If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Botwinov?
During the scant coverage of the 50k skate race yesterday, the NBC
announcers kept referring to the cloud of suspicion that hung over bronze-medal winner Botwinov. Is this simply because he's on the Austrian team, or are there other suspicions or incidents in his past? I bet you don't say these things to his face, by the way. He's HUGE. Onno Oerlemans |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
My guess is guilt by assocation.
bt |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Well, it's more than a loose association, and it goes back to Salt Lake
in 2002. See http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/winter...ws?id=1343450: "Austria won three Olympic medals in Nordic events at Soldier Hollow. Christian Hoffmann won the silver and Mikhail Botvinov the bronze in the 30-kilometer race. Wolfgang Perner took the bronze in the 10-kilometer biathlon sprint. A certificate belonging to Botvinov was found inside a plastic bag containing the blood transfusion equipment, Cathy Priestner Allinger, head of sport for the 2002 Games, told the Salt Lake Tribune." Still just circumstance and allegation, but that's enough to raise questions- although the NBC commentators did go a bit overboard with the "cloud of suspicion" nonsense. It must have been their 50km talking point, just like "hitting a home run" was the talking point for the men's 15km. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
The thing that has happened since then (as I remember and has
understood it), is that Mayer was judged to be (one of those) responsible for that doping euipmentand banned by the IOC but the Austrians let him start cooperate with the skiers again (which was allowed as long as it had nothing to do with the olympics), but then things evolved in a way that made WADA more and more sucpicious and when they got hold on a post card precenting Mayer as coach for the 2006 olympics team and got tips about Mayer visiting the team in the Olympic village, made a rad and, as written, e.g., in the following clip from http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/othe...ts/4730842.stm , "... Ten Austrian athletes were drug tested following the raids, sparked by the presence of banned coach Walter Mayer. ... 'To find somebody guilty of doping you don't necessarily need urine and blood samples,' said IOC president Jacques Rogge. 'It can also be based on circumstantial evidence.' ... Mayer, 48, was banned from the 2006 and 2010 Games for doping offences at the 2002 event in Salt Lake City. .... Austrian Olympic chiefs have launched their own investigation alongside that of the IOC to fend off the possibility of a ban. ... There's a storm brewing at the IOC. Whether the doping tests are positive or negative doesn't matter. ... There was equipment found that was clearly not allowed, including equipment for blood transfusions. ....Earlier, Jungwirth revealed that coach Emil Hoch, who disappeared shortly after the raids, would be banned from future Olympics. ... Austrian Ski Federation president Peter Shroecksnadel, who met an Italian prosecutor on Thursday, has admitted that the two athletes who left the Games after the raids, Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottman, had confessed they 'may have used illegal methods'. ... Austrian Olympic chiefs sacked Mayer after hearing about his arrest but they could not stop the scandal from spreading. " Nobody is convicted for anything yet, so we shouldn't jump to conclusions, but it certainly smells bad... :-/ |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Yeah, Botvinov is a tall guy but he's not built like Smirnov. Smirnov
was a guy you wouldn't want to **** off. I met Botvinov at the '97 American Birkebeiner where he set the full course record of 1:57 for 51 kilometers. The course that year was the fastest ever in my 20 Birkies (BTW, I'm a Birch Leggings Club Memeber now that I've completed 20 Birkies!). Anyway, my time that year was 2:27! Yes, it was the speed of the snow... Just like Muhlegg who won the Birkie in '99, Botvinov was one of the nicest skiers I've ever met. I'm not commmenting on whether there was doping involved with the Austrian Team this year... Jay Tegeder "Keep training, lycra never lies!" JT |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
|
#7
|
|||
|
|||
my friend knew Muhlegg since world juiors back in about '87-they became
good friends and i heard he was a super-cool guy. ahhhh.so sad is life, when the good turn to the dark side. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
no,no he was German...definitely not into kabbalala
|
#9
|
|||
|
|||
" wrote:
no,no he was German...definitely not into kabbalala If you do a patient search you'll undoubtedly come up with something on his beliefs, but here was a surface expression of them 2002: It looks as though Spanish cross country skier Johann Muehlegg is not of this world. This might explain how he won three gold medals at the 2001 Salt Lake Olympics, and any doping has nothing to do with it. The referees were surprised with the skier’s statement that his actions are guided “by extra-terrestrials from space." Johann Muehlegg made the following statement in an interview with the BBC: “I saw them. They contacted me and are now guiding my actions. You may say it is funny, but their assistance has produced an evident effect. I am an Olympic champion now, and my achievements are to go down in history.� |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Congratulations on twenty, Sorry I didn't notice until you pointed it out
after the race, but I was dealing with my own issues, Ie: dropping out of the elites for the first time in a long time. But "I vill be back" to coin a phrase. gonna be the FrontRunner again. wrote in message ups.com... Yeah, Botvinov is a tall guy but he's not built like Smirnov. Smirnov was a guy you wouldn't want to **** off. I met Botvinov at the '97 American Birkebeiner where he set the full course record of 1:57 for 51 kilometers. The course that year was the fastest ever in my 20 Birkies (BTW, I'm a Birch Leggings Club Memeber now that I've completed 20 Birkies!). Anyway, my time that year was 2:27! Yes, it was the speed of the snow... Just like Muhlegg who won the Birkie in '99, Botvinov was one of the nicest skiers I've ever met. I'm not commmenting on whether there was doping involved with the Austrian Team this year... Jay Tegeder "Keep training, lycra never lies!" JT |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|