A sad start to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver: Nodar Kumaritashvili, a men’s luger from the Republic of Georgia, died Friday after a crash during a practice run, according to the Toronto Sun. The 21-year-old lost control of his sled, went over the track wall, and hit an unpadded steel pole. It’s unclear how fast Kumaritashvili was going, but many sliders on the track—which is the world’s fastest and has raised some safety concerns among athletes—have exceeded 90 miles per hour.
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