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Date Posted: 19:36:10 02/22/02 Fri
Author: Perceptor II
Subject: Russians, Koreans, French making Americans look good
In reply to: Ghilz 's message, "hmmmmm" on 02:39:04 02/22/02 Fri

Well, now the Russian Olympic Committee has officially gone off the deep end. They have filed a protest of the womens' figure skating finals result, charging that the judging was biased and that Irina Slutskaya should have won gold. Apparently they were watching a different program than I was. Sarah Hughes' program was awesome. Some observers have called it the most difficult program attempted by a woman in the Olympics, and she performed both flawlessly and with enthusiam. Slutskaya, apparently not taking into account that since she finished second in the short program she did have to beat Hughes (who finished fourth in the short program) as well as Michelle Kwan to win gold, skated a very conservative routine with some slight errors. I really don't see where the Russians can make an argument here. Slutskaya clearly beat Kwan, but also clearly was outperformed by Hughes. This latest protest amounts to little more than pouting.

What the Russians don't seem to grasp is that Canadian pair Jaime Sale and David Pelletier were not awarded because the judging in the pairs contest was biased (the proof of which would be nebulous at best) but because the judging was corrupt. One judge had conspired to vote for Russian pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze before the competition began. Why she did so is still under investigation, but the judging was proven to be tainted. The reason why the Russian pair was allowed to keep their gold medals was because, get this, no one--not even in the Canadian Olympic Committee--believes that the Russian pair did anything wrong, and so it would be unfair to strip them of a medal they were already given. Call me crazy, but I fail to see how they were "harmed" by a decision that allowed them to keep their gold and didn't affect the country's medal count.

The Russians might have a complaint about the disqualification of cross-country skier Larissa Lazutina. High amounts of hemoglobin were found in her blood, which is usually a sign of the use of performance-enhancing drugs. However, it is possible that her hemoglobin level was due to other factors (one Russian official suggested that it was her time of the month), and if that is the case then obviously officials did her a great injustice. I'm not sure how one should remedy the situation, though.

There's other things they've cited, but these seem to be very nitpicky. They've complained about the use of NHL referees at the games, referees who live and work in North America. However, the Russians are still in medal contention and still have as much a chance to win the tournament as Canada, the USA and Belarus (how 'bout that upset over Sweden!). Again, it's hard to prove they've been harmed. They've complained about bias in the U.S. media. Well duh! However, the media has no control over the judging or officiating (of which only a small percentage is American), so I fail to see how that's relevant. In short, except in possibly one area, the complaints by the Russians have not merit. They claim that they are being embarassed at these games. They are, but they're doing it to themselves.

The Russians aren't the only one acting like spoiled children. The Koreans have taken a similar hard line in reference to the disqualification of Kim Dong-Sung in the mens' 1500M short track. From what I can tell, the call (Kim was called for "cross-tracking", meaning he illegally changed lanes in order to block an opponent, in this case American Apolo Anton Ohno, from passing him) could have gone either way. Kim acted badly when the disqualification was announced, slamming the Korean flag he was waving and making a spectacle of his disgust. The Korean public and media have also complained quite loudly. I can understand all this. However, now the Koreans are threatening to boycott the closing ceremonies, which to me seems like going a bit too far in their protest. Even worse was the comment made by Fabio Carta, the Italian speedskater who finished fourth in the event. I quote: "It's absurd that the Korean was disqualified. We should use a rifle on [the American gold medalist] Ohno." (Snide comment: OK, now the Italian chapter of the NRA has had its say!)

This is all unfortunate. Yes, a bribery scandal brought the Olympics to Salt Lake City. Both the IOC and the Salt Lake City were forced to clean house, and the new IOC leadership was within their rights to transfer the games to another city. If they did, I would have understood. However, for whatever reason, they didn't, and folks in Salt Lake City have done a remarkable job. The American athletes for the most part have conducted themselves with remarkable dignity and sportsmanship, being gracious in both victory and defeat. How strange to have the behavior of Americans be a model for the rest of the world needs to follow. Perhaps I've landed in the Twilight Zone...

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