WHEN Saba Kumaritashvili took to the ice at the Yanqing sled-racing venue Saturday he was facing a tragedy that has haunted his family for 12 years.

At the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, Kumaritashvili’s cousin Nodar was on a training run at a track built in Whistler, British Columbia.

In the final turn, he flipped off his sled, over the wall and into a steel post outside the track.

NPR reported at the time that the death of the 21-year-old luger from Georgia left Olympic officials “in deep mourning” and “heartbroken beyond words.”

Saba Kumaritashvili, also now 21-years-old, said despite the loss, luge racing remains an important family tradition.

“I think about Nodar. I think about him all the time. I didn’t want luge to die in Georgia. I wanted to keep it going,” he said.

(SD-Agencies)