Posted on 02/26/2006 5:27:14 AM PST by paudio
TURIN, Italy (AP) -- With the whole world watching, Bode Miller earned more notice for his Olympic partying than his performance. Teammates Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick skated and squabbled. Jeret Peterson finished off a boozy night in the mountains with a street scuffle.
While the U.S. Olympians are near the top of the medal table, their behavior beyond the events was not quite golden. U.S. officials, promising "significant adjustments" in their handling of athletes, hope to curb such churlish behavior before the 2008 Games in Beijing.
"It affects how the world views our country, and how the athletes are viewed," U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Jim Scherr said Saturday. "We'll use a number of things that happened here to point things out to other athletes. Like case studies."
Scherr didn't call anyone out by name, but the unidentified bad boys weren't difficult to identify. Hours after Saturday's news conference ended, Miller failed to finish in the first run of the slalom and officially ended his Turin stay with zero medals in five races.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
The troublemakers didn't include figure skater Johnny Weir, who raised some eyebrows by appearing with a red jacket that bore the Cyrillic initials of the former Soviet Union.
"I certainly don't think Johnny espouses the principles of communism," Scherr said.
Were there Olympics recently?
Yes. Good old fashion ethics and manners must now be taught by "case studies".......
As usual, Americans look childish and arrogant. Maybe we should kick out these officials too since they're only thinking about this now.
When I coached athletes, the inappropriateness of the "things that happened here" would have been pointed out via immediate dismissal from the team.
Instead, four or five a**hats have damaged the reputation of the US delegation. Does Mr. Scherr suppose "case studies" are going to make the remainder of our team feel better when they have to explain to critics why they actually represented their nation appropriately?
This is one of the reasons I didn't watch much of it this year. It seems the media has been increasingly obsessessed with the personal lives of the athletes outside of their sport, and their emotions. They're kids! for the most part.
I think it's a conscious effort by reporters to "dig" at people that have capabilities and determination that they will never have. IOW, they're jealous, so they try to destroy what they can't beat. Heard that before?
And it's not like they'd miss a chance to make USA look bad in the eyes of the world.
As usual the European meadia wants the US to look bad, and will do ANYTHING to push that image. Selective focus is the means to accomplish thsi. Please note for instance, the huge Austrian team doping scandal, with one coach attempting to flee Italy by car. Etc. Please do not confuse image with reality, especially as reported by a hostile European press.
Beer, babes, snow and a free ski trip to Italy. Nice scam!
While Miller is arguably the best skier the US has to offer, there are other things that go into the making of a champion other than just ability.
The USOC should be spending its money on someone else who is more worthy......
Defund the Olympics.....
Instead, give a donation to your State's National Guard Unit, or the NCO Club at any nearby Military Facility....
They are certainly more deserving, and more appreciative.
Semper Fi
/vent
Typical IOC bullsh*t behaviour. - been there, seen that.
I used to give a donation to my NCO club, one bottle at a time.
Please pull your head out of the sand.
How did you develop such a distorted view of the events? It was our athletes who were causing the trouble not some imagined European news media cabal.
Those doctors will probably all end up being from other countries.
After all, someone has to do the jobs that Americans don't want to do...
FWIW, I don't blame Hedrick for being very disappointed about USA's failing to qualify on the team pursuit event.
The scenario with Shani Davis' withdrawal at the last minute would cause anyone who had trained so hard, for so long, a deep frustration.
Davis' "it's all about me and my mom" attitude in his interview after winning the gold medal was one a kind. It has never happened before!
His bitterness and selfishness isn't going to change with some case studies.
I missed the whole Olympics. Why couldn't they have scheduled the broadcasts around "Skating With The Stars", "American Idol", and "Suvivor"?
I didn't get my news from the European media. I got it from listening to Bode Miller explain how he "rocked" despite his miserable performance. The man is pathetic, and unfortunately, doesn't realize that he is representing the USA and not just himself.
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