Associated Press
PARK CITY, Utah – The president of the International Luge Federation said Wednesday that it was time to change the qualifying rules for international races.
The move by Josef Fendt came a day after a crash in women’s luge injured a track worker at Utah Olympic Park.
“We must prevent excesses like these,” Fendt said. “We still have to figure out how to address this, but it’s clear we must do something.”
In the accident, Venezuela’s Iginia Boccalandro, who weighs over 200 pounds, lost control of her sled near the end of the first heat and was knocked unconscious in a violent crash.
Boccalandro fell off her 50-pound sled after it had slammed the sides of the track at least three times and could have suffered serious injury if track workers had not quickly intervened.
Just before the sled reached Boccalandro, volunteer sweeper Drake Self tried to grab it, but the sled flipped over and sliced off the tip of his right index finger just below the fingernail.
Self, 49, from Logan, Utah, was treated and released from LDS Hospital. Another volunteer suffered a bruised foot trying to stop the sled, which did not hit Boccalandro.
Boccalandro landed face-down on the track and slid headfirst for over 30 yards, her racing suit in tatters as she lay motionless. She sat up after a few moments and slowly climbed off the track and was not seriously injured.
Boccalandro, who finished 28th at Nagano, was disqualified for not completing the run. She had crashed on four of her six training runs before the competition, which prompted questions about whether she was athletically fit to compete.
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