Georgian luge competitor dies in practice at the Winter Olympics

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver opened under a pall last night after a Georgian athlete was killed in a training accident on a luge track said by many competitors to be too fast and too dangerous. Nodar Kumaritashvili, aged 21, died after losing control of his sled on the final turn at Whistler mountain. Officials immediately closed the track, which has been the subject of numerous complaints in recent days as well as a dozen crashes. Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, said the thoughts of the "Olympic family" was with the family and friends of the dead competitor. "This casts a shadow over these Games,'' he said as organisers scrambled to mark Kumaritashvili's death during last night's opening ceremony. They will also be under severe pressure to make changes to the track, which is due to host the bobsleigh and skeleton events, as well as the luge. Earlier in the day the gold-medal favourite for the men's luge event, Italy's Armin Zoeggeler, came off his sled. He slid on his back down several curves before coming to a stop and walking away. A Romanian female luge competitor was briefly knocked unconscious and at least four Americans 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 on Thursday 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." The Vancouver sledding track stretches for almost a mile and has a vertical drop of 148 metres . It has long had a reputation as the fastest in the world and is generally considered to be 10mph "faster" than any other stretch. It holds the world record speed for luge, at just under 100mph and even officials at the site were reported to have voiced concerns. "The track is too fast," said Josef Fendt, the president of the World Luge Federation. "We have planned it for a maximum speed of 137 kph but it is almost 20kph faster. We think this is planning mistake,'' Meanwhile, the Georgian team have confirmed they will compete at the Games. Nikolos Rurua, Georgia's Minister for Culture and Sport, told a news conference that the national team had "decided to be loyal to the spirit of the Olympic Games". He added that the athletes will "dedicate their performances to their fallen comrade". It was unclear whether or not the men's luge event, which was due to begin today, will start on schedule or even if it will be staged at all. Certainly the Games' organisers will have to address the safety of the track before allowing competitors back on it. Attention will also focus on the policy of the Canadian hosts of restricting access for competitors from other nations prior to the Games – a policy that is within the rules but has attracted criticism from other nations. Britain's Shelley Rudman, whose skeleton event will be held on the track, had complained she had been "severely hampered" by the lack of access. "The reality is, it's a different track, I haven't had that many runs there. The Canadians have had a phenomenal amount of runs there and they are very strong at the moment." According to the British Olympic Association chief executive, Andy Hunt, the British skeleton sliders have had just 10% of the practice time on the stretch that the Canadian team has enjoyed. Similar complaints had been voiced by the American sledders. "I think it shows a lack of sportsmanship," Ron Rossi, the executive director of USA Luge, told the New York Times. Yesterday's death of Kumaritashvili is the fourth in the history of the winter Olympics. In 1964 in Innsbruck the Australian skier Ross Milne and British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski died after training crashes, while in Albertville 1992, the Swiss speed skier Nicholas Bochatay was also killed in practice for the demonstration event.