Today.Az » World news » Georgian President comments on Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
15 February 2010 [12:22] - Today.Az
Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has called the great celebration of humanity to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
Saakashvili said such humane aspiration was much important than any specific achievement of a sportsman.
At his press conference, Georgian president expressed annoyance at the International Luge Federation after it blamed a Georgian luger for a training-run crash that led to his death on Friday.
The federation "said what happened yesterday was because of human error."
"I don`t claim to know all the technical details, but one thing I know for sure: No sports mistake is supposed to lead to a death," the President said.
On Friday, the luge federation, which is known as the FIL, said that its investigation of the incident showed that "there was no indication that an accident was caused by deficiencies in the track."
Instead, it said that luger Nodar Kumaritashvili "did not compensate properly to make the correct entrance" into the curve where he slid off the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre.
A spokesman for the FIL declined to comment Saturday on the president's comments.
At his press conference in Vancouver, Mr. Saakashvili also questioned any suggestion that Mr. Kumaritashvili's inexperience contributed to the accident.
He said that the athlete's father and uncle were both lugers and that the young athlete had trained extensively around Europe.
The president added that he hoped the incident would prompt the sport's governors to listen more closely to athletes` grievances about safety.
"If this death can lead to improved security and response to people expressing their concerns, maybe it was not in vain," he said.
Mr. Saakashvili repeatedly cited the compassion he has felt from Canadians since the 21-year-old athlete died, and he announced plans to build a luge track to be named for the deceased athlete in his hometown of Bakuriani.
He said that he has spoken to Mr. Kumaritashvili`s parents, and they told him that their son told them shortly before his death that he would make them proud.
/Georgian Times/
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