Beckie gets Gold

Three cheers for Becks:

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/...NStory/Sports/

J


--
Justin F. Knotzke

http://www.shampoo.ca PGP: http://www.shampoo.ca/pubkey.txt
Gigantic, a big big love - Kim Deal

Justin F. Knotzke wrote:

Three cheers for Becks:

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/...NStory/Sports/

And so does Estil and Alsgaard!

How many golds does that leave Norway with?

"The best winter games ever!" :-)

Just so very sad that it has taken almost two years to get rid of the
cheaters, and really sad to think about Pär Elofsson who's had two years
destroyed, more or less from trying to follow a cheater. :-(

Terje

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

quote who= Terje Mathisen /:
Justin F. Knotzke wrote:

Three cheers for Becks:

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/...NStory/Sports/

And so does Estil and Alsgaard!

I'm a Canuck, so I am biased. What makes Beckie's Gold so great is that
she's fought very hard to clean up her sport or at least make the cheaters
accountable. Winning the Gold medal is great, but knowing she made a
difference I think is greater.

J



--
Justin F. Knotzke

http://www.shampoo.ca PGP: http://www.shampoo.ca/pubkey.txt
Gigantic, a big big love - Kim Deal

Justin F. Knotzke wrote:

quote who= Terje Mathisen /:

Justin F. Knotzke wrote:


Three cheers for Becks:

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/...NStory/Sports/

And so does Estil and Alsgaard!


I'm a Canuck, so I am biased. What makes Beckie's Gold so great is that
she's fought very hard to clean up her sport or at least make the cheaters
accountable. Winning the Gold medal is great, but knowing she made a
difference I think is greater.

You do know that all of this has been driven by Norway and Canada
together, and that the final verdict was due to the way the Olympic
Charter (which all athletes have to follow) is written?

I.e. break the charter, and you're disqualified from the Games, not just
the distance in which you were caught. Other multi-event world
championships would do well to emulate this.

Norway (i.e. Stensbøl at Toppidrettssenteret) have sponsored the ~1.2
million NOK the appeal process have costed.

The IOC-precident Jaques Rogge told Norway that we had a weak case, and
suggested that it would be better to not appeal the previous verdict all
the way to CAS in Lausanne.

Terje

--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

I've received articles from both Canadian and Norwegian newspapers
today in my email today:
Aftenposten ... "Estil and Alsgaard get Olympic gold".
Globe and Mail ... "Scott to receive gold"
.... so some of the blame clearly has to lie with the media!

The CAS report is available at
http://www.tas-cas.org/en/medias/media3.htm. It does a nice job of
explaining the basis for the outcome of the case, i.e., "in the case
of exclusion (from the Olympic Games), any medals or diplomas obtained
shall be returned to the IOC (Executive Board)". It is damn lucky the
three were officially expelled from the Games and not simply allowed
to leave quietly. Otherwise, the IOC would still be sitting on its
hands doing nothing.

All in all, fabulous news and LONG overdue.

Gratulera til Scott, Estil, og Alsgaard!

Brian May

In article , Terje Mathisen wrote:
You do know that all of this has been driven by Norway and Canada
together, and that the final verdict was due to the way the Olympic
Charter (which all athletes have to follow) is written?

wrote:

I've received articles from both Canadian and Norwegian newspapers
today in my email today:
Aftenposten ... "Estil and Alsgaard get Olympic gold".
Globe and Mail ... "Scott to receive gold"
.... so some of the blame clearly has to lie with the media!

The CAS report is available at
http://www.tas-cas.org/en/medias/media3.htm. It does a nice job of
explaining the basis for the outcome of the case, i.e., "in the case
of exclusion (from the Olympic Games), any medals or diplomas obtained
shall be returned to the IOC (Executive Board)". It is damn lucky the
three were officially expelled from the Games and not simply allowed
to leave quietly. Otherwise, the IOC would still be sitting on its
hands doing nothing.

All in all, fabulous news and LONG overdue.

Reading the decision, we (and they) could still wait another 4 months,
plus however long it takes to actually transfer/award the relevant medals:

"In conclusion, both cases are remitted to the IOC Executive Board in
order to render a new decision by 15 March 2004 whereby in effect the IOC :
"

I.e. unless the Executive Board gets its act together, we could look at
local-news medal ceremonies after the end of the current season, and
more than a year after Thomas retired. :-(

Terje
--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

quote who= Terje Mathisen /:

You do know that all of this has been driven by Norway and Canada
together, and that the final verdict was due to the way the Olympic
Charter (which all athletes have to follow) is written?

I am fully aware of that. I wasn't really speaking of this case but more to
Beckie's tireless efforts to change the way doping is handled in the sport.
Beckie has been voicing her concerns rather loudly about doping in skiing much
before the last Olys.

J

--
Justin F. Knotzke

http://www.shampoo.ca PGP: http://www.shampoo.ca/pubkey.txt
Gigantic, a big big love - Kim Deal

Terje Mathisen wrote in message ...

How many golds does that leave Norway with?

There is only one correct answer to that question:
"Who cares?!"
:-)


Anders

Terje Mathisen wrote in message ...

I.e. unless the Executive Board gets its act together, we could look at
local-news medal ceremonies after the end of the current season, and
more than a year after Thomas retired. :-(

Since receiving one´s rightful medal in a second or third
ceremony, however official and whether during the games or
the championships in question, is never quite the same as
receiving it at the rightful and proper time, I don´t think
this greatly matters.

In fact, it might be better to habe the ceremnoy later, so
that both the current WC skiers and the "new" Olympic winners
don´t have to share the same limelight, so to speak.


Anders

"Justin F. Knotzke" wrote in message ...

I am fully aware of that. I wasn't really speaking of this case but more to
Beckie's tireless efforts to change the way doping is handled in the sport.
Beckie has been voicing her concerns rather loudly about doping in skiing much
before the last Olys.

You know, I´m in a frank-talking mood now and I don´t want you
to misunderstand me, but singling her out as tireless or more
concerned or a stronger voice or whatever smacks IMHO of a
certain parochial idealism - which almost kind of does her a
disservice in a way.

She is a great skier, albeit a bit "scrappy", if that´s the word,
in her performances, and quite probably a paragon of virtue - and
I´m glad to say I´ve stood this close to her once:-) - but I
think we should let her athletic achievement stand on their own
merit and not mix, confuse or heighten them with her anti-doping
stances (which may or may not be louder or more laudable than
that of other skiers with anti-doping stances).

I mean - and I´ll say it again: I´m not hinting or implying or
implying behind a thin veil or anything! - but the German runner
Frank Baumann was a very high-profile, front-line anti-doping
figure in his home country (and Harri K. the embodiment of good
sportsmanship and honesty in his...), and what you´ve achieved
with your intended praise is only make this particular reader
associate Beckie with *that* kind of athlete.


But now that I´ve got that off my chest:

A big "Hip, hip, hurray!" for her bronze!
A loud "Hip, hip, hurray!" for her silver!
A roaring "Hip, hip, hurray! for her gold!

And a wry smile for making the book of sports curiosities!:-)


Oh, and a polite "Congrulations, boys! for Alsgaard, Estil and
Hoffman.



Anders