Russia gives IOC 24 hours to address concerns


S. Korea threatens to pull out of closing ceremony

Whiny gits.

Who placed an order for a case of "Red Whine?"

The Russians only press-conferenced their complaints after two of their cross-country skiiers failed drug tests. Poor sports. Pretty sad. Who invited them?

Why are they complaining about the officiating in the Russia/Czech hockey game? They WON the game!??

They should be questioning their own Russian figure-skating judge about manipulating votes. And Sale & Pelletier won't be giving up their Gold any time soon. IMHO, the Ruskies need a reality check.

The whole thing is stupid. You'd think there was an American plot to make sure every medal was not given to a non-American.

Unless you understand the issues surrounding the Russian psyche, this announcement seems ludicrous. Having some Russian relatives, I know a little about the bluster and bravado that is simply an obligation in "times like these."
The sad fact is that even in post-Soviet Russia, there is a sense of pride that is tempered by a feeling that Russia is not respected by the West (rightfully so, IMHO). At the same time, there is pressure in Russia that the Olympics are the Super Bowl, World Series, and NBA playoffs all rolled into one. And that pressure is so great that if things fall flat, the people "in charge" have to make excuses or deflect blame.
Russia has performed poorly at this point.
The threats of leaving the Olympics are hollow. All that they represent are the fearful nature of Russian Olympic officials to keep their jobs. Is it petty? Absolutely!
Are they smart to do so based upon the media back home? Absolutlely!

Koreans can't shut up about the short track controversy in which their defending Olympic champion was disqualified in the 1,500 meter (I think) event. They think that their man couldn't have possibly done anything wrong, and the whole city of Seoul is ready to go to war against the Americans and terrorize Ohno. It's bad enough that Bush was just here and the whole city protested either for or against him (mostly against). Apparently, the US is to blame for all of their problems. Anyway, does anyone with any knowledge of the rules agree with the disqualification or did the Korean actually get screwed? Either way, Koreans are acting like sore losers and like they don't have more important problems to think about.

I can't say the precedent was set in 1972, but the American basketball players who refused even to accept silver medals at the '72 Olympics because of a questionable end to the Olympic final certainly did nothing to encourage athletes to abide by the rulings of their governing bodies.
Sports have referees and judges and umpires and the like because subjective decisions have to be made. Whenever subjectivity comes into play, there is the certainty that someone who disagrees with that decision, whether for selfish or pure reasons, will disagree vocally and publicly.
The 2002 Olympics didn't create this situation, and it certainly won't see the last of it.

So let me get this straight....so to speak.
With only 2 days left, they are threatning to pull out....BIG DEAL!!!!

Well, they actually were threatening to pull out of the next summer games too, I believe. Last night, I was worried that both Slutskaya and Kwan would skate cleanly. Then, either Kwan gets picked for her artistry (and the Russians would be even more infuriated) or Slutskaya gets picked and the audience boos and we'd have another controversy.

....and now the Russians have filed a formal protest, citing judging bias and requesting a gold medal for Irina!!

UGH! I'm starting to dislike this sport more every day!

I agree that this has as much to do with pressure from back home as anything. The Russian team is underperforming, and the U.S. team is performing way beyond anyone's dreams. I am sure the phone calls from Moscow are not very pleasant right about now. The Olympics truly are a symbol of the Russian national capability, so poor results (versus expectations) are taken very much to heart.

In terms of the 1972 basketball debacle. The U.S. did set a dangerous precedent by not accepting the silver. However, if you have ever had an opportunity to view the conclusion of the game, you understand why. The U.S. team had won the game and was celebrating. The officials then "conferred" and manufactured a call that was inconsistent with any international rules. Time was put back on the clock and the Soviets were given possession of the ball. The stunned Americans had to watch as the Soviets made a last second basket and walked off with the gold the U.S. team had already won.

