Olympics overshadowed by senseless tragedy

The Winter Olympics have been pretty exciting so far.
No, really. Lots of folks pan the snowy version of the Games, claiming they lack the gumption of their summer counterparts.
Well, I disagree. Winter sports give you the chance to watch something you don't see every day.
Watching speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno squeak a silver medal after two Korean athletes wiped out in front of him was thrilling. Seeing Hannah Kearney run just perfectly enough on the women's moguls to deny Canada's first gold of the Winter Games was heart-wrenching.
And watching Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau make up for it in the men's moguls with a first-place victory was incredibly emotional.
So, yes, the Games have been exciting.
But overshadowing the thrills is the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili.
The 21-year-old competitor from the Republic of Georgia lost control of his sled in one of the course's curves and slammed into an unpadded metal pole at nearly 90 miles an hour.
The International Olympic Committee had the tough decision of canceling the event altogether or letting the sport continue.
Eventually, the IOC allowed the luge to resume. But not without some controversy
The governing body, along with the International Luge Federation, claimed the accident was basically Kumaritashvili's fault. He wasn't experienced enough, they said, and he made a mistake that claimed his life.
But then, the IOC elected to hold the men's competition from the women's start point, a lower (and slower) run. The women were pushed back to the juniors' starting line.
In addition, a wall was put up where Kumaritashvili crashed, and padding was added to the posts along the outside of the track.
Huh. If this was "human error" as everyone claimed, it seems most of these new, extreme precautions would be unnecessary.
Forget laying the blame on Kumaritashvili. Let's just call it what it really is: a major oversight on the part of the IOC.
Lugers had been complaining about the track all week, saying it was too fast. Ten athletes crashed, including a Romanian woman who was knocked unconscious.
American bobsledder Steven Holcomb nicknamed one of the track's curves "50-50" after watching half the athletes in practice runs crash on it.
And Canadian sports officials didn't help by limiting practice opportunities to foreign athletes on what's been called "the world's fastest track."
Any human error was more on the part of the governing bodies and less on the part of Kumaritashvili.
The IOC has backed away from the controversy, with president Jacques Rogge saying that now isn't the time for the group to give "reasons" on why they reacted this way - it's the time for "mourning."
Perhaps. But these issues need to be addressed, and the IOC can't be allowed to stay under the radar on this. Winter sports athletes engage in some of the riskiest feats ever seen. And their safety must be the priority.
So indeed, the Winter Olympics have definitely given me some things I've never seen, and there has definitely been some real excitement.
But some kinds of excitement just aren't necessary.