Remembering Nodar: Georgian lugers lasting legacy

Published: Feb. 8, 2020, 11:10 a.m.

On the 12th February 2010, the eve of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili suffered a fatal crash whilst on a practice run – just hours before the opening ceremony was due to take place. Terrance Kosikar was the first responder on the scene. While he had been trained to save people’s lives throughout his career, he was never prepared for the emotional trauma of dealing with a fatality. Terrance went into a downward spiral as he suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and severe depression, which led to him trying to take his own life on several occasions. But thankfully he found a way out – through the great outdoors. Terrance now runs the Camp My Way project in Canada, which takes people suffering from similar mental health issues on camping adventures in the Canadian mountains. He tells Caroline Barker what he remembers of that tragic day 10 years ago and how the Camp My Way initiative and his other campaigns are helping to continue Nodar’s legacy. SUPER ‘DOG’ BOWL 54 Patrick Mahomes went to Disney World to celebrate the Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years. But one player went barking mad with his celebrations… Derrick Nnadi paid all the adoption fees at a Kansas City dog shelter - allowing families to take the dogs home for free. Derrick tells us what it feels like to be a Super Bowl winner and how his relationship with his own dogs inspired him to help give the Kansas City dogs in need a home for life. MAKING HISTORY IN THE DAKAR Kirsten Landman became the first African woman to complete the Dakar rally on a motorbike this year. After travelling nearly EIGHT THOUSAND kilometres over 12 days, mostly across the unforgiving sand of the Saudi Arabian desert, the South African made history last month as she finished one of the most notoriously dangerous sporting events in the world. Kirsten's achievement is even more impressive considering that a terrible accident at a race in Botswana in 2013 left her in an induced coma for two weeks and fighting for her life. Kirsten was told she would never be able to race again and promised herself she would never return to high speed racing, but sometimes you just can't stop a speed demon. IS FOOTBALL FAN FEVER REAL? Researchers at the University of Oxford have found that the most passionate football fans are more likely to experience potentially dangerous levels of stress whilst watching the game they love. When we get stressed, cortisol levels in our blood rise. Too much of this hormone over time can lead to all kinds of health issues like heart attacks. Dr Martha Newson led the research – which was conducted on Brazil fans at the men’s World Cup in 2014. And they provided plenty of cortisol to analyse, with Brazil’s infamous 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semi-final causing all kinds of stress. And if you really want to test your cortisol levels, listen carefully at the start to hear about football fans having tattoos on their testicles... Photo: A shrine in memory of Nodar Kumaritashvili (Getty Images)