Google Pulls Olympic Luge Logo After Backlash

Google posted a Vancouver Winter Olympics-themed search page logo featuring a luge athlete this morning just one day after 21-year old Georgian luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili died while practicing on the world’s longest luge drop.

The logo was replaced with a similar one depicting a snowboarder instead of a luger. The New York Daily News managed to find a picture of the logo that was pulled; you can see both the new graphic and the original one below.

After Google posted the logo, many people called it poor taste on Twitter. User jennytondera tweeted, “google luge logo. really, google? not okay.” On the other hand, some other folks took it to be a fitting tribute.

Individual sensibilities differ regarding this, but Google apparently decided to play it safe by replacing the logo. What do you think — fitting tribute or bad taste? [via Mashable]

Original Logo: Luge - Source: http://www.google.com/logos/olympics10-luge-hp.png
New Logo: Snowboarding - Source: http://www.google.com/logos/olympics10-snowboarding-hp.png