IOC accepts 'moral responsibility' in luger death By QMI Agency

The death of luger Nodar Kumaritashvili is a tragedy that will always be associated with the Vancouver Games, the International Olympic Committee president says.

Jacques Rogge also told the Associated Press the IOC accepts "moral responsibility" for the death — the 21-year-old Georgian athlete died while training at the controversially fast Whistler Sliding Centre — but he feels it holds no legal responsibility.

Rogge also compared the impact on the Vancouver Games to the terrorist attack that left Israeli athletes dead at the 1972 Munich Games. Kumaritashvilli's death "will be a part of the games just as what happened in Munich is part of the games."

Rogge has also told organizers of the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia to ensure their track is safer than the Whistler Sliding Centre — where the fast track intimidated athletes in luge, bobsled and skeleton.