Sorry, Tufts University, I've dropped out of school. Goodbye to Fall Ball, Spring Fling and Winter Bash. No longer will I have to walk up that devastating hill to class. So long, Jumbo. Sayonara, NQR. Peace out, Bacow, I'm going all Beelzebubs on this school. Pax et lux, bros, because I'm gone.
At the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Tufts Daily graciously offered to send me to Vancouver to cover the games, overflowing the city with poor jokes and hot and cold metaphors.
From Friday's Opening Ceremony — incidentally, Wayne Gretzky's face when the torch−lighting malfunctioned is right up there with Macaulay Culkin in "Home Alone" (1990) and Derek Zoolander's "Blue Steel" as one of the best expressions of all time — I have been captivated by these Games, learning far more than I ever could have toiling away in Tisch.
For all the jokes about Canada's failures I can make, though, the tragedy surrounding Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili's death outweighs all the fun I can have in Vancouver.
Early Friday, Kumaritashvili crashed during a training run at the Whistler Sliding Center, barreling off the edge above turn 16 and into a metal pole, instantly losing consciousness and dying six hours later. He was 21 years old. I'm not here to memorialize Kumaritashvili, because the candlelight vigils across his home nation can do that.
But I do want to address the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Luge Federation's (FIL) reaction to this.
Olympic officials did their best to commemorate Kumaritashvili, as did the entire crowd at the BC Place Stadium, which cheered vigorously as members of the Georgian team entered the stadium, wearing black scarves and armbands to honor their fallen comrade.
After that, the IOC and FIL moved on with their business like nothing had happened.
Following the investigation, the FIL and the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) released this joint statement: "It appears after a routine run, the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16."
Um, are you kidding me?
Let's run that back for a quick second: After building the world's fastest track in which riders barrel down a 152−meter drop with almost no protection while the crowd cheers at every near−crash, the FIL is not responsible?
You know what, three−letter groups, you're completely correct.
It was Kumaritashvili's fault that he had only gone down the hair−raising track 26 total times before his fatal accident, simply because Canada wanted a competitive advantage and followed the time−honored tradition of limiting foreign access to the tracks before the Olympics. It was Kumaritashvili's problem that he flew off the unpadded top of the track and vaulted into an unpadded pole. Kumaritashvili is to blame for an unsafe sport.
This is a kid who never got the opportunity to take the ice for his country, to wave the Georgian flag around after he whipped down the track at speeds upward of 95 miles per hour. And they want to place all the blame squarely on someone who can't physically shoulder it anymore.
Kumaritashvili's crash is by no means a flash in the pan at Whistler. People have crashed there before. American Steven Holcomb dubbed turn 13 as "50−50" to reflect the odds of making it through safely. Which begs the question: If the safety issues of the track were an issue, why were things not changed before the first luger went down in Vancouver?
If there were no track deficiencies, then why did Olympic officials shorten the starting point and make the overall course much slower? Why was the ice modified? Do they really expect to be absolved of all responsibilities by saying it was Kumaritashvili's problem? In the most dangerous facility in one of the most spine−tingling sports, why wasn't something done to prevent this?
Like South Park says, "blame Canada" for restricting access to the track, or even turn your nose upward at the IOC and FIL. At the very least, call for the installation of a safety net surrounding the track or further safety upgrades throughout. But shame on you for saying it's Kumaritashvili's fault.
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Alex Prewitt is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Alexander.Prewitt@tufts.edu.
