Turbo
02-22-02, 12:29 AM
Again, from ESPN.com...
Salt Lake City - Russian Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev said he told IOC president Jacques Rogge that his nation was "greatly unappreciated" in the Olympics.
The comments came at a news conference just hours after one of the nation's top athletes, cross-country skier Larissa Lazutina, was disqualified from the 20-kilometer relay because of high levels of hemoglobin found in a pre-race blood test.
Tyagachev said that while Lazutina's hemoglobin count was just above the legal limit, she was not guilty of doping.
"We are clean," he said. "We have nothing to hide."
But Tyagachev was upset by more than the Lazutina case.
He made repeated references to the figure skating judging dispute, in which Russia's Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the pairs' competition but had to share the gold medal with Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
"This was a new decision that was practically unprecedented," he said. "We went along with the decision and tried to look at it objectively. ... But we have only so much patience."
Tyagachev also referred to what he said was a high number of Russian athletes picked for drug tests and an unspecified ruling by a goal judge in ice hockey.
"I think we are seeing a witch hunt," he said.
Smirnov warned against taking his country's complaints too lightly.
"Without Russia, the Olympic Games will be lost," he said.
Salt Lake City - Russian Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev said he told IOC president Jacques Rogge that his nation was "greatly unappreciated" in the Olympics.
The comments came at a news conference just hours after one of the nation's top athletes, cross-country skier Larissa Lazutina, was disqualified from the 20-kilometer relay because of high levels of hemoglobin found in a pre-race blood test.
Tyagachev said that while Lazutina's hemoglobin count was just above the legal limit, she was not guilty of doping.
"We are clean," he said. "We have nothing to hide."
But Tyagachev was upset by more than the Lazutina case.
He made repeated references to the figure skating judging dispute, in which Russia's Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the pairs' competition but had to share the gold medal with Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
"This was a new decision that was practically unprecedented," he said. "We went along with the decision and tried to look at it objectively. ... But we have only so much patience."
Tyagachev also referred to what he said was a high number of Russian athletes picked for drug tests and an unspecified ruling by a goal judge in ice hockey.
"I think we are seeing a witch hunt," he said.
Smirnov warned against taking his country's complaints too lightly.
"Without Russia, the Olympic Games will be lost," he said.