WORMY – AT 9:55 A.M. ET:  The way to watch the Olympics is to concentrate on the athletes and forget the International Olympic Committee. 

The blunt fact is that the Olympic "movement" rides on a thin layer of sleaze.  It was in evidence yesterday after the horrible death of a kluge participant from the nation of Georgia.  He was killed when thrown off the course in a high-speed training accident, and hurled into a steel pillar outside the track.

There had been a number of complaints, by athletes, about the danger of that track, one athlete saying that he feared being turned into a crash dummy. 

Olympic officials "investigated" the accident.  Their conclusion?  It wasn't the track that was to blame.  It was the dead athlete.  You can't make this up:

WHISTLER, British Columbia – Fast and frightening, yes. Responsible for the death of a luger, no.

Olympic officials decided late Friday night against any major changes in the track or any delays in competition and even doubled up on the schedule in the wake of the horrifying accident that claimed the life of a 21-year-old luger from the republic of Georgia.

They said they would raise the wall where the slider flew off the track and make an unspecified "change in the ice profile" — but only as a preventative measure "to avoid that such an extremely exceptional accident could occur again."

If the track wasn't responsible, why make the changes?  The hypocrisy flows.

Within sight of the finish line, Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed coming out of the 16th turn and slammed into an unpadded steel pole while traveling nearly 90 mph. Despite frantic attempts by paramedics to save his life, he died at a trauma center.

Concerns about the lightning-fast course had been raised for months. There were worries that the $100 million-plus venue was too technically difficult, and a lack of significant practice time by everyone but the host nation's sliders would result in a rash of accidents.

Let the record show that the concerns were ignored.

But the International Luge Federation and Vancouver Olympic officials said their investigation showed that the crash was the result of human error and that "there was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track."

Blame the dead guy.  Invite him to testify. 

This doesn't surprise me at all.  The Olympic "movement" never cared much about the athletes, but only about itself, the cash, and the politics.  It is a movement with an uncomfortable history of dancing with fascism, and of shady judging practices. 

I won't write a long essay about this now – maybe in the future – but cheer the athletes and ignore the sponsorship.  We have some terrific kids in these games, and the U.S. Olympic Committee is far better than it used to be.  But it's for the kids.

February 13,  2010