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Whistler Sliding Center Fact Sheet (did environmentalism play a role in luger death?)
Whistler 2010 Olympics Website ^ | 2/12/2010 | Yossarian

Posted on 02/12/2010 3:02:32 PM PST by Yossarian

click here to read article


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1 posted on 02/12/2010 3:02:33 PM PST by Yossarian
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To: Yossarian
◦track shading and weather protection system

And this one, too.

2 posted on 02/12/2010 3:07:21 PM PST by Onelifetogive (Flame away...)
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To: Yossarian

How hard would it be to put some padding on those poles? Or do like Nascar does with a “safer barrier”?


3 posted on 02/12/2010 3:08:03 PM PST by Abigail Adams
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To: Yossarian

“After looking at the crash footage, that “minimize required vegetation clearing and to reduce facility footprint” really jumps out at you, doesn’t it?”

No.

BTW, do the heads-first skeleton athletes use the same track?

And why the name skeleton? Morbid humor?


4 posted on 02/12/2010 3:08:35 PM PST by Shermy
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To: Yossarian
.
steel I-beam supports a mere 2 to 3 feet away

Seems extremely dangerous -- surely somebody must have noticed and said something?

Or was this just a freak accident?

5 posted on 02/12/2010 3:09:19 PM PST by Touch Not the Cat
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To: Yossarian

Poor design coming out of the curve, both sides should have
been clear of obstructions until entering the next curve.


6 posted on 02/12/2010 3:11:53 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Abigail Adams
Safety barriers I can see.

I don't think cushioning the support beams would do a darn thing, given the angle of approach and speed (80 to 95 MPH) the lugers are going.

I think the goal of any barrier would be to put the athlete back on the track, where they can lose their energy gradually, like over the course of 10 seconds or more.

7 posted on 02/12/2010 3:12:55 PM PST by Yossarian
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To: Touch Not the Cat

Two weeks of human trials coming up to determine if it is “freak.”

They should raid the local CFL team of blocking dummies and duct tape them around the poles.


8 posted on 02/12/2010 3:13:57 PM PST by Shermy
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To: Shermy
BTW, do the heads-first skeleton athletes use the same track? And why the name skeleton? Morbid humor?

Yes, they use the same track. As to the name, I suppose it seems more "technical" than just calling it a "sled".

("Flexible Flyer" is probably covered by trademark issues....)

9 posted on 02/12/2010 3:14:44 PM PST by Yossarian
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To: Yossarian

Something should have been done. It seems so obviously dangerous!


10 posted on 02/12/2010 3:17:05 PM PST by Abigail Adams
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To: Yossarian

I have to ask... this can’t be the first time that someone has been on that luge track.

Wasn’t it used prior to today, for training, or something?

RS


11 posted on 02/12/2010 3:20:04 PM PST by RikaStrom (Pray for Obama - Psalm 109:8 "Let his days be few; and let another take his place of leadership.")
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To: Shermy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46YEDq2oTcg

Skeleton should be called reverse luge....


12 posted on 02/12/2010 3:20:08 PM PST by GraceG
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To: Yossarian

I think luge is inherently pretty dangerous. There’s no way to build a barrier-free track. See these examples of luge accidents on other luge runs. Barriers are par for the course, if you will. But in most accidents, the rider ends up staying in the track itself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG99ULoWXHU&feature=related


13 posted on 02/12/2010 3:21:38 PM PST by DrC
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To: DrC

I was watching the ESPN crawler reporting the accident and it said that 12 lugers have been injured there. That sounds pretty high even for a sport this dangerous.


14 posted on 02/12/2010 3:34:02 PM PST by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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To: DrC
In that video (pretty good one, too), I only see one small portion that looks like the "close-by adjacent vertical beams" present on the Whistler course.

It looks like they have a lot of "J-Beams" that hold a fabric cover close to the course, but from what I can tell, they are positioned so that if you fly off the course, you're going to rebound off the fabric first.

Yes, luge is a dangerous sport, but it can be made less dangerous by making smart choices regarding the track design. Those choices should never be infringed upon by environmental concerns, which might have happened here.

15 posted on 02/12/2010 3:34:47 PM PST by Yossarian
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To: DrC

The details will all come out eventually.


16 posted on 02/12/2010 3:36:13 PM PST by Ciexyz
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To: RikaStrom

This is the third crash today on the same track. The others were women. A Romanian and an American.


17 posted on 02/12/2010 3:37:14 PM PST by passionfruit (When illegals become legal, even they won't do the work Americans won't do)
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To: Yossarian

Video of the crash. It’s pretty apparent the course isn’t safe.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6202459n


18 posted on 02/12/2010 3:41:42 PM PST by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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To: saganite

You know it’s bad when someone hits a large steel piling and it goes “clang.”


19 posted on 02/12/2010 3:56:14 PM PST by PLMerite (Ride to the sound of the Guns - I'll probably need help.)
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To: Ciexyz

The Vancouver Olympic Committee and the IOC have some serious “lawyering up” to do.


20 posted on 02/12/2010 3:57:12 PM PST by dfwgator
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