Father: Luger Who Died Was Scared of Track

(Feb. 15) -- The father of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the 21-year-old luger who died during a practice run at the Olympics, said his son was frightened of the track where he lost his life.

"He called me before the Olympics, three days ago, and he said, 'Dad, I'm scared of one of the turns,' " David Kumaritashvili told the Wall Street Journal Sunday in his family home of Bakuriani, Georgia. "I said, Put your legs down on the ice to slow down, but he said if he started the course he would finish it. ... He was brave."

Kumaritashvili spoke to a small group of reporters about his son, who died after losing control at 90 mph and slamming into a steel support in a now-infamous training run Friday at the Whistler Sliding Center. His death shrouded the start of the Games in tragedy, as the world paid tribute to Kumaritashvili with a moment of silence during the opening ceremony. The crash also raised questions about the safety of the luge track.

Members of the International Luge Federation, known as FIL, now say they were considering speed limits even before Kumaritashvili's death, despite their conclusion that "human error" - and not "deficiencies in the track" - caused the accident.

"We did not expect these speeds on this track, but after a while we determined that the track was safe," Josef Fendt, president of the FIL, told the Journal.

A record speed of 96 mph was reported on the Whistler course. The luge federation is weighing a proposed speed limit of 85 mph. Officials shortened the course by 190 yards the day after Kumaritasvili's death in an effort to slow speeds. Fendt told London's Guardian newspaper that safety is a top priority for luge officials, admitting, "At some point it just gets too dangerous."

Kumaritashvili's father, David, joined the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, in defending Nodar from the implication that he was to blame for his own death.

"I don't claim to know all the technical details," Saakashvili said, "but one thing I know for sure: No sports mistake is supposed to lead to a death."

Kumaritashvili, a former Olympic luger himself, said he did not know what was to blame for his son's death, but that he should not have been going so fast.

"I don't know anything about why it happened, I don't know if it was the track or if it was a mistake," he told London's Telegraph newspaper. "But I know that he should never have been going that fast; that kind of speed is too much in this sport."

Nowhere is the tragedy being felt more strongly than in Kumaritashvili's native ski resort town of Bakuriani, where his father told the Telegraph: "Our hearts are broken. He was so young, his whole life was ahead of him."

The elder Kumaritashvili said he has not seen the video of his son's tragic accident.

"I can't watch how it happened," he told the Telegraph. "My heart is weak, I don't think I could survive watching it."

In the coming days, Nodar Kumaritashvili's body will be flown back to his hometown, where he will be buried.