Nodar Kumaritashvili

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Nodar Kumaritashvili Luge
Full name ნოდარ ქუმარიტაშვილი
nation GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia
birthday November 25, 1988
place of birth BorjomiGeorgian SSR
size 179 cm
Weight 80 kg
date of death February 12, 2010
Place of death Whistler , British ColumbiaCanada
Career
discipline Single seater
last change: February 12, 2010

Nodar Kumaritashvili ( Georgian ნოდარ ქუმარიტაშვილი * 25. November 1988 in Borjomi , Georgian SSR ; † 12. February 2010 in Whistler , British Columbia , Canada ) was a Georgian luger who while training for the individual competition at the Olympic Games of Vancouver was killed .

Life

Beginnings

Nodar Kumaritashvili was born in 1988 as the son of the chairman of the Georgian Luge Federation David Kumaritashvili and his mother Dodo Kumaritashvili in the southern Georgian mountain region of Samtskhe-Javakheti in the village of Borjomi . The winter sports resort with 13,826 inhabitants has a toboggan run, the training ground for Georgian luge athletes. The toboggan run is said to be named after him after the death of Kumaritashvili. In 2005 Borjomi applied in vain to host the 2014 Winter Olympics , in which Kumaritashvili wanted to compete in his hometown.

His training partner and former classmate Levan Gureschidze , together with Nodar Kumaritashvili, qualified for the individual toboggan competition in Vancouver. After his fatal accident, Gureschidze canceled his participation in the competition.

Career

Kumaritashvili finished 55th in the Luge World Cup 2008/2009 , his first season, with four points.

He improved to 44th place after five competitions the following season . His last World Cup participation was the race in Cesana Pariol in January 2010, where he finished 28th out of 32 participants.

In February 2010 he was a member of the Georgian team at the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and qualified for the individual luge competition .

Accident and death

Georgian postage stamp commemorating Nodar Kumaritashvili

A few hours before the opening ceremony, he had an accident during the final training for the individual Olympic race in the finish area when, after the elevated Thunderbird curve, the last of the 16 bends of the 1,374 meter long track, he hit the inner edge of the track, causing his sled to be thrown up and him threw over the opposite gang of the rink. His back and the back of his head hit a steel girder of the railway roof. The last speed measurement shortly before the target curve, which was already slightly uphill, showed 144 km / h. Despite immediate resuscitation measures by the helpers at the Whistler Sliding Center , Kumaritashvili died on the way to the Whistler hospital. The then IOC Vice President Thomas Bach officially confirmed the death.

After the British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski and Australian skier Ross Milne , both during training a few days before the opening of the Winter Games in Innsbruck in 1964 fatalities, and by the Swiss participants in the demonstration discipline speed skiing (speed skiing) Nicolas Bochatay that while the winter Games in Albertville in 1992 collided at a public ski slope with a snow cat, Kumaritashvili is considered the fourth qualified participants of the Olympic winter Games , which came in preparation for Olympic competitions to death.

Even before the accident, there was criticism of the planning of the Whistler Sliding Center. Immediately afterwards, the German bobsleigh and skeleton trainer Raimund Bethge and the President of the International Luge Federation (FIL) Josef Fendt described the track as too fast. According to investigations by the FIL Luge World Federation, the racetrack did not show any defects, instead the association referred to a driving error by the Georgian. The track was reopened for luge competitions after the inrun was shortened, the ice profile changed and the walls of the ice channel increased in turn 16.

In honor of Kumaritashvili, a minute of silence was held at the opening ceremony at BC Place Stadium . The Georgian team marched in wearing a black scarf and black ribbon. IOC President Jacques Rogge expressed his condolences to the family at the celebration.

After the corpse was transferred to Kumaritashvili's homeland, the street where he lived in Bakuriani was named after him.

On October 4, 2010, the state committee of inquiry, chaired by chief forensic doctor Tom Pawlowski, presented the official investigation report. This shows that the accident was a tragic accident. The route was difficult and demanding and designed only for experienced athletes. Kumaritashvili had a lack of experience on this path; he had only made 25 trips on it. This was a major disadvantage. In this context, the International Luge Federation (FIL) was asked to ensure that the participants were given enough time to prepare on the respective track before major future events.

Web links

Commons : Nodar Kumaritashvili  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Winter Olympics 2010: Nodar Kumaritashvili's father pays tribute to luger son telegraph.co.uk, accessed February 17, 2010.
  2. ^ Profile of Nodar Kumaritashvili at the FIL ( memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).
  3. Interview with Udo Gurgel, the designer of the Sport-Bild ice rink , accessed on February 16, 2010
  4. Olympic tobogganer dies after a serious fall Spiegel online, accessed on February 12, 2010
  5. ^ Georgians fatally injured ARD, accessed on February 12, 2010
  6. No defects found on the toboggan run Spiegel online, accessed on February 12, 2010
  7. ^ Anger and sadness at the conviction of Kumaritashvili . newsticker.sueddeutsche.de. Archived from the original on February 20, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  8. Rodler's death was "concatenation of unlucky circumstances" in: Spiegel Online from October 5, 2010