A black cloud descended over the Vancouver Olympics today after 21-year-old Georgian luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed in a horrific training crash at the Whistler Sliding Centre.
Kumaritashvili was making his final scheduled practice slide before today's competition when he lost control at 90mph and was launched over the rim of the track before slamming into an unpadded pillar.
His sled and smashed visor continued down the ice towards the finish line which was just metres away on a course which has seen several crashes this week and been labelled as too fast and dangerous by a number of competitors.
Medics performed emergency resuscitation at the scene before he was flown down the mountain by helicopter where he died in hospital.
The track was closed pending an investigation but later reopened and the competition is set to go ahead on schedule.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Luge Federation (FIL) issued a joint statement offering their condolences.
"Our first thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of the athlete. The whole Olympic Family is struck by this tragedy which clearly casts a shadow over these Games," IOC president Jacques Rogge said.
"This is a terrible accident," added FIL president Josef Fendt. "This is the gravest thing that can happen in sport, and our thoughts and those of the luge family are naturally with those touched by the event."
Vancouver organising committee (VANOC) head John Furlong said he was "heartbroken" by the death of Kumaritashvili.
Training was cancelled while the venue was investigated by the Coroners Service of British Columbia and the FIL.
They said the accident had not been caused by deficiencies in the track but that alterations had been made as a "preventative measure".
"It appears the athlete came late out of curve 15 and did not compensate properly to make correct entrance into curve 16. This resulted in a late entrance into curve 16 and although the athlete worked to correct the problem he eventually lost control of the sled resulting in the tragic accident," a statement said.
His death was the first luge fatality in the Olympic Games since Briton Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypeski died during a training run in Innsbruck, Austria in 1964, the debut year for the sport in which athletes hurtle down the track feet first.