Winter Olympic games are marred by a tragic incident at the Whistler Sliding Centre hours before the games were officially opened. 21 year old Georgian Luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili died during training after crashing into a steel column at the end of the final curve. The incident was clearly captured by cameras and posted on the internet. I don't know much about designing high speed sliding tracks, but anyone with common sense can realize those unpadded steel roof supporting columns are a catastrophe waiting to happen. No matter now professional these athletes are, there can also be mistakes and all protected measures should be taken for their safety. Whistler track is regarded as one of the fastest and having those columns near the end of the track where athletes travel at about 130 km/h is plain ridiculous. Hope officials will take immediate precautions to prevent using this track (to be used for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events) as it is. There should at least a protective barrier separating those columns and the track. Let's hope rest of the games will be safer for everyone participating.
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