page_title: Nodar Kumaritashvili
section_title: Coroner's report
hierarchical_section_title: Nodar Kumaritashvili / Accident and death / Coroner's report
caption_attribution_description: English: Postal Stamp of Georgia - Nodar Kumaritashvili died at 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games Русский: Почтовая марка Грузии, посвящённая Нодару Кумариташвили, погибшему в 2010 году на Зимних Олимпийских Играх в Ванкувере
context_page_description: Nodar Kumaritashvili was a Georgian luge athlete who suffered a fatal crash during a training run for the 2010 Winter Olympics competition in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, on the day of the opening ceremony. He became the fourth athlete to die during preparations for a Winter Olympics, and the seventh athlete to die in either a Summer or Winter Olympic Games.
  Kumaritashvili, who first began to participate in luge when he was 13, came from a family of seasoned lugers: his grandfather had introduced the sport to the Soviet republic of Georgia, and both his father and uncle had competed when they were younger, with his uncle later serving as the head of the Georgian Luge Federation. Kumaritashvili himself began competing in the 2008–09 Luge World Cup. He had also been a student at the Georgian Technical University, where he earned an economics degree in 2009.
context_section_description: The British Columbia coroner's office investigated the incident. It was reported to be considering, among other pieces of evidence, written complaints about the safety of the Whistler track by Venezuelan luger Werner Hoeger – who crashed on the track on 13 November 2009, suffering a severe concussion – and information suggesting that the track was constructed in such a narrow and steep location, near the Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, for commercial reasons. The track designer, Udo Gurgel, said: "The track had to be near Whistler, for use after the Olympics. You don't want to ruin an investment so the track is on terrain that's a little steep." According to John Furlong, the chief executive of the 2010 Winter Olympics organizing committee, proposals to build the sliding centre on Grouse Mountain near Vancouver were rejected early in the bid phase due to reservations expressed by the international luge, and the bobsled and skeleton, federations.
  In a report dated 16 September 2010, the coroner ruled Kumaritashvili's death an accident brought on by an "interaction of factors", including the high speed of the track, its technical difficulty, and the athlete's relative unfamiliarity with the track. He wrote that during Kumaritashvili's training runs, it was reasonable to assume that "Mr. Kumaritashvili was sliding faster than ever before in his life, and was attempting to go even faster, while simultaneously struggling to learn the intricacies of the track and the dynamics it created". The coroner accepted that luging would always carry an element of risk and that the best practices known at the time had been followed in the construction of the Whistler track. He also called upon the FIL to require athletes to engage in more mandatory training sessions prior to the Olympic Games and other major competitions.
  The coroner also commented, "The organizers, regulatory bodies and venue owners must ensure that no effort is spared to anticipate the unforeseeable as far as safety is concerned," and to "err on the side of caution, insisting on more, rather than less."
  Responding to the report, Kumaritashvili's father said: "I don't accept the statement about Nodar's lack of experience. He wouldn't have won the right to take part in the Olympics if he lacked experience."
caption: 2010 Georgian postal stamp commemorating Kumaritashvili
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