IOC boss calls for safer track in 2014
Last Updated: Thursday, February 25, 2010 | 3:01 PM ET
The Canadian Press
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge asked for a safer sliding track at the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia, on Thursday. (Misha Japaridze/Associated Press)The president of the International Olympic Committee has written a letter to the hosts of the next Winter Games in 2014 asking for a safer sliding track.
Jacques Rogge told reporters Thursday that the IOC assumes moral responsibility for the death of a Georgian luger on the Vancouver track on the first day of the 2010 Games.
He said while the International Luge Federation set the specifications for the track, and Vancouver organizers built it, it doesn't absolve the IOC from any responsibility.
Sport always has an element of risk, he said, but it's important the IOC make sure the risk is not unnecessary.
Rogge said he has asked the Russians to deliver a track in 2014 that is not hazardous. He also said the IOC never asked the sport federation or Vancouver to build one for 2010 that was so fast.
He said the IOC won't make any final pronouncements on the incident until it has a chance to review three different reports being carried out.
