The name of the dreaded turn 13 sums it all up at the Whistler Sliding Centre. It's called "50-50", dpa reported.
Gold medal contender Beat Hefti of Switzerland was one of those who did not get through the treacherous track unscathed as his Olympic dream ended in a crash in the difficult passage between turns 11 and 14 on Wednesday night.
Bruises, a concussion and cuts on the head read the medical bulletin for the World Cup champion Hefti who has now withdrawn from the weekend competition, according to Swiss team officials on Friday.
The announcement had only just been made when another Swiss bobsled crashed in that part of the course on Friday and will miss the Olympic runs.
Juerg Egger, the brakesman for Daniel Schmid, received treatment at the track and was then taken to hospital with yet to be determined injuries.
On Wednesday, Australian Duncan Harvey also visited hospital complaining of back pain following a crash and did not train on Thursday as a precaution. But he was due to return.
Although crashes are not uncommon in bobsleigh they have raised new questions about the safety of the track following the death in training last Friday of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili
The luge competition then went ahead without incidents on shorter courses and the skeleton sliders also got through their first rounds without incidents.
However, a dozen crashes in two-man bobsleigh training brought back the safety issue to the front pages, even though bob federation FIBT spokesman Don Krone said that training crashes were not uncommon and said that there were 17 crashes in 2002 Olympics practice.
"It is not untypical. People are eager to get stuck into the Olympic Games. There were not very many teams that were not holding back at the start. They were attacking the track," Krone said.
Crisis meetings were Thursday between the ruling body FIBT, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Olympic organizing committee VANOC and local officials.
"Eight crashes in training are absolutely not acceptable. You can never have 100 per cent safety in racing but that is simply too much," said German IOC executive board member Thomas Bach.
The FIBT issued a statement late Thursday announcing additional training runs for the women's and four-man bob for the next days to give them more time to get used to the track. In addition, the track and ice can be modified after Friday's completion of the skeleton.
"We are granting these supplementary training runs out of an abundance of caution, in order to give athletes as much time to prepare for competition as possible," said FIBT boss Robert Storey.
Andre Lange of Germany, whose chances of a fourth Olympic gold have risen due to the absence of Hefti (and of Latvian Janis Minins who is not fit to race after emergency surgery last week to remove his appendix), was one of the few who managed to navigate the difficult "50-50" passage well.
"Everyone has huge problems to stay on their runners ahead of turn 13. The turn 11 exit is important, the sled must be right in the centre of the track. If that works it's really fun racing through this passage," said Lange.
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