1. Nodar Kumaritashvili became the fourth athlete to die during preparations for a Winter Olympics, and the eighth athlete to die as a result of Olympic competition or during practice at their sport's venue at an Olympic Games.
21 Facts About Nodar Kumaritashvili
1. 2.
Nodar Kumaritashvili had been a student at the Georgian Technical University, where he earned an economics degree in 2009.
3.
Nodar Kumaritashvili was born on 25 November 1988, in Borjomi, Georgian SSR, present-day Georgia, to David and Dodo Nodar Kumaritashvili.
4.
Nodar Kumaritashvili had one sister, Mariam, who was four years younger.
5.
Nodar Kumaritashvili's father David won a USSR Youth Championship when Georgia was part of the Soviet Union, and he was a three-time champion at the Spartakiad: once in two-man bobsleigh and twice in luge.
6.
Nodar Kumaritashvili grew up in nearby Bakuriani, which is known for its many ski slopes.
7.
Nodar Kumaritashvili enjoyed several winter sports and started luge when he was 13 years old.
8.
On 12 February 2010, after 25 previous attempts, 15 of them from the men's start, Nodar Kumaritashvili was fatally injured in a crash during his final training run, after losing control in the last turn of the course.
9.
Nodar Kumaritashvili was thrown off his luge and over the sidewall of the track, striking an unpadded steel support pole at the end of the run.
10.
Nodar Kumaritashvili was airlifted to a Whistler hospital, where he died of his injuries.
11.
Nodar Kumaritashvili became the fourth athlete to die during preparations for a Winter Olympics, after British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki and Australian skier Ross Milne, and Swiss speed skier Nicolas Bochatay.
12.
Nodar Kumaritashvili was the sixteenth participating athlete to die during the course of the Olympic Games, including practice at the Olympic venue before the opening ceremony.
13.
At the opening ceremony, only hours after Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed, the seven remaining members of the Georgian Olympic team wore black armbands, bore the Georgian flag with a black ribbon tied to it, and left a space vacant in the procession, as marks of respect.
14.
Fellow teammate and luger Levan Gureshidze, who was to compete with Nodar Kumaritashvili, withdrew after the crash, telling teammates that he "couldn't go on", and went home to attend the funeral.
15.
Early in the morning of 17 February 2010, Nodar Kumaritashvili's body arrived in Tbilisi.
16.
The FIL stated that Nodar Kumaritashvili's death "was not caused by an unsafe track," but as a preventive measure the walls at the exit of curve16 were raised, and the ice profile was adjusted.
17.
The report found that the sled used by Nodar Kumaritashvili had met all FIL standards.
18.
Nodar Kumaritashvili called upon the FIL to require athletes to engage in more mandatory training sessions prior to the Olympic Games and other major competitions.
19.
Nodar Kumaritashvili wouldn't have won the right to take part in the Olympics if he lacked experience.
20.
In 2013, Mont Hubbard, a University of California, Davis, mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, issued a report claiming that Nodar Kumaritashvili's crash was probably caused by a "fillet," a joint between the lower edge of the curve and a vertical wall.
21.
Hubbard suggested that the right runner of Nodar Kumaritashvili's sled rose up the fillet, launching him into the air.