EDITOR’S LETTER
www.sportsmanagement.co.uk
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T SPORTS Making it safe
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1 2 VOLUME 14 Q1 2010
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SURREY SPORTS PARK
Sporting excellence
for Surrey University
THE OFFICIAL
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ports facility designers rarely make the headlines, but the tragic death of Georgian luge com-
petitor Nodar Kumaritashvili at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver has brought facility design and
the practices and policies which drive it, right into the public eye for the very saddest reason.
There will be an inquiry to establish exactly what happened, but as we go to press, opinion seems di-
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vided, with some saying the course was safe, attributing the accident to an error made by Kumaritashvili
FACILITY FOCU
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.ZOE.ORG.IM
GROWING THE GRASSROOTS
w British Gymnastics and portraying him as an inexperienced competitor. Others echo the view of Georgian president Mikheil
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RICHARD LEWIS
embraces the
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s sport’s successm
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Saakashvili, who said that even if a mistake was made: “One thing I know for sure is that no sports mis-
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co READ SPORTS MANAGEMENT ONLINE
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takes should lead to a death, no sports mistakes are supposed to be fatal.” Kumaritashvili, far from being
PHOTO: WWW
Zoe Gillings, British
an inexperienced competitor, was a veteran of five world championships and ranked 44 in the world. He
Olympic snowboarder died when he flew off the course at 90mph and hit a post during training.
e-mail: please use contact’s
While it’s understandable that the IOC and the Vancouver organising committee will want to distance
fullname@leisuremedia.com
themselves from any claims of liability resulting from this death, there’s a wider debate to be had about
SUBSCRIPTIONS
how far and fast sports facility design develops and how much we push it in pursuit of records.
Julie Albone Many sports take place within fixed environments which are constructed to exact tolerances to ensure
+44 (0)1462 471915
consistency and the only major developments which take place in these sports are those delivered by im-
EDITOR
provements in athletic performance, in technique or in equipment design and construction.
Liz Terry
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Sports like the luge rely on records being set by the achievement
MANAGING EDITOR
Karen Maxwell
of a top speed rather than a speed measured over a given distance,
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but are we pushing facility design too fast in pursuit of records?
PUBLISHER
Nadeem Shaikh
The majority of winter sports, however, are played out in facilities which vary on a competition by
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competition basis, making comparisons difficult – it’s simply who’s fastest on that course on that day. We
NEWS EDITOR
can’t ultimately know whether the gold medallist in the downhill skiing in one Olympic Games is a bet-
Tom Walker
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ter skiier than the medallist in the following Games, because there can be no consistency in the course
JOURNALISTS
when variables such as natural terrain, snow or ice conditions and the weather dictate the challenge.
Martin Nash
As a result of this, sports like the luge rely on some world records being set by the achievement of a
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top speed, rather than just a speed measured over a given distance and one of the aims of the designer
Pete Hayman
is to create a ‘fast course’ where records can be broken. One question to be asked about Vancouver is
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whether the design of the course pushed too far too quickly. Were the athletes ready for a course that
PRODUCTS EDITORS
Sarah Todd
challenging and were enough allowances made in the design to accommodate errors if any were made?
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The course is incredibly fast, with competitors reaching world record speeds of 154mph and a number
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of other crashes happened in training before the accident occurred.
John Challinor The luge is a dangerous sport and of all the things that could go wrong, fly-
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ing off the top of a wall is one of the most obvious, yet at the point where
Jan Williams
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Kumaritashvili left the track, the safety wall had been cut down to a lower
DESIGN
level, while the metal posts next to the track had been left unpadded.
Ed Gallagher
In situations where facility design is going up a gear to push for world
+44 (0)1905 20198 records and to take a sport forward, extra safety features need to be built
Andy Bundy
in to avoid accidents having serious consequences. Facility designers have
+44 (0)1462 471924
Claire Toplis
a clear responsibility to ensure that the fatal combination of factors which
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led to Kumaritashvili’s death can never be repeated and that failsafes are
INTERNET
built into the design of all extreme sports facilities in the future.
Dean Fox
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Liz Terry, editor
lizterry@leisuremedia.com
Tim Nash
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Michael Emmerson
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V A N C O U V E R
2010 OLYMPIC
Denise Gildea
British Gymnastics
RICHARD LEWIS
embraces the
sport’s success
The chair of Sport England
on the power of sport
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Issue 1 2010 © cybertrek 2010 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital 3
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