Luger dies in Olympic training at Vancouver

Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how high the stakes are in some of these Olympic sports. From the NY Times:

A luge athlete from Georgia, Nodar Kumaritashvili, was killed in a crash in training on the Olympic track at the Whistler Sliding Center on Friday, an Olympic luge official at the track confirmed, the worst-case scenario developing on a track that many competitors have said is too fast.

According to the Times, Kumaritashvili was traveling at nearly 90 mph when he ejected from the track and hit a steel pole.

Tags: olympics