In the Georgian town of Bakuriani, Olympic athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili's family were expecting to celebrate his role in the winter olympics.

Instead his family mourned his death after he crashed during a practice run in Canada on Friday.

His father blamed the track for his son's loss of life.

But the secretary-general of the International Luge Federation said it was down to driver error.

[Svein Romstad, Internation Luge Federation Secretary-General]:
"A mistake appeared to take place, that is the conclusion that we have to draw. But once again everybody does mistakes, from Armin Zoeggeler if you go to Felix Loch who won the gold medal today... if you bring me the tape I will show you that he made a mistake on the way down the track. So, that is something that every single athlete deals with in the sport. Unfortunately this one here, that small mistake had a fatal consequence."

The track had initially been criticized for being too fast and the event was almost cancelled.

On Sunday, German olympian Felix Loch went on to take gold in the high speed event.

His coach said all competitors were up to speed on using the track.

He also said Kumaritashvili was good at his sport.

[Thomas Schwab, Germany Luge Team Sports Director]:
"They have to prove that they have a certain amount of training on the Olympic track, and that was fulfilled. The athlete wasn't a bad one, he was a good luger."

Kumaritashvili's untimely death prompted organizers to raise the exit walls at the curve where he crashed and the ice profile was altered.

Organizers say they made the changes to reassure competitors.