SHOCK: Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian Luge Slider, Dies After Hitting Metal Pole During Training Run at Vancouver Olympics

SHOCK: Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian luge slider dies after hitting metal pole during training run at Vancouver Olympics.

SHOCK:  Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian luge slider competing at the Vancouver Olympics, died Friday after hitting a metal pole during a training run. According to the Vancouver Sun, Kumaritashvili was traveling at speeds greater than 90 miles per hour at the time of the crash. This may have been an accident waiting to happen because the luge track, which was dubbed the fastest ever, had  raised concerns even before the fatal crash:

Training days in Whistler have been crash-filled. A Romanian woman was briefly knocked unconscious and at least four Americans - Chris Mazdzer on Wednesday, Megan Sweeney on Thursday and both Tony Benshoof and Bengt Walden on Friday in the same training session where Zoeggeler wrecked - have had serious trouble just getting down the track.

"I think they are pushing it a little too much," Australia's Hannah Campbell-Pegg said Thursday night after she nearly lost control in training. "To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives."

Reuters is reporting that Georgia may pull out of the Olympics due to this terrible accident. This is such a sad turn of events. This will, no doubt, weigh heavily on the other athletes during the next few days of competition, but I am sure, Nodar Kumaritashvili, would want the luge competition to go on. It is truly a sad turn of events.