thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

TBILISI, Georgia -- The grieving father of a Georgian Olympic luger who died in a training run crash said he won’t watch the footage of his son’s death, and criticized Olympic officials for allowing athletes to use the lightning-fast track.

Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, died after he slammed into an unpadded steel pole while traveling nearly 90 mph during Friday’s practice run.

“I can’t and I won’t see the footage of my son’s last minutes,” his father, David Kumaritashvili, said in comments televised Sunday.

Video that shows rescue workers trying to save the luger after the accident was aired on NBC, ABC and CBS on the day of the crash, and newscasters warned viewers about what they were about to see. NBC promised viewers Saturday that it would no longer air the disturbing footage.

The elder Kumaritashvili, a former luger himself, said that Olympic organizers shouldn’t have permitted the use of the course.

“The course was bad,” he said on Georgian television. “They shouldn’t have built the track allowing such a speed. It was a serious mistake.”

Concerns about the course had been raised for months. There were worries that the $100 million-plus venue was too technically demanding, and that only the host nation’s sliders would have enough practice time to adapt to it. Some predicted it would be the scene of a rash of accidents.

In a joint statement, the luge federation and Vancouver Olympic officials said Kumaritashvili was late coming out of the next-to-last turn and failed to compensate. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili lashed back, saying that an athlete’s mistake shouldn’t lead to his death.

The Olympic sliding track reopened Saturday less than 24 hours after the crash. It was slightly modified to make it less dangerous and 5 mph slower for racers. A wooden wall was constructed to cover the row of steel beams that Kumaritashvili hit, and other beams were wrapped in padding. The course was also shortened, and the contour of the final, sweeping turn was changed to prevent sleds from drifting too high onto the curved walls.

Kumaritashvili is expected to be buried at his home town Bakuriani, a top ski resort in the Caucasus Mountains. Officials said the body will be flown home in the next couple of days.

Georgian officials said a new luge track will be built in the athlete’s home town and an annual luge competition will be held in his honor.