Word: kumaritashvili
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Dates: during 2010-2010
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...Canada on top of the medals table - generated almost as much criticism as podium finishes. The plan limited rivals' access to facilities like the sliding and speedskating tracks, prompting protests from foreign competitors. Some even suggested that it contributed to the tragic death of Georgian luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili. Others claimed that it heaped too much pressure on the home nation's athletes. London chair Coe has defended the initiative in recent days; a two-time Olympic track champion, he knows all about high expectations. But managing expectations, and limiting the grumbles of others, will surely be in London...
HANNAH CAMPBELL-PEGG, an Australian luger, calling Vancouver's Olympic course unsafe just a day before Georgia's Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, was killed in a high-speed crash...
...luge lover reared in a tiny ski resort in Georgia, Nodar Kumaritashvili seemed destined to slide in the Olympics. Sadly, he never got his chance. Kumaritashvili died on Feb. 12, at age 21, a few hours before the Olympic opening ceremonies. During a training run, Kumaritashvili's sled struck an inside wall on the final turn of the luge track, and he was catapulted into an unpadded steel support column. The accident cast an instant pall over the Olympics and called into question the track's design. In the week leading up to the Games, many luge athletes openly wondered...
...Vancouver Olympics could not have started on a more somber note. On Feb. 12, a fateful Friday that broke the hearts of those who strongly believe in, or genuinely scoff at, the so-called Olympic ideal - faster, higher, stronger - Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a horrific crash during a training run. The opening ceremonies, held later that evening, were tainted. Fingers were pointed. It was a tragedy that will forever question the intelligence of selling outrageous risk as global sport...
After the shock of Kumaritashvili's accident wore off - and face it, we tend to quickly move on from such tragedy - the Vancouver Games offered the wonderful highs, and head-scratching lows, typical of any Olympics. In hindsight, all the early whining about glitches, like the need for snow to be helicoptered onto a dry mountain, and malfunctioning ice machines, seems silly. We'll remember the likes of Joannie Rochette, the Canadian figure skater who displayed genuine bravery while toe-looping and triple-axling two days after her mother died of a massive heart attack. We'll also feel...