Athlete training death forced major changes to Olympics track

He died just days before he was able to compete for his country.

Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died during a training run at the Whistler Sliding Centre in British Columbia, Canada when he lost control of his sled and hit a steel pole beside the track.

Kumaritashvili was preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympics which was set to begin the following day.

The death marked a first at a major Luge competition in 35 years, casting a huge shadow over the 2010 Games.

The day after the tragic accident, International Olympics Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge addressed the media in an emotional press conference where he said: "The IOC is in deep mourning.

"[Kumaritashvili] lost his life pursuing his passion. I have no words to say what we feel.''

A coroner’s report revealed his immediate cause of death as ‘multiple blunt force injuries due to or as a consequence of collision with a fixed structure’.

Both the International Luge Federation and the Vancouver 2010 organising committee carried out a further investigation, which concluded that there was ‘no indication the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track’, saying the track would reopen the following day with changes to ‘avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again’.

However, at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea major changes were made to the luge track, including a raised wall.

Along with this, the ice profile of the track was altered to ensure incidents like the one that took the life of Kumaritashvili in 2010 didn’t happen again.

Speaking at the 2018 event in PyeonChang, Canadian Tristan Walker, who competed in the men's doubles luge event in 2010, told Reuters: "It was hard for everyone.

"It was obviously such a negative thing that overshadowed a lot of the Olympics. It's a dangerous sport," he added.

"Honestly, you look at the personalities around the track, that's why we do it."

Luge tracks are now designed to limit speeds to 140 kph for a sport in which sledders wear helmets but little other protection.

No deaths have been recorded in high-level competitions since Vancouver.