Vancouver Olympics chief angered by British media coverage
A leading Olympics official has hit out at sections of the British Media over their coverage of the Vancouver games.
Following the death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, organisers have been criticised for the the way in which they have run the games, coming under intense media pressure and scrutiny.
"They don't appear to be attending the same Olympic Games as everyone else." said games chief John Furlong. "To read caustic and finger-pointing comments, you have to wonder what event they are really watching.”
The death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, who crashed into a steel pole at the Whistler's sliding centre in practise for the luge event just hours before the games opening ceremony, sent shockwaves around the world.
The controversy comes from the fact the 21-year old Georgian was given only limited access to what is considered to be the fastest and most dangerous track in the world before the event, along with every non-Canadian athlete.
The International Luge Federation has made adjustment to the track in order to slow it down, and the event's organisers immediately changed the starting position of the track.
Certain British newspapers criticised the hosts, who in their view, were partly to blame for the tragedy.
The Guardian claimed that the games were in danger of being remembered as “the worst in Olympic history”, while the Daily Mail said that Canada's “Own The Podium campaign, which aimed to make the hosts the world's top sporting nation by the 2010 games, "should not mean placing competitors in jeopardy, particularly in a sport in which fatalities have occurred, albeit infrequently".
Britain's Olympic Minister Tessa Jowel, who is overseeing London's 2012 Games, has stepped forward to defend the organisers of the Vancouver event;
"I think it is quite unfair to dwell on the problems. You know, on any event of this scale, of course there are bound to be problems."
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