The luge track at the Whistler Sliding Centre at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.JOHN LEHMANN
The International Luge Federation, which approved the Whistler sliding track for Olympic competition, remains "absolutely committed" to using the facility in the future, despite the training-run death of Nodar Kumaritashvili.
But Svein Romstad, the U.S.-based secretary general of the federation (FIL), said measures are being taken to ensure that competitors don't exceed the record speeds of 154 kilometres an hour recorded before the young Georgian luger's fatal accident.
"We are dealing with speeds we don't like, because speeds generally increase the more a track is used," said Romstad, who nonetheless defended the FIL's pre-Olympic assessment of the track as safe for competition.
In his first extensive comments since this week's furor over a 2009 e-mail from VANOC chief John Furlong, expressing worry about possible injury on the track, Romstad said the Olympic luge course was "fast, but not too fast. But next year, it could be 156, the year after that 158, and then 160. That's not what we want."
Still, the FIL expects to stage a World Cup event on the controversial track next year, and to play host to the world luge championships there in 2013.
There has been no luge competition on the Whistler track since last year's Olympics, although World Cup bobsled and skeleton events were held on the track late last year.
Luge track experts will be on site next month to make a careful assessment of its future start line, a process known as homologation. Should the line remain at the women's start, where it was shifted after Kumaritashvili's fatal accident, or be moved higher up?
As part of the review, the track designer, who wound up nearly 20 km/h too low in his original speed projections, has gone back to the drawing board and recalculated speeds on the track.
"There was a huge, huge gap [between projection and reality]in his calculations," Romstad said, noting the designer had told them the top luge speed at Whistler would be around 137 km/h.
Romstad said the revised calculations, based on the track's actual speed, include updated data on the specific G-forces at each stage of the course, including curve 16, where Kumaritashvili was catapulted out of his sled and killed when he hit a metal pole supporting a roof above the track.
With the new G-force information, experts can decide where, or if, pressures need to be alleviated on the athletes by making changes such as altering the ice profile, Romstad said.
"The experts are looking at that right now. It will also help them decide what is the best route to follow on the track."
He said it is unlikely the original top of the course will ever be used again in competition. "We don't want any speeds greater than 154 km/h, and sleds get faster every year. … Using that start would not give the track any longevity."
However, Romstad reiterated his belief that the Olympic track was not dangerous, despite its unprecedented speeds.
"It's so easy afterward to say we should have done something like lowering the start line beforehand," Romstad said, "but we had already made a lot of changes, and if we had seen something else that was deemed dangerous, we would have changed it."
He also defended the Vancouver Organizing Committee against charges the Olympic organizing committee and Furlong should have done something or pressed for changes to the track.
"VANOC worked hand in hand with us," Romstad said. "They were actively involved in the whole process. There was no conspiracy to make this a dangerous course. We talked to coaches, athletes, the experts. We looked at all the runs on that track, and there was no indication we were facing imminent disaster. Everything looked like it was going to be very fast, but manageable."
Meantime, the Georgian Olympic committee has asked VANOC to explain the e-mails revealed earlier this week, regarding the track's safety.
The first anniversary of Kumaritashvili's death will be marked at a special ceremony before Saturday's World Cup event in Russia. Athletes from the United States and possibly other countries plan to adorn their sleds with black stickers in his memory. As one commentator observed: In just three terrible seconds, Nodar Kumaritashvili went from unknown to unforgettable.