According to a 20-page report released Monday, the International Luge Federation (FIL) blamed the death of Georgian racer Nodar Kumaritashvili on his driving mistakes calling it an “unforeseeable accident” and that a “complex series of interrelated events” led to the fatal crash during a training run at the Vancouver Olympics.
The report said “Nodar did commit driving errors starting in curve 15-16, which as an accumulation ended in the impact that resulted in him leaving the track and subsequently hitting a post”, and that “blunt force trauma to the base of his skull” caused the fatality”.
It said that the type of accident that led to Kumaritashvili’s death had never been seen previously.
The Associated Press reports that the report said, “this bowing of the sled has not been seen before and was therefore not predictable by technical and safety experts. No athlete would have control in dealing with this type of ‘catapult’ effect”.
The FIL said that the wall on the left side of the finishing curve of the Whistler track “was deemed to have been correctly calculated and constructed to handle a crash in this area and to prevent the departure from the track by an athlete (under normal crash situations)”.
FIL Secretary General Svein Romstad said, “what happened to Nodar has been an unforeseeable fatal accident. After an in-depth analysis we concluded that there was no single reason, but a complex series of inter-related events which led to this tragedy”.
The report also showed that because speeds at the Whistler track were faster than originally calculated by the design firm, the FIL asked the organizers for additional training days.
