Luger’s Father Demands Further Investigation Into Son’s Death

David Kumaritashvili said organizers of the Vancouver Olympics should have warned athletes the luge track was not safe.

Kumaritashvili’s comments came after it was revealed that Vancouver Olympic organizing committee chief John Furlong wrote an internal memo expressing concern the Whistler luge track was dangerously fast in March 2009. A year later 21-year-old Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died during a training run when he lost control of his sled and hit a metal pole. His father told the CBC that organizers shouldn’t have allowed the competition to proceed on the high-speed track, which was found to be 20 km/h faster than designers had intended. Kumaritashvili’s death has also raised concerns about the Olympic qualifying process. He was the 38th of 40 qualifiers and one of the most inexperienced lugers at the Games.