The Guilt Remained
Year 2030, Whistler, British Columbia
John and I were playing on the sled in the snow and as I pushed him, bad memories haunted me and I got lost in my own world... He started calling me
John: Grandpa! Grandpa!
Jackson: Huh what?
John: What happened grandpa? What are you thinking?
Jackson: Huh? Oh! I just got lost in the memory lane.
John: What kind of memories grandpa?
Jackson: Memories that no one wants to revisit.
John: What do you mean?
Jackson: Those are bad memories son, bad memories.
John: Tell me grandpa, I want to hear them. Please, I want to hear a story.
Jackson: Alright son, alright. It's all the way back in the winter of 2010, the day I made the biggest mistake of my life. The day I regret till date. I was a volunteer at the Winter Olympics that took place in Vancouver that year.
On a bright Thursday morning I was given the responsibility to re-measure all the curves and luge drops for the newly built luge track. The track was made out of fake snow as it did not snow much that winter. Right when I was measuring, I got a message on the walkie-talkie. It was the manager; he was ready for the trial runs. He asked me.
Manager: We are ready for the trail runs on the luge tracks, are you done re-measuring the tack?
Jackson: Yup, almost done. I am on the second last curve.
Manager: Perfect! Make sure the track has no errors.
(Send all the lugers for a trail run near the track please.)
It was a 3,930 feet long track. As I finished measuring curve 15, the second last curve, lugers started coming in. In a rush I did not measure the last curve, the deadly curve 16, and the last luge drop. The last luge drop was 152 meters, words largest luge drop. That was the reason why many lugers lost control on it. First up was a female Romanian luger Violeta Stramaturaru. She went on the track and took position and in no time she was on the track sliding. She looked like as if she was gliding on ice like the birds glide in the sky. Her form was perfect! I was just praying nothing wrong happens as she passed curve 15. I almost got relieved when she passed curve 16 but, she crashed on the luge drop and was air-lifted from the tack. I panicked, but luckily she did not get injured that much. She was unconscious for a few minutes and had a couple bruises but her injuries were not considered serious. After her, many other female lugers went through the trial run and everything went fine. Maybe that is the reason why I forgot to measure the last two points that night. I shouldn’t have done that.
It was next morning now and I had forgotten about the track completely as almost everything went fine last night and I was given a few other tasks. This was a big day; it was the day before the games. The day which will be remembered by many people. Because on this day, Friday, February 12, 2010, something horrifying happened. First up was a gold medalist Armin Zoeggeler of Italy. It was all going well until he lost control on curve 16 too, it is then that I remembered about the track and the uncompleted measurements. Thank god nothing happened to the Italian luger. After him was the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. His trail run changed my entire life. He stood up so confidently right before going on; I still remember the shine in his eyes. Confidently he fixed his helmet and took position and was looking as ready as ever. There was this unusual smile on his face, a smile I will never forget. Who knew it was his last smile. Maybe that is why it was so unusual. He stretched his body and started to luge the track. His form was amazing. But, I don’t know why all I could think of was that something bad was going to happen, something horrible. I didn’t know something like this would happen that will change my entire life.
John: What happened grandpa? Why did it change your life?
Jackson: He was sliding on the tracks and in fraction of seconds the crash happened. He lost his control on the deadly curve 16 and crashed into the metal beams right after the luge drop. It was his first Olympics, or should I say it was supposed to be his first Olympics.
John: No! He died?
Jackson: Yes son, he was unconscious when we took him to the hospital and just hours before the official start of the Olympic Games he died. All this happened because of me, I didn’t do my job properly and he is dead because of me. His unusual smile haunts me every time I close my eyes and when you sat on your sled confidently and I pushed you from the slope, it reminded me of him.
It was after the horrible accident that I remembered something that the officials with Vancouver Olympics Organizing Committee discussed; it was the possibility of an athlete getting “badly injured or worse.” This could mean they knew that the track was not safe. Then why did they put the whole blame on Nodar?
John: What do you mean grandpa? How can they blame Nodar uncle for his death when it was the tracks fault?
Jackson: I don’t know son. On Thursday, February 10, 2011, one year after Nodar’s death, the Georgian National Olympic Committee sent out a letter of inquiry to the Vancouver Olympic Organising Committee to require clarification about the circumstances under which a Georgian luger died of a training accident. They also sent a copy of that letter to the International Olympic Committee. The CBC revealed the email correspondence. It had pointed out the fact that the organisers knew about the problem with the track beforehand. The track was too fast for any lugers. But the Olympic official treated Nodar’s death less as a tragedy than as an inconvenience. They said that “He failed to compensate properly as he entered Curve 16 before he crashed at nearly ninety (90) mph.” They also added “There was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.” Even though they said all this they still made a lot of changes to the track.
John: What changes did they make?
Jackson: They placed a padding on the exposed metal beams where Nodar crashed and the men’s start was moved to the women’s start, which is a lower position that will slow maximum speeds by about five (5) or six (6) mph.
John: So, did they admit that it was their fault, because they made so many changes?
Jackson: No son, even though they made changes, they stood by their words. They insisted that the changes were not made for safety reasons, but to accommodate the emotional state of Nodar’s fellow athletes. They added that his death was the first luge fatality since 1975. But, several sliders and officials said it could not have been ignored. Violeta Stramaturaru, the female athlete who got hurt in the trial runs, withdrew from the competition because she suffered concussion in the training crash. Also, Georg Hackl, the German considered to be the greatest luger ever, told a Berlin newspaper that the changes being made to the course will solve nothing. He said: "In my view, that would only have been a way to please those who don't know anything about the sport," said Hackl, who is retired from racing. "You can't totally rule out that kind of accident. It doesn't have anything to do with speed," he said. "Whether that happens at 60 or 150 kph (95 mph) makes no difference. At 60 kph (38 mph), he would have been dead, too. It's a track that is faster than all other tracks we know. It's a challenge for all athletes to master that track, and they have made it, including the Georgian." In addition, Rex Rossi, chief officer of USA luge, criticized the amount of access countries had to the facility. Although officials have said Canada made the track open as early as January, the Canadian racers trained on it longer. "I understand that countries want to win," Rossi said, "But please justify to me why you wouldn't let the Georgians train. I've been in the sport since 1977, and I have never dealt with anything like this. Lots of drivers make errors, but they don't come flying out of the track.”
John: If so many people were against it, why didn’t they change their statement? Why didn’t they accept their mistake?
Jackson: I understand that many people were against this, but many were with them too. Like the Canadian slider Ian Cockerline who said that he didn’t think the track was poorly designed at all.
John: But grandpa, why do you take the blame for it?
Jackson: One cannot change the destiny son; it was Nodar’s chance that he died right before his first ever Olympic Games. No one can dodge death but, I am and will always carry the guilt of being one of the reasons of his death. I wish I measured everything that day and tried to correct the mistake. I wish he was still alive, but unfortunately all I can do is wish and nothing else. That’s life
The End
Life is full of hard times and good times. Lift your chin up, Ladies and Gentlemen.
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