What if the terrible tragedy of the luger's death would have happened in the USA?

I’m going to unload on the goddamn lousy design of that track. Who in their right mind would put unprotected steel posts on the outside of a curve? That is the worst f**king thing I have ever seen. Sorry, that sets me off.

I don’t think that would have been the foremost consideration. There is some talk about the pillars not being wrapped and the speed of the track.

Sorry, that didn’t address your question. I don’t think it would be viewed any differently where ever it happened.

”Would people from around the world be more apt to blame the Americans or…”

Who cares what people around the world think or say?. for that matter, who cares what they think or say here in the US? Most people are just parroting what they are told by their slanted or outright deceitful news media…Most people don’t have an original thought emanating from their tiny little brains…

I will apologize to the international community in advance for this. I’m a hardcore American, and it has been pointed out to me we have a chip on our shoulder. My response to anyone that wants to diss the US involves the middle fingers of both hands.

Dick Cheyney has just pointed out that a fatal Olympic accident never happened during the Bush administration. Just sayin’

No, they just killed 5000 kids overseas.

Don’t know about the legal system in Canada, but would be about 100 lawyers there by now if had happened in the USA!

@BoBo1946 Want me on the jury?

The Canadian Olympic officials are getting accused of not responding to early indications that the track was yielding speeds in excess of its design parameters. The suggestion is that Canadian officials have attempted to favor the Canadian team by creating a difficult track and then giving the home country team access to it for practice while denying that access to other teams (the Canadian team members had over 300 runs each on the track; other teams’ athletes were allowed only 40).

No one is actually saying that this is the result of a flagrant design flaw that someone should have caught. The international governing bodies of luge signed off on the course, so it can’t have been that obvious.

Honestly, I think the idea that blame for accidents like this has to be pinned on somebody is an American phenomenon that most of the rest of the world doesn’t subscribe to. We’ve come to assume that we’re so good at foreseeing and eliminating risk that when there is an injury, then somebody didn’t do their job and should get pilloried. Most other cultures are more accepting of risk than we are.

That is the best designed deathtrap I have come across in a long time. You never want to decelerate the human body from any speed to O in an instant. That design guarantees any impact is going to be deadly. How did no one see that. I saw the video and I said he’s never going to survive.

@Adirondackwannabe loll..hey, that is the truth…they would be there like “stink on poop!”

Like everything, they will learn from this deal and make it safer. Remember back years ago when the racing jump over the fences and killed lots of people!! You never hear of that now.

What’s driving me nuts is it was so plainly obvious if someone gets tossed off their sled at that point, and they have any chance of hitting one of those posts, their dead. Bristol Tennesee has a race track (NASCAR). Years ago they had an opening in the wall to bring stuff across the track from outside. Michael Waltrip hit the gate they had in there just right, so he caught the beginning edge of the other side of the wall and his car stopped instantly. Instant pile of scrap metal. I have never seen a car so destroyed. The same principle applies here. Never decelerate the body all in an instant. Those posts should have been covered.

I would just like to point out that that turn that he got killed on, was nick-named the “50/50 turn”. In other words, you had a 50/50 chance of getting past it alive.

The turns okay. We’re looking to see who’s the best in the world. It’s what happens when you don’t make it thru the turn that needs to be considered. That’s why seat belts come in handy sometimes.

Okay, Now that I have beat this issue to death, I’ll move on and get a life.

We would be at war with Canada.

In the next Olympics, they will increase the height of the walls and that will solve the problem! Also, would not surprise me, if they put side boards on the outside of the lug with lots of padding.

Just like car racing, over the years, they have made racing safer and safer….same will be done here.

So it seems most of you didn’t jump to the same assumption as I did, and I am happy to see that.
@Harp Maybe you are right about other countries being more accepting of risk than the U.S.
I think maybe the next luge track should be designed by @Adirondackwannabe and @BoBo1946 it sounds like you both have it figured out! ;)
@davidbetterman I do agree about the media!

Thank you all for your answers.

I would expect no different response.