Luge track reconfigured after tragedy

WHISTLER, British Columbia - Modified to make it less perilous, the Olympic sliding track reopened for competition Saturday, less than 24 hours after Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a horrifying crash.

Reminders of Kumaritashvili's death seemed everywhere - from the reconfigured final curve and raised wall, to the black tape stuck to the helmets of some athletes. Flowers were left by the base of a steel post that Kumaritashvili struck near the 16th turn. There was also a card with the inscription, "Just like gold, your dream will live forever."

A moment of silence was held before the first heat of the men's competition in memory of Kumaritashvili. His photo was displayed on a video scoreboard.

"It's still fresh in our hearts," said Shiva Keshavan from India. "We're not able to compete with that same joy."

Kumaritashvili's teammate, Levan Gureshidze, did not race. He was on the official start list for the first heat but withdrew.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge attended the competition with Vancouver organizing chief John Furlong.

Luge officials announced before training runs earlier in the day that the men would begin at the women's start, a decision they hoped would reduce speeds and lessen the chance for accidents.

International Luge Federation officials said the start change for the men - three turns below normal - was made with the "emotional component" of athletes in mind.

It wasn't the only switch: Later, officials said the women's and doubles competitions will start even lower, at the junior start position, between the fifth and sixth curves.

The men began their two-day competition with a clean first heat, with all 38 racers completing their runs.

Italy's two-time defending gold medalist, Armin Zoeggeler, who crashed on Friday not long before Kumaritashvili's fatal accident, was third after the first heat, behind Germans Felix Loch and David Moeller.

Kumaritashvili was nearing the finish line of his sixth practice run and a day away from competing in his first Olympics when he lost control of his sled in turn 16, was propelled through the air and slammed into an unpadded steel support pole at nearly 145 kph (90 mph).

The spot where he lost his life looked very different on the first full day of competition at the Vancouver Games as track officials, following an investigation and concern about the track's safety, had the exposed steel posts covered by a 4-meter (12-foot) high wooden wall. Others were wrapped with padding.

The contour of the final, sweeping turn, nicknamed "Thunderbird" was also changed as workers shaved the thick ice to stop racers from drifting too high onto the curved walls, increasing their chances of crashing.

While all the changes satisfied IOC officials, they seemed to be a concession by luge's governing body and Vancouver organizers that the $110 million track, built to be the world's fastest, was beyond what some competitors could handle.

"We never said it is too fast," FIL president Josef Fendt insisted.

The decision to change the start's location seemed to have the desired effect during the first men's training session Saturday. None of the 37 sliders in training broke 145 kph after speeds routinely surpassed 153 kph (95 mph) earlier in the week.

Two women's training runs were completed without a problem in a light rain. Earlier this week, there was a nasty wreck involving a Romanian women's luger Violeta Stramaturaru among others. Stramaturaru withdrew Saturday due to concussion.

Not everyone seemed happy with the slower speeds.

"It's slow," said Austria's Manuel Pfister, who was clocked at almost 154 kph (96 mph) on Thursday. "It's completely different. Yesterday I was able to slide with the medal ranks; today it's another race. It's difficult for me. Maybe it's now too easy."

Kumaritashvili's death was believed to be the first on a sanctioned luge track since December 1975, the federation said.

"It was very hard," Keshavan said. "All of us had a meeting at the village and thought of how we could remember him, how we could honor his memory, his ideals, what he fought for. Even going down to the opening ceremony, it was hard. Everybody was trying to pull me up saying you still have to cheer up, 'We're all remembering him. We're all together.'

"We have to go on," he added.

It remains unknown if the start positions will be changed for upcoming bobsled and skeleton competitions, a decision that will be made in consultation with the governing body for those sports and not the FIL.

• AP Sports Writer John Wawrow contributed to this story.