A men's Olympic luger from Georgia crashed during training Friday and needed emergency treatment after an accident on the world's fastest track.
Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled near the finish Friday, went over the track wall and struck a steel pole near the finish line at the Whistler Sliding Center.
Rescue officials rushed to the scene and were performing chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Kumaritashvili was lifted into an ambulance. An air-rescue helicopter was summoned and was in the area over the track about eight minutes after the crash.
Kumaritashvili struck the inside wall of the track on the final turn, his body immediately going airborne and clearing the ice-coated concrete wall along the left side of the sliding surface. His sled remained in the track, and it appeared that the visor from his helmet continued skidding down the ice.
"It's a very rare situation," three-time Olympic champion and German coach Georg Hackl said. "But there's some things that you can't do anything about."
It was unclear how fast Kumaritashvili was going, although many sliders have exceeded 90 mph on this course. The track is considered the world's fastest and several Olympians recently questioned its safety. More than a dozen athletes have crashed during pre-Olympic training.
International luge officials did not have an immediate update on his condition, and officials would not disclose where Kumaritashvili was being taken.
At the finish area, not far from the crash scene, athletes, coaches and officials awaited word on Kumaritashvili.
"I've never seen anything like that," said Shiva Keshavan, a four-time Olympian from India. "I'm afraid it's bad."
Training was suspended indefinitely. Members of the International Luge Federation were called for a briefing and team captains from each nation were asked to attend a meeting.
Kumaritashvili competed in five World Cup races this season, finishing 44th in the world standings.
Earlier in the day, gold-medal favorite Armin Zoeggeler of Italy crashed, losing control of his sled also around Curve 11. Zoeggeler came off his sled, held it with his left arm to keep it from smashing atop his body, and slid on his back down several curves before coming to a stop and walking away.
Training days in Whistler have been crash-filled, with a Romanian woman briefly knocked unconscious.
"I think they are pushing it a little too much," Australia's Hannah Campbell-Pegg said Thursday night after she nearly lost control in training. "To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives."
