VANCOUVER — Trouble for organizers of the 2010 Olympic Games continued with the cross-country skier seriously injured in an accident at the Whistler Olympic Park's cross country course Thursday.
Petra Majdic filed a protest with FIS, the world ruling body for skiing, the IOC and VANOC, saying the course was unsafe and that precautions should have been taken to protect skiers from the gully.
The protest was denied by the FIS and IOC officials, but the issue is not finished for Slovenian officials.
Perko said the skier and team are considering lawsuits as Majdic had to withdraw from a competition on Saturday.
"We will see about legal action," he told Canwest News. "It might be a possibility."
Majdic was warming up for the Individual Sprint Finals when she slid going navigating a turn and fell three meters into a ravine. She broke both ski poles, a ski tip and suffered four broken ribs, a collapsed lung and abdominal injuries. Still, after doctors treated her, she refused to withdraw from the race and was simply given pain medication to deaden the pain. She went on to win a bronze medal in the event, which pits six women at a time in a series of sprints.
She was carried off the course after the final and was hospitalized. She attended her medal ceremony in a wheelchair and had to be helped onto the podium, grimacing in pain.
"Somebody should have taken care of that hold (gully)," said Blaz Perko, Slovenia's chef de mission. "There was not enough protection. The safety of the skiers was at risk. We have protested the venue management and ski experts."
Tim Gayda, who oversees Olympic venues for VANOC, said while unfortunate, the jury had examined the course and rejected Majdic's protest.
"It was inspected by the jury, the coaches and the course (officials), and it was just one of those unfortunate things that did happen," said Gayda, who's spent much of the Games dealing with issues about the luge track and Cypress Mountain. "It's something we've looked at and we did make adjustments to that corner ... but we still believe it is a safe and fair track to compete on."
Slovenian president Danilo Tuerk awarded the skier the country's Golden Order of Services "for an exceptional performance under difficult odds."
Gayda continues to deal with questions about the safety of the sliding track in the wake of the death of Nodar Kumarishtavili, a luge athlete from the Republic of Georgia.
While FIBT, IOC and VANOC officials insist the track is safe and not to blame for the fatality, Georgian officials insist the changes made after Kumarishtavili's death prove the track wasn't safe.
"We took measures to make it safe," Gayda said. "To make it 100 percent safe, you'd need to put the track in the tube. The sport is what it is."
He likened the accidents to crashes in alpine skiing, which course designers try to prevent but can't completely alleviate.
"There are only so many things you can do in sport," he said. "The track is always being tweaked; really it's to the profile of the ice."
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