Nodar Kumaritashvili

Nodar Kumaritashvili
Official IOC picture of Kumaritashvili
Personal information
Full name
  • Nodar Kumaritashvili
  • (Georgian: ნოდარ ქუმარიტაშვილი)
NationalityGeorgian
Born(1988-11-25)25 November 1988
Borjomi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
Died12 February 2010(2010-02-12) (aged 21)
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
Home townBakuriani, Georgia
EducationGeorgian Technical University
Height1.79 m (5 ft 10+12 in)
Weight80 kg (176 lb)
Sport
CountryGeorgia (country) Georgia
SportLuge
Turned pro2008

Nodar Kumaritashvili (Georgian: ნოდარ ქუმარიტაშვილი; pronounced [nodaɾ kʰumaɾitʼaʃʷili]; 25 November 1988 – 12 February 2010) was a Georgian luge athlete who suffered a fatal crash during a training run for the 2010 Winter Olympics competition in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, on the day of the opening ceremony. He became the fourth athlete to die during preparations for a Winter Olympics, and the eighth athlete to die as a result of Olympic competition or during practice at their sport’s venue at an Olympic Games.

Kumaritashvili, who first began to participate in luge when he was 13, came from a family of seasoned lugers: his grandfather had introduced the sport to Soviet Georgia, and both his father and uncle had competed when they were younger, with his uncle later serving as the head of the Georgian Luge Federation. Kumaritashvili himself began competing in the 2008–09 Luge World Cup. He had also been a student at the Georgian Technical University, where he earned an economics degree in 2009.