Olympic flame snuffed out for the fourth time

Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili is the fourth competitor to die at a Winter Olympics, with none coming during competition.

Kumaritashvili died following a crash during training yesterday, hours before the opening ceremony.

It was similar to the circumstances surrounding the first death, Australian downhill skier Ross Milne, who died after striking a tree during a training run shortly before the start of the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki also died in a training crash in Innsbruck.

At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, Nicholas Bochatay of Switzerland died after crashing into a snow grooming machine during training for the demonstration sport of speed skiing on the penultimate day of the Games.

He was practising on a public slope before his event was to begin.

At the 1988 Calgary Games, Austrian team doctor Jorg Oberhammer died after falling under the tracks of a snow-grooming machine.

- AP