The comment and blog-osphere are abuzz in the wake of the tragic and unnecessary death of luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili in a practice run accident in Vancouver. Sadly, a large number of people seem to be of the mind that blame lies entirely on the athlete...that he got what he had coming for doing something so dangerous.

We motorsports fans love a good crash, but we prefer to see our heroes walk away.

There is danger in speed sport, its inherent to its appeal. but there is also a responsibility of the sanctioning organization to mitigate that danger through proper safety standards and venue design. Unprotected steel columns in an obvious runoff zone is an egregious oversite. A simple catch fence with flexible standoffs would have deflected the athlete down track where he could have slid and tumbled to a gradual stop, rather than the devastating sudden impact with an immovable object.

He would have been bruised and perhaps even broken, but alive.

Dale Earnhardt's death www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVKLpNK6SqE resulted in Safer Barriers (soft walls) and the HANS (head and neck restraint) in NASCAR, and many other safety innovations in auto racing have nearly eliminated the spectre of death even though crashing is still a staple of the sport.

Hopefully Nodar Kumaritashvili's death will not be in vain and the Olympics will require safer designs so athletes can explore the limits of their potential with the least possible risk.

IOC - take a lesson from NASCAR before you lose another athlete.