FEATURES Stone Cold Scandals The controversial and nefarious of the Winter Olympics Kevin Welsh, OP Features Editor Ah, the Olympics. Once again, it’s time for coach potatoes and armchair quarterbacks across the nation to surround themselves with snacks and beverages and camp out on the couch for two weeks while cheering on Canada in their quad-annual mission to underachieve and disappoint. The Olympics, on paper at least, are all about sports- manship, competition, and global spirit. In reality, they are rife with politics, money, and, of course, controversy. True to form, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin have already produced its fair share of controversy, from the ho-hum world of illegal substances to an international superstar who may or may not be involved in a certain New Jersey gambling ring, The Turin games haven’t wasted any time, and, if history has anything to say about it, probably will produce a few more eyebrow raising stories before the flame is extinguished. I feel comfortable confidently predicting this because, if history has taught us anything, it’s that someone will disgrace themselves or simply screw up big over the course of any Olympic games. While the winter version may take a back seat to the Summer Olympics in the areas of pageantry, accessibility, popularity, and television rat- ings, the Winter Olympics has proven that it can stand toe to toe with its big brother when it comes to controversy. Let’s have a look at some of the big ones and some of the bizarre ones. 1948, St. Mortiz, Switzerland The 1948 games, the first in years due to World War II, was plagued with controversy. First up, Lebanon, the only Arab country scheduled to compete at the games, threatened to boycott if an all-Jewish team from Palestine was permitted to compete under a Zionist flag. In the end, Palestine didn’t compete, citing a lack of training time for the reason. Politics reared its ugly head again when other countries, including Norway and Yugoslavia, protested to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that former Nazis were representing Austria at the games. While Switzerland did refuse to grant a visa to one Austrian, the other Austrians were permitted to compete. Also at St. Mortiz, the night before the bobsled com- petition some unidentified vandals loosened the nuts hold- ing together the steering mechanism of the American bobsled. While those responsible were never caught, the treachery was discovered before the Americans hit the track. Americans were involved in even more controversy, though, when two separate ice hockey teams, one sanc- tioned by the American Hockey Association (AHA) and one by the Amateur Athletic Union(AAU), showed up at the opening ceremonies claiming to be the official team. The IOC ruled both teams ineligible, but the Swiss Olympic Committee overruled that decision and chose the AHA team to compete but also decided that the AAU squad would march in the opening ceremonies while the AHA team had to watch from the stands. The United States Olympic Committee threatened to pull its entire team from the games in protest, but the Swiss called their bluff, the games went on, the American team participated, and the AHA team placed fourth. 1962, Innsbruck, Austria Two Germans were stripped of their medals after it was discovered that they were professional athletes and not amateurs. As well, the Canadian ice hockey team fin- ished in a three-way tie for second place, yet was denied a medal due to unclear tie-breaking procedures. Finally, in a sign of things to come, the figure skating finals were plagued with accusations of biased judging. 1968, Grenoble, France For the first time, East Germany sent a team to the winter games. They started out strong with their women’s luge team dominating the early stages of its competition. Shortly after, though, they were disqualified when it was discovered they were heating the runners of their sled to gain and advantage. As well, IOC President Avery Brundage stepped up his passionate crusade against commercialism in the Olympics, and fingered French skier Jean-Claude Kelly as one of the biggest culprits. When Kelly continued to dominate the slopes, Brundage threatenéd to remove alpine skiing from the list of events. At the same time, though, Brundage invited South Africa to compete at the games, despite apartheid. South Africa would not compete until 1992. 1988, Calgary, Canada A ticket scandal erupted when it was discovered that James “Jiminy Tickets” McGregor was charging Americans face value in US dollars for Canadian tickets, then pocketing the difference between the US dollars and the lower-valued Canadian dollars. McGregor was charged with fraud, theft, and mischief. 1994, Lillehammer, Norway These games were home to the scandal that all other scandals will be compared to for some time to come. Afraid that she may lose her place on the American figure skating team to Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya Harding allegedly played a part in commissioning an attack on Kerrigan. During Olympic qualifying, Kerrigan was hit on her knee with a blunt object by a masked assailant. The scandal quickly grew to tabloid status, and the Lillehammer games greatly benefited from this when both skaters ended up qualifying and competing for USA. The figure skating finals drew the largest audience in Olympic history, as well as one of the largest American television audiences of all time. Ultimately, Kerrigan would earn a silver medal while Harding finished out of the medals. 2002, Salt Lake City, USA Proving they are the kings of creating controversy, American organizers of the 2002 games outdid every other organizing committee when scandal struck in 1998, a healthy four years before the games took place. Allegations were made that IOC members had been bribed by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) for their votes during the bidding process for the games. The scandal brought in question the legitimacy of the bid- ding process of all previous games. After the dust settled, the leaders of the SLOC, along with 10 members of the IOC, were forced to resign. More scandals struck the Salt Lake City games, though these ones at least had the good taste to wait until the games were actually underway. A doping scandal tainted cross-country skiing while an umpire’s decision in a short- track speed skating event pissed off the entire nation of South Korea. The big one, however, became known as “Skate Gate.” A judging conspiracy of massive proportions was uncov- ered when the Canadian pair of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who skated an apparently flawless program, fin- ished second to the Russian duo who made some obvious mistakes during their program. Many felt the Canadians were blatantly robbed, and French judge Marie-Reine LeGougne was suspended shortly after the decision after admitting to succumbing to pressure to vote for the Russians. An investigation quickly uncovered widespread conspiracy and corruption that led to an entirely new judging system for future international figure skating events. In the end, while the Russian skaters were allowed to keep their gold medals, Sale and Pelletier were issued duplicate gold medals and named co-winners of the com- petition.