death_date nationality birth_date residence education country death_place headercolor imagesize image name caption fullname birth_place height sport weight article_title turnedpro
12 february 2010 georgian 25 november 1988 bakuriani , georgia georgian technical university georgia whistler , british columbia , canada # 85d7a4 150 nodar kumaritashvili.jpg nodar kumaritashvili nodar kumaritashvili , official ioc picture nodar kumaritashvili -lrb- ka ნოდარ ქუმარიტაშვილი -rrb- borjomi , georgian ssr , soviet union 1.79 luge 80 kg lb on nodar kumaritashvili
 2008
nodar kumaritashvili

nodar kumaritashvili -lrb- ; ; 25 november 1988 -- 12 february 2010 -rrb- was a georgian luger who suffered a fatal crash during a training run for the 2010 winter olympics competition in whistler , canada , on the day of the opening ceremony .
he became the fourth athlete to have died during winter olympics preparations , after british luger kazimierz kay-skrzypeski , australian skier ross milne -lrb- both innsbruck 1964 -rrb- , and swiss speed skier nicolas bochatay -lrb- albertville 1992 -rrb- , and the seventh athlete to die in either a summer or winter olympic games .
kumaritashvili , who first began to luge when he was 13 , came from a family of seasoned lugers ; a relative of his was the founder of organised sledding in georgia , and his father competed when he was younger .
a cousin of kumaritashvili on his father 's side was the head of the georgian luge federation ; kumaritashvili himself began competing in the 2008 -- 09 luge world cup , where he finished 55th out of 62 racers .
outside of luge , kumaritashvili had been a student at the georgian technical university , where he earned an economics degree in 2009 .
