Nodar Kumaritashvili's Death Results in Safer Luge Track, Not Better One

The decision of Olympic officials to start the men’s Luge competition from the women’s starting point, a difference of 600 feet, irrevocably altered the event.

Watching the event on television, the speeds were notably slower and none of the competitors looked happy. While I'm sure Nodar Kumaritashvili was on their minds, one look at their times told a bigger story.

With speeds as much as five miles per hour slower than before the accident, many Lugers expressed their displeasure with how Olympic officials handled the need to make changes to the course.

In fact, several of the Lugers noted after the event they didn’t think shortening the track was the best way to address the situation. While acknowledging other modifications to the track, such as raising the wall on the final turn where Kumaritashvili died and shaving the ice down were good, the decision to shorten the track was not well-received.

USA Luge CEO Ron Rossi noted his belief that shortening the track was done to accommodate the less talented Lugers, thus shortchanging the elite participants.

While that comment seems slightly arrogant when isolated, Rossi isn’t wrong. The Olympics are about the best athletes in their particular sport competing at the highest level. Shortening the track completely violates that ideal.

Looking back at how Kumaritashvili died, shaving the ice down and raising the wall seem to be the correct solution to the problem. But in the true fashion of modern society, over-reaction is policy and the Luge event for the 2010 Winter Olympics has been neutered.

In fact, shortening the track has created a new set of problems, as the remaining participants have to learn how to navigate the opening stretch of the course all over again with only two or three practice runs.

That doesn't seem to be making the event safer, because unfamiliarity breeds mishaps.

The new opening turn also reportedly is so sharp, it can make or break your race depending on how you navigate it, according to Luger Megan Sweeney. Since that turn originally was designed to be taken at much higher speeds, it’s the largest reason why the decision to shorten the Luge course was the wrong one.

While the argument can be made that everyone has to deal with the changes, making the playing field even, that doesn’t make shortening the track the right thing to do.

While the track may, technically, be safer, that doesn’t mean they made the track better.