Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 – The untimely death of a Georgian luger on the opening day of the Winter Olympics was not due to a structural defect in the luge track, according to its designer.

Udo Gurgel, 71, the designer of the luge track in the Whistler Sliding Center, says that the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili last Friday was due to an “unexpected chain of events” rather than a flaw in the track design. However, Gurgel does admit that there might have been some measures that could have been taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“If the guard planks had been set 20 centimeters (8 inches) higher, [Nodar Kumaritashvili] would have stayed safely in the course,” says Gurgel in a statement. Gurgel argues that the safest way to build a luge track was to make it like a tunnel, but that would be unacceptable because spectators won’t be able to see what’s going on.

Kumaritashvili died after losing control during the last turn on the Whistler Sliding Center last Friday, where he was launched in the air and hit a set of metal girders designed to support the track. Kumaritashvili was estimated to have been travelling at over 140 km/h when he hit, and he was killed when doctors couldn’t revive him at a nearby hospital.

Olympic organizers say that the luge competition will stay on schedule and start on Saturday, despite previous claims that the luge track will remain closed. Investigators have concluded that Kumaritashvili’s death was due to personal fault, rather than a fault in the design of the track.

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