Vancouver '10 Games

[Forostar]

I saw that...the luge. Sadness, but the games will go on. Athletes do dangerous things. Well...except for curlers.

Other people do dangerous things.

(... “Embedded in this note (from Fendt) is a warning that the track is, in their view, too fast and someone could get badly hurt.’’ He added: “An athlete gets badly injured or worse, and I think the case could be made we were warned and did nothing.’’ ... )

 

[LooseCannon]

I find that article to be terribly written. It's an opinion piece. The author points out that VANOC was told the track was too fast. OK, and the guy forwarded it on to the committee. Good job. They then followed this up with 30 track modifications, and the international body released the track. All that being said, the author of the article put released in phantom quotes, to suggest that there was something suspicious.

What happened with this was that someone made a mistake and said the track was good to go when it really wasn't. VANOC isn't full of experts, FIL is.

I find this section to be remiss:

Worse did, tragically, occur. And VANOC had been warned. And, while they did some things — about 30 alterations to the track in total before FIL “released’’ the track for competition — it clearly wasn’t enough.

Wasn't enough according to WHO? Nobody foresaw that someone would die, and there is no suggestion of those sorts of fears being covered up. The suggestion is that the head of FIL thought the track was dangerous. The author has left the timeline out of her article...which is very, very important. This person is writing to make news, not reporting the news.

 

[Forostar]

OK I could have linked a better article, but I thought it's important to make an update. I always felt this case stank. It was on TV here and probably in most countries.

 

[LooseCannon]

As well it should be, but the fault lies with FIL who certified the track. And probably with the IOC.