The Gazette published recently information about death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.
Georgia reacted angrily on Tuesday to allegations that organizers of the Vancouver Winter Olympics knew in advance about potential dangers on a track where a Georgian luger was killed.
"This new information is a huge scandal," the vice-president of Georgia's Olympics Committee, Vakhtang Gegelia, said.
Emails obtained by the Vancouver Sun revealed Monday that the organizing committee for the 2010 Games was made aware of safety concerns with its luge track nearly a year before the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili on Feb. 12, 2010.
The 21-year-old athlete crashed during a training run on the day of the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Games.
Documents obtained from the Vancouver Olympics organizing committee indicate officials were discussing the possibility of an athlete getting "badly injured or worse" 11 months earlier.
The talk took place after the International Luge Federation questioned the safety of the track in a letter to its designer in March 2009. A copy of the letter was received by the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee.
"In this note (cryptic as it may be) is a warning that the track is in their view too fast and someone could get badly hurt," said organizing committee CEO John Furlong in an email.
"An athlete gets badly injured or worse and I think the case could be made we were warned and did nothing."
Furlong also writes: "I'm not sure where the exit sign or way out is on this. Our legal guys should review at least."
The luge federation apparently wanted major changes to six curves on the track as early as March 2005.
"I want to ask why they allowed this competition to go ahead if they knew in advance that the track was not safe," the luger's father, David Kumaritashvili, told Georgian television.
"Does it mean that my boy was condemned to death?"
Georgia's Olympics Committee will demand a new investigation into Kumaritashvili's death "if it is confirmed that there was negligence, that they knew beforehand that the safety norms were not ensured", Gegelia said.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Georgia+furious+over+luger+death+negligence+claim/4247131/story.html#ixzz1DYIlC03h
