Alum outraged at response to luger’s death

Ana Kovziridze, a graduate of Baruch College hailing from the Republic of Georgia, is speaking out about the death of Olympic luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.

Kumaritashvili, also of the Republic of Georgia, died tragically after his luge went airborne, causing him to slam into a pole during a training run at the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Luge (the French word for "sled") is a sport where athletes ride at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour through an icy, banked track.

In an interview with The Ticker, the former senator in the Undergraduate Student Government expressed her frustration.

"I was enraged at how the Olympic Committee handled the situation," she said. "Olympic deaths are very rare … this is tragic."

Kovziridze's outrage at the accident is echoed by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, whom the Associated Press reported as having said, "No sports accident should end in a death."

Part of the outrage comes from the quickly-issued claim by Olympic organizers that fault for the tragedy lie solely with the athlete.

"They came out with a statement blaming it on the incompetence of the athlete, but they came out with that statement so soon after his death."
Kovziridze doesn't understand how the officials could have been so certain or so insensitive.

"Imagine how the parents feel … they sent him to ‘the world's greatest competition,' only to never see him alive again. How do you bear with that statement that it was your son's fault?"

There are grief-stricken Georgian residents here and at home in light of the news.

"I remember when we first found out. My whole family cried. I had tears in my eyes. A 20-year-old who went there with his hopes and dreams lost his life," she said. What baffles Kovziridze is what seems to have been a lack of adequate safety measures to protect the athletes.

"A death (in the Olympics) is very rare. All they needed to do is have proper precautions. By not having the proper safety, it was a death sentence."

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee issued a statement shortly after the accident saying in part, "There was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track."

According to The Wall Street Journal, the International Luge Federation said that "Mr. Kumaritashvili failed to compensate properly when he slid into the last curve."

But the paper also reports that later on, the chairman of the Federation admitted that the track was indeed "faster than its designers ever intended it to be."

"When I looked into it, I found that there were two other accidents by medalists on that track. What I would like to see is a proper investigation into the dangers of this track that involves also looking at previous accidents," said Kovziridze.

The track's safety is still a subject of debate.

Many are pointing to Associated Press reports of athletes complaining that the track generated speeds faster than they had trained for and that severe wipe-outs had been occurring prior to Kumaritashvili's death.

"First there were warnings, then there were accidents, and then there was a death … I think that the officials should admit their fault and not blame this on the athlete. I think they should comfort his family and everyone else worldwide," she said.

Kovziridze would also like to see a proper memorial for Kumaritashvili.
"It's sad how [VANOC] tried to put the whole thing under the rug, cover it up and move on. But somebody died."

She noted that the whole of Georgia is mourning for Kumaritashvili. For many he was a role model and his death has left the country "devastated."

"It doesn't matter what country this athlete is from — this was just mishandled."