Nodar Kumaritashvili

Nodar Kumaritashvili (25 November 1988 to 12 February 2010) was a Georgian luge athlete who suffered a fatal crash during a training run for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, on the day of the opening ceremony. He became the fourth athlete to die during preparations for a Winter Olympics, and the eighth to die as a result of Olympic competition or practice at their sport's venue at an Olympic Games. He first took part in luge at age 13 and came from a family of seasoned lugers: his grandfather introduced the sport to Soviet Georgia, and his father and uncle both competed, his uncle later heading the Georgian Luge Federation. He began competing in the 2008-09 Luge World Cup, and he had studied at the Georgian Technical University, where he earned an economics degree in 2009.