Amid the recriminations and post-mortems in the aftermath of that tragic luge accident at the Vancouver Olympics, one question was notably not asked. Is this event necessary?
Forget for now the relative inexperience and strategic mistakes made by the 21-year-old victim from the Republic of Georgia. Or that red flags were unfurled all week long in practice runs about the $105-million course designed to push speed to ever-outer limits.
Put it this way: Do the Olympics really need an event that turns an athlete — in a feet-first supine position — into a human projectile?
Not that luge is a glamorous, cornerstone event. Up until 1964, the winter games managed without it. Perhaps they could manage to do so again.