Contact: Aric Bishop.

Jackie Northwest Missouri State

Strohm. Audrey Goebel. Bree University

Berner. Rachael Randall.
Olympic luge accident
Phone 641 344 4810
Fax 676 555 0191
Crisis Communication
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

Olympic Luge Accident

Opening day of the Winter Olympics was marked
with Tragedy
Nodar Kumaritashvili, a 21-year-old Georgian luger, was involved
in a fatal crash during a training exercise. Kumaritashvili lost
control, crashing into the wall entering final straightaway. His body
then went airborne, arms and legs flailing over the opposite side of
the track, his upper body smashing into an unpadded steel pole.
The accident only took 48.9 seconds, start to crash.
Paramedics began working on Kumaritshvili within seconds,
quickly starting chest compressions and mouth to mouth
resuscitation. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said
Kumaritahvili was pronounced dead at a trauma center in Whistler.
Less than an hour after the accident, representatives from each
team was told the startling news, an investigation was opened,
and security officials closed access to the crash area and the
remainder of the track for the rest of the day, and all further training
runs were cancelled.
After the death of the luger, the IOC sprung into action responding
to the accident with a multi-point plan:
• Shut down the luge track to prevent any more death
• Conduct an internal investigation
• Let an “independent” authority do its own investigation
• Make immediate modifications to the luge track to stop future
accidents

For Release 3:30 p.m. March 6, 2010