Death at the Vancouver Olympics: Conveniently washing away blood on guilty hands.

The truth is much more damning and alarming than what you may have already heard. Certainly much more shocking and appalling.

Nodar Kumaritashvili did not die because he made a mistake. He did not slam into a pole because of a lack of experience. He did not die instantly because he was careless.

Nodar Kumaritashvili died on Friday, hours before the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics opened, due to the reckless disregard for human life and safety by those who are supposed to protect and insure every athlete is given a fair and equitable chance of competing.

Without having to worry about having their bodies and skulls being crushed and shattered.

Am I being a bit too graphic for your tastes? Good, because that is exactly how someone needs to characterize this accident that could have, and should have been prevented.

Canadian Olympic officials puffed up their chests in the weeks and months prior to the opening ceremonies, telling all who would listen that they would own the medal platform at their home games. To do anything less would be a national disgrace. Granted, this is not exactly news because every host nation wants to shine with the eyes of the world watching their every sporting move.

But it is now alarmingly evident the apparent lengths that were taken to tip the odds in their favor.

Vancouver Olympic organizers, with the blessing of the IOC, turned to noted German engineer Udo Gergel to design this track. Gurgel’s reputation is well known in Olympic circles, having mathematically engineered layouts for the three previous Winter Olympics.

A Canadian-based company, Stantec Architecture Ltd., took those numbers and created the track. One designed by the man whose previous concepts, put into proper use and followed to the letter, produced fast and competitive layouts that created a challenging, but safe, test for the athletes.

So while this track was naturally designed for speed, Gurgel’s expertise and calculations, if followed precisely, could not and would not have taken this test beyond the expected limits of human ability. It was meticulously designed to allow speeds of up to 85 MPH, the number these athletes train for and are thus prepared for.

The Vancouver track was tested in advance of the Games. The results were alarming and should have set off not merely concerns about the speed, but how it could affect the competition.

Speeds of up to 95 MPH. A 12% increase in what was planned and expected. Well beyond the current endurance level of these athletes. Well beyond what left the designer’s table.

Let’s put this into perspective.

This would be akin to Mark Martin strapping into his car at the Daytona 500 for qualifying, knowing and expecting the track was designed to allow for high speeds, but built to allow both man and machine to do so safely and within certain parameters.

Martin’s qualifying speed this year, pushing both man and machine to its limits, was 191 MPH. Had the circuit been forged in similar fashion to the Vancouver track, Martin would have suddenly found himself able to reach 213 MPH. Almost identical to the speed Bill Elliott turned at Talladega Superspeedway in 1987, when both car and driver were tuned and practiced for such numbers.

But in the race that followed, due to the dangerous speeds, one of the most spectacular crashes in NASCAR history was witnessed. Luckily, no one was killed.

Fourteen years later, those speeds are not what anyone expects and well beyond the NASCAR safety limits. The rules that make for fast and competitive racing, but also keep the drivers from experiencing speeds that very well could seriously injure or, at worst, kill them.

NASCAR has taken steps to insure that won’t happen. They listen to those people with electronic slide rules and make decisions based not on greed, but balanced on the safety of competitors.

At Vancouver, everyone knew and failed to rectify a nightmare waiting to happen.

The World Luge Federation saw the speed numbers and immediately raised concern. They publicly stated that, in their expert opinion, this was a planning mistake. And Olympic officials, those who oversee every minute detail of every Games, immediately warned organizers of the 2014 event in Sochi that speeds such as these were unacceptable.

The IOC knew the dangers, yet did nothing to correct them. The athletes discovered the dangers, as witnessed in two telltale accidents in practice. One where a Romanian athlete was knocked unconscious. Another where the defending Olympic champion, Armin Zoeggeler of Italy, uncharacteristically lost control and could have been seriously hurt. Vancouver Olympic officials saw the dangers first hand, yet did nothing.

Even Udo Gurgel knew something had gone terrible wrong with his track. This was certainly not what his expertise had designed.

After all, Canadian athletes had been training on this course for weeks and months, so they had plenty of time to acclimate themselves. Members of the Canadian team had over 300 runs apiece on this track. Other team racers were limited to 40 runs.

No mistake. This was planned. We can only assume, in legal parlance, this was done to insure Canadian medals and give them an unfair advantage over the world. The IOC in knowing could only have been thinking about the mix of speed and danger that would mesmerize global viewers and perhaps increase those ratings one tenth of a point. This translating into more millions of dollars in revenue for their broadcast partners, and thus eventually, right into their bank accounts.

There is no other explanation.

To no one’s surprise, the immediate investigation took record time to complete, in time for luge competition to begin on schedule. The International Luge Federation stated there was nothing wrong with the track. It was human error that resulted in Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death. He was the one to blame.

If that is the case, why then was it decided the wall at the exit to curve 16, where the accident took place, would be raised and the “ice profile” changed as a preventive measure? If the track were indeed safe, there would be no need to make changes.

In common parlance, this is known as “CYA”. Covering your [hindquarters].

What is also very quiet is the fact Vancouver has taken Stantec Architecture to court, claiming there were "deficiencies" in the design of certain project areas. The luge track was not named in the suit, but it does make one logically wonder.

There is blood on the hands of the International Olympic Committee. On the hands of someone who decided a track this fast would give Canadian competitors an edge because they could practice on it much more often than those from other parts of the world. And on the hands of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee for going along with this insane and now proven deadly idea to emerge with a few more pieces of gold and silver.

History is littered with tales of those who sold out what they knew was right for a few pieces of shiny metal.

Something at which the IOC is a proven master.