Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia is seen at the start during the first training run of the day for the men's singles luge at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia, Friday, Feb. 12, 2010. Kumaritashvili crashed during the second run and was taken to the hospital.

AP photo

"It's a very rare situation," three-time Olympic champion and German coach Georg Hackl said before news of Kumaritashvili's death broke, clearly shaken moments after seeing Kumaritashvili tended to furiously by medical officials.

Olympic competition in men's luge is scheduled to begin Saturday. It's unclear if that schedule would be affected.

It was unclear how fast Kumaritashvili was going, although many sliders have exceeded 90 mph on this course. The track is considered the world's fastest and several Olympians recently questioned its safety. More than a dozen athletes have crashed during Olympic training for luge, and some questioned whether athletes from smaller nations — like Georgia — had enough time to prepare for the daunting track.

Here's more links to serve as a guide to the Games:

• Sixteen burning questions about the Vancouver Olympics. Richard Deitsch, SI.com.
• Get your local TV listings here, courtesy of NBCOlympics.com.
• Here's everything you need to know about Team USA, from the official Web site.
• Best blog to follow during the Games: The New York Times.
• Best Olympic story you'll read today comes from Lisa Olson at Fanhouse: You won't believe how one athlete from Ghana reached Vancouver.