Officials said Kumaritashvili’s death was the first luge fatality since 1975. Several sliders and officials said it could not have been foreseen. But the idea that something terrible might happen here, on the fastest course in the world, was talked about publicly and feared for a year.

Frequent concerns were expressed about excessive speeds. Even Armin Zoeggeler of Italy, a two-time Olympic champion and a favorite here, had crashed on this track. On Thursday, after struggling to maintain control of her sled, Hannah Campbell-Pegg of Australia said, “To what extent are we just little lemmings that they throw down a track and we’re crash-test dummies?”

Canadian reporters said Saturday morning that they had been told privately during the week of concerns for the safety of four sliders  Kumaritashvili included. So many people knew of possible danger. So little was done to prevent it.

Canada’s decision to give minimal access to the Olympic track to athletes from other nations now seems to have been an unfortunate nationalistic impulse. This was done to give Canadians a home-field advantage in a program called Own the Podium. In the end, safety took a back seat to patriotism.

“I’m all for giving the advantage of the home track to the home country,” said Shiva Kannan Palan Keshavan, a 12-year veteran from India. “At the same time, everybody should get enough runs to be comfortable. Safety cannot be compromised.”

The president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, said in a news conference Saturday that officials should have listened more carefully to athletes’ concerns about the safety of the track. “I don’t claim to know all the technical details,” he said. “But one thing I know for sure, that no sports mistake is supposed to lead to a death. No sports mistake is supposed to be fatal.”