Georgia Stays to Honor Dead Luger
A small team of Georgian athletes marched at Vancouver Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony wearing black armbands and scarves, with a black stripe on the Georgian flag to mark the tragic died of teammate Nodar Kumaritashvili.
Some other teams, including from Croatia and the Czech Republic, also wore black armbands while marching.
Just before the start of the opening ceremony, the scoreboards in the domed football stadium went black, and then a message appeared reading: “Tonight’s Ceremony is dedicated to the memory of Georgian Olympic athlete.”
The 21-year-old luger died in a crash while practicing just hours before the opening ceremony. Shocked with the news of the death, the Georgian delegation initially started considering whether to continue or not participation in the games, but as Culture and Sport Minister Nika Rurua said before the opening ceremony, the Georgian team would stay in memory of Kumaritashvili.
"Our sportsmen and our athletes decided to be loyal to the spirit of the Olympic Games and will compete and dedicate their performances to their fallen comrade," Reuters quoted Rurua as saying at a press conference in Vancouver.
U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden, who spoke to U.S. athletes in Vancouver, expressed condolences to Georgia, The Associated Press reported.
“This is a nation that has gone through an awful lot in the last three, four years,” he said of Georgia. “It’s a small nation of five million people, and the pride they had in representing their country here at the Olympics, and now to suffer this loss is just tragic.”
The Georgian Minister for Culture and Sport denied speculation that Nodar Kumaritashvili was inexperienced as “unfair and misleading.”
“He was 44th in the world ranking. During training yesterday he took 11th spot," Rurua said.
Kumaritashvili was raised at Georgia’s traditional winter sports resort of Bakuriani.
Georgia’s remaining team consists of three alpine skiers, three figure skaters and another luger, Levan Gureshidze.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
