review the construction of the luge track being built for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.
Georgia luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed instantly in a crash during a training run on Feb. 12, just before the opening of the Vancouver Games. Lugers had expressed safety concerns about the speed of the track before the accident. After investigations into the tragedy, the International Luge Federation ordered the Sochi Organizing Committee to reduce the speed on the proposed Russian track.
Jeff Lee writes for the Vancouver Sun and Canwest News Service:
Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of Olympic Games, said Monday the IOC will appoint someone next week to examine the Sochi track and verify engineering calculations used in its construction are within acceptable tolerances.
And he suggested that the IOC will also ask other international sports federations to further review the design and certification processes used for other sports venues as well.
"We are now talking with each international federation to review the process first of all on design and homologation (certification) of the different venues," Felli said.
"Following what did happen in Vancouver, we are trying to understand with the international federations how they could verify all the calculations of the engineers and then we are in the process with them to see how this design can be reviewed, probably by a neutral expert."
Felli was speaking to reporters in advance of a conference the Vancouver Organizing Committee will give in Sochi next week on lessons learned from the Vancouver Games.