Word: luger
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
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...
...laws of probability will prevail. During the 2006 Winter Games, snowboard cross - making its rookie debut in the Olympics - was a charming hit. Without question, it's one of the more spectator-friendly events; the races are fast, unpredictable and dramatic at the finish. Since the death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili last week, however, it hasn't been that much fun to witness such dangerous pursuits...
Just spend a few minutes around Marty Lawthers, the mother of chipper U.S. Olympic luger Chris Mazder, and you'll discover the roots of Mazder's disposition. During Sunday afternoon's men's luge final at the Whistler Sliding Center, Lawthers enthusiastically shows off both her cowbells - one has a pink ribbon that Mazder's girlfriend gave him - and the "Go Chris!" face paint on her cheeks. But mention Friday's tragic luge accident, which claimed the life of Nodar Kumaritashvili, who hailed the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and Lawthers' sunny mood soon turns dark. "A death happened just...
...accident. "I was pretty scared the whole time," says Domen Pociecha of Slovakia, who finished 27th. "Of course, what happened will still go through your mind. It doesn't matter where you start." Many athletes were grateful for the adjustments. "The track was really, really fast today," says Polish luger Maciej Kurowski, who finished 23rd. "If we would have kept it at the men's start, it would have been crazy fast...
...Glum Canadian women's luger Alex Gough, also on hand to watch the men's competition, could not hide her disappointment. "I understand that they needed to have a reaction," she says. "It was an unfortunate and tragic accident. But they didn't have to go that far." Even in the face of tragedy, the lugers are looking to retain their athletic advantage. That's either a sign of their ability to cope; or a somewhat unfortunately reminder that at the end of the day, victory still matters most...