by: Nicole E. Wise
The 2010 Winter Olympics began last week in Vancouver, Canada. I’m
generally obsessed with the Olympics, because I’m a klutz with no real
athletic skill, and therefore can’t help but be impressed with every
athlete involved. But these Olympic Games have been tainted miserably,
and I can’t get excited about the Games in the way I have in the past.
Even before the Opening Ceremonies, a tragic accident occurred at
Whistler Track, where all luge events take place. A Georgian luger,
Nodar Kumaritashvili, died on Friday, February 12th after he flew off
the luge track and crashed into a metal pole along its side.
In less than one day came a statement from Olympic officials that the
crash was the result of “human error”. There were comments about the
G-forces involved in luging and about how Mr. Kumaritashvili came late
into a turn and was overcompensating, causing him to lose control and
leave the track.
I have to admit that I know little about the luge and therefore these
statements may all be very true. However, I am fairly confident that
flying down a track of ice at 90mph is not inherently safe, and that
people frequently lose control and come off that track. I would also
have to guess it’s pretty foreseeable that if there is a large metal
pole at some point along the track, there is a chance someone may hit
that pole.
These logical thoughts are what have led me to be sickened by the
comments of Olympic officials. Within 24 hours, during the height of
grief, officials made the “human error” statement, essentially blaming
the victim for his own death. It seems clear to me that even the
officials did not entirely believe this statement. They immediately
moved the starting point up to decrease track speeds, increased the
height of the wall near where Mr. Kumaritashvili exited the track, and
added padding to the metal poles along the track.
It would seem to me that Olympic officials realized just how dangerous
this track was, but, of course, they could never admit it. Instead, it
was necessary to quickly move into legal mode and deny any wrongdoing
or negligence. To apologize or admit that perhaps they should have
taken greater safety precautions would make any lawsuit that may be
brought much stronger. The statements that the track was safe and
blaming the athlete were the statements of an organization which was
completely aware that a lawsuit is a very real possibility.
Everyone I have spoken to regarding this has expressed his or her
disgust with the statement blaming the luger in this situation. It
seems very obvious that the moral thing to do in this situation would
be to admit that it was a mistake to not take greater precautions. The
safety of the track had been questioned for months and even small
changes (perhaps by just having some padding on the pole in order to
reduce the extent of injuries) may have prevented this tragedy. At
the very least, Olympic officials could have had a shred of compassion
and refrained from pointing fingers when Mr. Kumaritashvili’s loved
ones had barely even begun the grieving process.
Instead, they did what was legally correct – denied liability and
began setting up a legal defense. While this may help them in any
future litigation, I can’t imagine that many people throughout the
world believed a word of what was said and I’m sure it didn’t allay
the fears of lugers who had to travel down the same track the next
day. Even more importantly, to make these statements within 24 hours
of Mr. Kumaritashvili’s death must have only added to the pain felt by
his family and fellow athletes.
I think we would each like to believe that the legal and the moral are
one and the same, or at least that they intersect more frequently than
not. Ultimately, Olympic officials showed last week that this simply
is not the case and unfortunately the legal and the moral are in two
different realms, even when the entire world is watching.
