Photo by DaveJ86 on Flickr

I didn’t know Nodar. He was only 21 years old, which means he was only 5-6 years old when I quit competing. But as a former luge athlete, I feel somewhat related to him.

The accident is a tragedy. For the Olympics and Luge, of course, but most of all for Nodar and his family. I think it’s rather scandalous of the International Luge Federation (FIL) to acquit the track of any guilt in the accident so quickly, apparently without thorough investigation. Would that be the case had it been a Canadian or American athlete who died?

The track is the fastest in the world, and FIL president Josef Fendt even said the track was too fast a few days earlier, and called this a planning mistake. How can they so quickly put all the blame on Nodar himself?

I have crashed numerous times in many different tracks. Many of these crashes had similar causes to Nodar’s crash. None of them have been close to throwing me anything like that. I have watched the accident over and over again, feeling my stomach churn, to try and understand it. An important question is, of course, how would this have turned out had the track been slower?

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying the track is to blame for anything. But I suspect the real background for the acquittance is the fact that without it, the competition would probably have been stopped. Many of the athletes have expressed concerns about the track.

I understand the terrible anguish his family must have felt hearing the news back in their poor village in Georgia. Without any economic means to watch their son in his (their) moment of honor. And with no possibility to go there after the accident, stuck in Georgia waiting for their son to return home in a coffin.

I hope the IOC take the necessary responsibility and give Nodar and his family a worthy treatment. Their honor depends upon it!