I think there are times to fight and there are times to sit back and just accept when you lose. I see the Russian and Korean threats as biting their nose to spite their face. What they are going to do eventually is make figure skating in the olympics into the icecapades and there will be no judging, simply an exabition event. So they didn't get their Gold, Boo hoo.

I say grow up or shut up. Lets say Russia doesn't compete tonight, and pulls out of the summer olympics in 2004. Who are they hurting? The rest of the world? Nope I don't think so, I think they are taking away the last shread of respect that the world may still have for them. How do the players feel about their country saying that they won't play? Does the Hockey team have a say in this or is it just the freakin Russian olympic committee? I'm betting that all the hockey team really wants is to compete, just like every other team in the world. I mean come on there's a skiier from Fiji for goodness sakes, I'm willing to be that all he want's is to just compete. Russia and Korea need to get over them selves and let the athletes do their thing.

I was just reviewing the judging scores (mainly ordinals) from last night's womens figure skating long program. Could someone please explain how on earth the Russian judge placed Sarah Hughes in FOURTH place? Hello??!! She CLEARLY had a more difficult program, skated cleanly and was scored first or second by most of the judges. One other judge had her in fourth and one in third. This same Russian judge placed Sarah in 10th place in the short program, just ahead of the lovely Viktoria Volchkova who could barely stand up throughout her program and was totally listless.

If they want to bitch about the judging and the fairness, they should look at their own national judges.

where can one view the ordinals? i would be interested to see them also

This hulabaloo (is that a word?) surrounding Ohno is reminiscent of guys on the basketball court in a pick-up game threatening to "go get there piece" (which I assume means some sort of firearm)to settle a dispute over a foul.

Maybe we have so many arms in private hands here that we tend not take make frivolous threats lightly or maybe we've become inured to them for the same reason, but for the Italian skater to talk about using a gun to stop Ohno while some wacko, apparently in Korea, is bombarding the Olympic site with death threats, seems well beyond the pale.

I guess sport hasn't changed much since I stopped playing pick-up. It's sad.

It is sad. Russia can take their attitude and stick it where the sun don't shine for all I care. I knew they would recant before they get a chance to play the US Mens Hockey Team though.
Go USA!!!

[quote]Originally posted by sparty on:
where can one view the ordinals? i would be interested to see them also

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If you go to the saltlake2002.com web page, then click on sports>figure skating>

find the date (Feb21) and click on extended results. There is one problem however... the country of the judges is not listed there. but I looked at a tape from last night to get the judges' countries to match up against their numbers.

Jeremy Roenick was just seen on a short clip talking with a sports reporter from the local NBC affiliate, and he basically said that he's tired of the Russians and others "bitching and complaining" just because the USA is having a good Olympics and they're not. He used the
phrase "bitching and complaining" about 4 times in 30 seconds.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: God, I love him!

Just remember, Joe, when you move into that secluded bungalow with JR, "No Bitching and Complaining." He hates that. I know I couldn't live that way. Godspeed Joe. Godspeed.

It seems that the Russians have come to their senses about these matters; I understand they've dropped all complaints against the IOC when they were basically told, "Pftshaw, you're kidding, right, comrades?"

[quote]The U.S. team had won the game and was celebrating. The officials then "conferred" and manufactured a call that was inconsistent with any international rules. Time was put back on the clock and the Soviets were given possession of the ball. The stunned Americans had to watch as the Soviets made a last second basket and walked off with the gold the U.S. team had already won.

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I remember that game vividly. This was back in the glorious days when you actually saw *gasp* a ton of sports, not warm-n-fuzzy profiles, on Olympic broadcasts. Not only did the Russians get the ball back, but if you see the clip again, you'll see that just before the Russian guy catches the inbound throw, he basically pushed the US defender out of the way with both hands. So, it should have been an offensive foul, end of game.

The U.S. got jobbed, far worse than those dreary Canadian figure skaters. I'm glad that the US basketball team has continued to refuse to accept the medals.

Just so happens I speak Russian and Korean:

"WAAAAAAH!!!!"