Triggered by the disqualification of a star athlete after a blood test Thursday morning, the Russian delegation threatened to pull its entire team out of the 2002 Winter Olympics unless the International Olympic Committee pacified its anger.
Bringing out a list of grievances under the umbrella of “unfair” or “unobjective” judging in a wide-ranging news conference that smacked of Cold War sports rhetoric, top Russian Olympics officials suggested the country may boycott remaining Olympic events such as hockey, cross-country skiing and the Closing Ceremony.
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Russia’s men’s hockey team is slated to play the United States in the semifinals Friday.
They also hinted that if things went that far there might be no Russian team in Athens for the Summer Olympics in 2004.
“It never happens that a country says we are leaving and then tomorrow we come back and say we are sorry,” Leonid Tyagachev, president of the Russian Olympic Committee said. “No. If we leave, this wouldn’t happen.”
Tyagachev initially said the IOC had 24 hours to assuage the Russians. Later that deadline seemed muddier when another official said there was no ultimatum. During a hard-edged but generally low-decibel complaint session, Russian officials shouted down one Russian reporter who suggested the only reason they were protesting was to cover up athletic defeats. Tyagachev said he doubted the man is Russian.
Praising his own nation’s “good, clean” record, Tyagachev criticized the handling of skier Larissa Lazutina’s high blood reading before the morning’s cross-country relay, officiating in Wednesday’s hockey game between Russian and the Czech Republic and the awarding of duplicate gold medals in pairs figure skating.
“If Russia is not needed in the big sport, in the world sport, in the Olympic sport, hey, we’re ready to leave the Olympic village,” Tyagachev said.
He talked of uniting with what he said are similarly dissatisfied countries such as China, Ukraine and South Korea. “We are not the only country that is humiliated,” Tyagachev said.
Supported by a top Ukrainian Olympic official, and a team of other Russian Olympic figures, including Vitaly Smirnov, a Russian IOC vice president, Tyagachev demanded IOC President Jacques Rogge make amends quickly to Russia’s honor by investigating officiating in all three sports cited and by writing a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A short while later, Francois Carrard, director general of the IOC, reported that the governing body of Olympic sport had interviewed the heads of the key sports federations and found no wrongdoing. He also revealed that Rogge had written a letter of reassurance to Putin.
Carrard called Russian emotions understandable. “The stakes are high, the emotions are high, the tensions are high,” Carrard said. “Judgment calls are part of human nature and human reactions are understandable.”
He acknowledged Russia’s long and first-class commitment to the Olympic movement and said he is certain it will continue.
Russian disgruntlement with officiating at the Salt Lake City Games is widespread, but special fury was focused on the handling of Lazutina’s case. One of the most decorated Winter Olympic athletes ever, the nine-time medal-winner was selected for a blood test before the 4×5 kilometer relay at Soldier Hollow.
Officials said her hemoglobin level of 16.8 units was higher than allowable maximum of 16, and as a result the heavily favored Russian team did not race. Tyagachev claimed that Lazutina, 36, of Moscow, had only a slightly elevated reading because of her menstrual cycle and the Russians should have been able to substitute another athlete. A Ukrainian athlete also tested high and that team did not race either. Germany won the gold medal.
Smirnov called the decision to sideline Lazutina “cruel and inhuman.”
Viktor Mamatov, the Russian team leader, accused the Olympics of having “a double standard” because athletes with asthma are allowed to ingest otherwise banned substances in prescribed medication that is approved in advance.
“If that is so life-threatening, call 911 and paramedics,” Mamatov said. “That’s turning the Olympic Games into the Paralympic Games.”
The Russian delegation suggested that the appropriate remedy, given the dominance of their quartet, is to either award a second gold medal, as was done following the outcry for figure-skating pair for Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, or to rerun the race.
Carrard noted that a member of every nation’s team was tested and that this case “is a different situation” from the pairs matter.
The Russians also thought there was unbalanced officiating in their team’s 1-0 hockey victory over the Czech Republic. The Czechs were whistled for six minutes in penalties to the Russians’ 22, and the Russians were called for three straight minor penalties to end the first period.
“Yesterday’s judging was truly disgusting,” Smirnov said. “For this I see malicious intent. Frankly, I was livid.”
Although the Russian officials did not dwell on it for long periods, there were frequent references to the injustice they thought was done to pairs skaters Elena Bereznaia and Anton Sikharulidze by the awarding of a duplicate gold. Russians at home are complaining in Internet polls about all of these matters, Tyagachev said.
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“There is a limit to everybody’s patience,” he said.