Tragedy struck the Winter Olympics just hours before the opening ceremony in Vancouver, as Georgian luge Nodar Kumaritashvili dies after a horror crash.
The 21-year-old Olympian was having his second practise run when he suffered a horrific 90mph crash that saw him fly off the track and collide with a metal pole at the Whistler Sliding Centre.
Training was immediately suspended after the accident, which happened just hours before the ceremony to open the 21st Winter Games in Vancouver.
Medical staff at the track and doctors at a local hospital tried to resuscitate Kumaritashvili, part of a seven-strong Georgian team, but the country's Olympic delegation later confirmed he had died as a result of his injuries.
"We are all in deep shock, we don't know what to do. We don't know whether to take part in the opening ceremony or even the Olympic Games themselves," said delegation head Irakly Japaridze.
"The whole Olympic family is struck by this tragedy which clearly casts a shadow over these Games," said International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.
According to reporters at the scene, Kumaritashvili struck a steel pole near the finish after losing control of his sled on the final turn and clearing the ice-coated wall along the side of the track.
Georgia are now considering withdrawing from the Olympics after the tragic event, the country's delegation according Reuters.
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