Men's Luge now being started at Women's start line...

[SidDithers]

for the 6th training run, to reduce the speed on the track. The more experienced luge athletes are not happy about the change. They've also added a full wall along the exit to the corner where the Georgian luger was killed.

Sid

[vadawg]

1. what the point, let the athletes decide, they are the ones who know the risks

what next no biathlon due to the fact that they carry a rifle and someone could lose an eye...

[Oregone]

5. No, its not up to the athletes. Its up the the governing body.

Please read the following and note the date:
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=39462.html

"In 30 years, who knows?" said Canadian luger Jeff Christie, a Vancouver native who represents the athletes. "But I know that the FIL has told tracks that in the future, 135ish is about it."

-----

They were pushing the envelope with this track, and many were not happy with it. It went beyond what a human, even an experienced Olympian, could possibly control. No future tracks were going to be permitted to be this fast, so why wait? Leaving risk up to the people can cause a lot of death. That is why governments and rules often exist: to protect everyone.

[gristy]

21. It's an evaluation of level of risk

Not black or white. The death yesterday as well as the number of crashes on this course shows this is the right thing to do. You think an athlete is going to decide not to race after his years of training and perhaps suffering crashes and injuries in the past? No athlete is going to decide unilaterally to not race. By lowering the starting line, everyone gets to race safely.

[Fresh_Start]

27. athletes knowing the risks may be true

but whether they believe the risks or whether they understand that they personally are at risk may not be true

All you need to do is look at the use of drugs in sports to realize that the athletes, nor their coaches, have proven to be the best judges about the risks they should be allowed to bear.

Let the governing body decide.

[spanone]

28. hell yea, it's not like somebody died or anything

:sarcasm: :hi:

[951-Riverside]

2. but but but it was human error!

http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/olympics/other/view/20100213probe_olympic_track_didnt_cause_lugers_death/

:eyes:

[Junkdrawer]

14. The people responsible for a 21 yr. old's death find themselves innocent?

Color me shocked!

[redwitch]

3. Good, I'm glad.

It's not necessary to make the sport more dangerous than it already is.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Oregone]

7. Im not sure why toning down one of the most dangerous luge tracks in history is "coddling"

You say that like this isn't an exceptionally fast track with remarkable G force. Yeah, them old tracks probably wouldn't hold a candle to those turns and that speed.

"Turn 13 banks sharply to the left and sends the sleds into a horseshoe-shaped curve that slings them to the finish line. Two-time overall World Cup bobsleigh champion Steve Holcomb nicknamed it "50/50" after half the sleds crashed during the World Cup training run. Some track modifications since then will give the drivers a little more leeway going into it during the Olympics.

"There is a human limit," says Canadian luge coach and former German doubles medalist Wolfgang Staudinger. "I hope we don't increase the speed of our tracks. Whistler is on the limit." "

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=39462.html

[DJ13]

11. Taming is a relative term

The participants obviously dont want to see the men start at the women's line (per the link).

The track is already being slowed by warming up the refrigerant so the ice isnt as slippery.

The wall is being raised to prevent a recurrence of the crash.

My point was, look at the history of sport, most of todays athletes would probably wet themselves facing the common dangers our grand parents generation faced in competition.

[Oregone]

12. Wet themselves?

I don't think you understand today's athletes and past athletes at all in your attempt to be nostalgic.

These competitors aren't hobbyists with day jobs. Many have been bred into their sport since early childhood. It encompasses their lives. Not a minute goes by that they are not training, meditating, dieting, or learning about their sports. These types of athletes have transformed themselves into machines in their first two decades of life. If you are stuck in the past, I don't even think you could imagine their dedication and work ethic to be where they are today.

I had a glimpse of this as an amatuer athlete in college (a sport I put 20 years into before I was 25). Sports were an institution, like martial arts. Everything was secondary to training, practicing, lifting, eating 5000 good calories, and competing. When you live this life, there is no room for fear.

Get out of your good ol days talk. Its a nice game and all, but its just a bit out-dated.

[DJ13]

15. Today technical abilities have replaced guts in sports

Thats what sports have become.

Would Jimmie Johnson (4x NASCAR champion) get into a 1960 Indy car and drive at 150+ mph with only a leather helmet as protection?

Of course not, he would think thats nuts.

I have nothing but respect for modern athletes, but as sports became big business it became overly safety conscious by necessity (lawsuits), and as a result it has homogenized the resulting competition.

Everyone must be equal.

No advantage is allowed.

Being on the edge and using your skills to rise above the fear of your competitors to obtain an advantage is gone, replaced by a pseudo competition that has become one of managed results.

Lets stop kidding ourselves, sports as they exist today, have very little dangers left in them compared to the way they existed only a few short decades back.

Thats a good thing, but were getting to the point where the term "sport" is becoming as prepackaged as professional wrestling due to the over regulted nature of modern sports.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

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[DJ13]

18. LOL

You personalize things a little too much.

Step back and see opposing viewpoints for a change.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DJ13]

23. I already said I understood the changes were by necessity

I also said sports are now big business (which implies its no longer a hobby).

All Im saying is that sports have become a commodity, one where the resulting competitions have little resemblance to the anything goes nature that all sports originated with.

Sure sports today are still interesting, my only concern is that one competitor can no longer exceed the limits to gain an advantage due to the over regulated nature of sports being big business, and with that something is lost.

[Oregone]

25. Wow, thats the quickest Ive ever ruffled feathers

I guess pointing out broad generalizations is now against DU rules?

I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings. That wouldn't be fair, now, would it?

Good day

[DJ13]

26. Wasnt me, I didnt find anything you posted offensive

:shrug:

[frazzled]

10. You're worried about emasculation?

Really? Even for the 50% of athletes at these games who are women? It's not about skill or honor or any of the rest of it, eh? It's just about who has the biggest balls?

If the Olympics becomes only about daredevil, testosterone-driven stunts and the prurient interest of viewers hoping to see a disaster, then fie on the Olympics. It might as well be NASCAR or WWF.

I worry about people who worry about being emasculated.

[shadowrider]

6. Do you have a link?

Where did you hear this?

[SidDithers]

9. No link, sorry...

I'm watching the Canadian coverage of the 6th training run, and the CTV Luge analyst made that comment after talking to some of the top sliders. The Russian top slider, Demchenko (sp?) was on camera yesterday saying he didn't think the track was bad.

Sid

[HeresyLives]

8. The run has been in use for two years,

and was approved by all the proper sports bodies.

Of course it dangerous...so is downhill skiing...so is hockey...that's why the athletes do it.

[MercutioATC]

13. I think the point is that the end of the run's surroundings are poorly designed.

I disagree with mandating a new start point, but governing body approval or not, that end stretch was REALLY poorly designed.

[Junkdrawer]

19. From what I read, it's more than the end of the run's "surroundings"....

most tracks level out and have more gradual turns at the end.

Whistler has steeper end grades and much, much tighter turns.

On Edit:

This was published a week before the accident:

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=39462.html

[Junkdrawer]

16. First they ruined NASCAR with all those safety devices...

now they're ruining Luge and Bobsled by keeping the athletes under 100 mph!

What's next? Safety tips on the swords in the Colosseum?

[gristy]

22. Yeah, I know. Not nearly enough crashes resulting in death at NASCAR.

That's what I'm looking for when I watch, and I rarely come away satisfied.

:sarcasm:

[mitchum]

24. And they won't let them pack heat during the event!

Mollycoddling