SINGAPORE: The Winter Olympics is no stranger to controversy and Vancouver organisers will be hoping there is no cheating, doping or any other dirty tricks to tarnish its reputation.There have been many unwanted Olympic news headlines over the years but the scandal against which all others is judged is best described by three words – Tonya and Nancy.
A month before the Lillehammer Games in 1994 the ex-husband of American figure skater Tonya Harding arranged for an attack on her closest rival Nancy Kerrigan, which forced her out of the US Figure Skating Championships.
It quickly snowballed into a global tabloid frenzy after Harding admitted helping cover up the deliberate assault that saw Kerrigan whacked on the knee with a baton during a practice session by a fleeing assailant.
Moves were initiated to throw her off the Olympic team, but Harding retained her place after threatening legal action and her eventual showdown with Kerrigan drew some of highest television ratings in Winter Olympic history.
Kerrigan had the last laugh, finishing second to Harding’s eighth.
Giving it a decent run for its money was the bribery scandal surrounding Salt Late City’s successful bid to host the 2002 event, which led to a handful of International Olympic Committee (IOC) members being expelled.
The grubby, behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings to win the right to host the Games saw millions of dollars spent on all-expense-paid trips, scholarships, plastic surgery and deals on real estate for those corrupt enough to accept.
The 2002 Games were beset by controversy, particularly when Russian ice skating pairs Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were awarded the gold ahead of the clearly superior Canadian team of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
It later emerged that a French judge was bribed by the Russians into awarding them the top medal in return for France getting gold in ice dancing.
The fiasco led to a complete overhaul of the judging system.
More recently, Turin enjoyed a whiff of scandal with the US skeleton team embroiled in a series of lewd controversies.
Women’s coach Tim Nardiello, already barred from the Olympics on sexual harassment allegations, was fired after apparently ignoring orders to stay away from the team.
One of his accusers, team member Felicia Canfield, had said Nardiello would often comment on how good she looked in her speedsuit, and had patted her behind and tried to kiss her.
The list of dirty tricks goes on and on – unknown vandals tampering with some of the American bobsleds the night before competition by loosening the nuts on the sleds’ steering mechanisms at St Moritz in 1948.
And then there was Italian police finding blood transfusion equipment and medication in the chalet near Turin being used by the Austrian biathlon and cross-country skiing teams in 2006.
Five Austrian athletes were suspended for life from Olympic competition.
Dope cheats have always been part of the Olympics.
Thirteen athletes have been caught out at Winter Olympics with Salt Lake City the worst, with seven positive cases of which five were cross-country skiers.
There was just one positive result in Turin – Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva who was stripped of her silver medal. — AFP