HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER AT THE WINTER OLYMPICS



Those four words epitomize the development of athletes over the past 25 years. With modern equipment and advanced training they are just that: harder, better, faster, and stronger.

I remember in the mid 1990s when Pete Sampras's 120mph serve was intimidating. Now Andy Roddick regulary clocks in at over 140mph and tops out at 155mph. In fact, 20 of the 23 fastest tennis serves recorded were performed after the year 2000.

In baseball we watched home run records not merely be broken, but shattered. Albiet steriods were involved.

Sometimes I think we pay a price for always feeling the need to one up a previous record. Especially when it not just the human body involved, but human engineering used to artificially inflate records or force barriers to be broken.

It's in this vain that I bring up the death of 23 year old Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian luger who was killed during practice run at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver on February 12.

Kumaritashvili died on a track that had recieved previous complaints. A record speed of 95mph had been recorded in late 2009 by another luger. In response to the speeds being posted on the Canadian track, the President of the International Luge Federation (FIL) to say that it "made him worry".

Nevertheless runs went on, and why wouldn't they? Olympic officials' had the worlds best emergency medical care available at a moments notice (Nodar was surrounded by medical personal within seconds of his fatal crash) and no lugers had died since
1975.

Then Kumaritashvili had his fatal accident. And despite the olympic commission and FIL's findings that the fatal accident was not due to "an unsafe track" modifications were made to reduce speeds.

This is an example of a reactive approach.

NASCAR, after the death of Dale Earnhardt, took a proactive and prememtive approach.

The limits for what a human being can pilot have not been reached. The limits for what the human body can take in an accident have. As such NASCAR took to installing "safer-barriers" i.e. a softer wall which gives and absorbs the energy from the impact of the automobile instead of forcing the car, and subsequently the driver the from feeling the full impact of a high speed collision.

NASCAR then made the "Car of Tomorrow" a car with several modifications which would increase the safety of the driver.

NASCAR recognized that man and machine had two very different limits. Man could build a car and track that was beyond the scope of what man's body was engineered to handle. As such they took a premeptive approach. As a result no driver has been killed in the last 9 years.

Not bad for a bunch of hicks who turn left for three hours.

However, *&^# still happens. And it is awesome when no one is hurt. Note the 197mph speeds being run.