Sports officials and winter sport athletes visited the grave of Nodar Kumaritashvili
Bakuriani/Georgia (pps) On March 23, 2010, sports officials and winter sport athletes visited the grave of Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili. The athlete had lost his life during a training run at Whistler Sliding Center a few hours before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games.
Guests at the ceremony held in Kumaritashvili’s home village of Bakuriani included John Furlong, President of the Canadian Organizing Committee (VANOC), Sepp Fendt, the President of the International Luge Federation (FIL), and Olympic champion Felix Loch. According to the traditions of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the memorial service was held 40 days after the athlete died. At his grave, a priest said prayers and inhabitants of the village sang traditional Georgian songs.
