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Scandals of the 2004 Summer Olympics
Scandals of the 2004 Summer Olympics
Drugs and Doping
The most prominent scandals have involved banned steroid use and drug testing. This year, the Olympics oversaw at least 20 offences, the most for any Olympic Games. This is accredited to tougher tests rather than an increase in doping. Most of the tests, if proven positive, could result in at least a 2-year ban from competition for the athletes involved. Among them:
- Kenyan boxer David Munyasia tested positive for cathine, a banned stimulant, during a pre-Olympic drug test, and was subsequently banned from competing by the IOC. Munyasia, an Olympic hopeful in the Bantamweight (54kg) category, appealed to the CAS, claiming unknown ingestion of the cathine; however, the CAS panel rejected his appeal and upheld his expulsion. His became the first official doping offence directly related to the 2004 Olympic Games.
- Greek sprinters and Olympic favourites Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou withdrew from their team and from competition because they failed to take drug tests the Friday before the games began. The explanation that they had been involved in a mysterious motorcycle accident, witnessed and attested to by no one, was determined likely to have been a subterfuge, and as of late August 2004, was still under investigation.
- Spanish canoeist Jovino Gonzalez was found to have in his circulatory system the blood-boosting substance EPO, after he received a surprise pre-Olympic doping test. Although he was scheduled to compete in the Men's Flatwater 500 metres, the Spanish Olympic Committee withdrew him from participation.
- Spanish cyclist Janet Puiggros Miranda became the second Spanish athlete to commit a doping offence after also testing positive for EPO during a pre-Olympic test. Like Gonzalez, she was withdrawn from competing, this time in the Women's Cross-Country race. She also denied the administration of a "B Test", which is used to verify the first drug test.
- Swiss cyclist Oscar Camenzind tested positive for EPO during another pre-Olympic test and was barred from attending the Olympic games. Although he accepted full responsibility for the positive test, his cycling career became questionable after being fired by his Swiss professional cycling team Phonak . Soon after this occurrence, he announced his retirement from professional cycling.
- Irish distance runner Cathal Lombard also tested positive during yet another pre-Olympic doping test for EPO while in training. Although he qualified in the Men's 5000 metres and the Men's 10000 metres, he was administered the doping test after the Irish Sports Council noticed suspicious improvements in Lombard's running times. He has been banned from competing for 2 years, and has apologetically joined the fight against athletic doping.
- Nan Aye Khine , a female weightlifter from Myanmar, tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid. She was disqualified and stripped of her fourth place in the women's 48 kg weightlifting event. Although her test was administered before the Olympic Games started, she was forced to leave Athens her test results were received after her event.
- Moroccan female weightlifter Wafa Ammouri was a no-show at the Women's 63kg weightlifting event, and was later found to have failed her drug exam and tested positive for steroids, after the results from an IWF pre-competition test were released.
- Turkish female weightlifter Sule Sahbaz failed her drug exam, and tested positive for steroids a day before competing in the Women's 75+kg weightlifting event, and was subsequently barred from competing. Although the Turkish government has agreed to investigate whether Sahbaz used the banned substance knowingly or not, they have labeled her as totally irresponsible.
- Indian female weightlifter Pratima Kumari did not show up at the 63-kilogram weightlifting competition after testing positive for testosterone during a pre-Olympic drug test. Interestingly, her name was not even listed in the official roster at the time of the competition; Indian officials were never informed of this. Kumari blames her coaches for administering several injections of an unknown substance to alleviate back pain incurred during training (the coaches have since been fired by Indian sports officials). However, her claims have yet to be proven.
- Another Indian female weightlifter, Sanamacha Chanu , was stripped of her fourth-place finish in the 53-kilogram weightlifting competition. According to the IOC, Chanu tested positive for furosemide, a banned diuretic which can be used as a masking agent . Like Kumari, Chanu claims that there is a conspiracy surrounding Indian weightlifters; but as of yet, no proof has come to light.
- Uzbekistan's Olga Shchukina was disqualified after having finished 19th (last place) in her qualifying group in the women's shot put. Shchukina tested positive in an out-of-competition screening August 14, 2004 for the steroid clenbuterol . According to news reports, Shchukina claimed she ingested the substance inadvertently in a cough syrup. Since the IOC has a "strict liability" rule, which holds athletes responsible for any banned substance found in their system, she was nevertheless found guilty of a doping offence.
- Ukrainian rower Olena Olefirenko tested positive for Ethamivan, a banned stimulant, costing her four-woman rowing crew the bronze medal in Women's Quadruple Sculls. Olefirenko claims that the banned substance came from a prescribed medication, issued by the team's doctor.
- Belarusian high jumper Aleksey Lesnichiy was barred from further competition in the Men's High Jump after testing positive for the steroid clenbuterol . He failed to clear a height in the event's qualifying round. He has assumed total responsibility under the "strict liability" rule after claiming he received the steroid from an illegal cough syrup.
- Russian female weightlifter Albina Khomich , a favourite in the Women's 75+kg weightlifting event, tested positive for the banned steroid methandrostenalone during an IWF pre-competition test. She was disqualified and banned from competing in the 2004 Olympic Games.
- Greek weightlifter and bronze medalist Leonidas Sampanis failed a drug test just 48 hours after Greece's Kenteris and Thanou announced that they were pulling out of the Games. Sampanis had tested positive after the 62 kg weighlifting competitionfor twice the allowable amount of the male hormone testosterone. He was stripped of his bronze medal and expelled from the Games. He became the first competitor at the Athens Games to be stripped of a medal for a doping infraction. Sampanis, supposedly an outspoken advocate against athletic doping, has been vehemently supported by the Greek Olympic Committee against his offence, and continued to be supported after filing an appeal to the CAS.
- Russian shot-putter Irina Korzhanenko won gold in the women's shot put event, but was later stripped of the title when she tested positive for the steroid stanozolol. Korzhanenko, however, denies ever taking or receiving the steroid. The gold medal went instead to Yumileidi Cumba of Cuba. Korzhanenko became the first gold-medallist of the Athens 2004 games to be stripped of the title of Olympic Champion.
- Hungarian athletes Robert Fazekas was stripped of his gold medal on the Men's discus event and, after being caught tampering with his urine sample and refusing to release it during his post-event doping exam. The gold medal was then awarded to Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania. Although Fazekas set an Olympic Record, this was also erased from all record, and consecutively, that Olympic Record was awarded to Alekna (who had still beaten the old Olympic Record). Fazekas's athlete friend Adrian Annus was stripped of his gold medal, too. The two sportsman accuse WADA with incompetency, because all their urine sample was negative before and WADA couldn't prove any charges on using dopes or artificial urine machines. Annus's evidences given to an independent and accredited dopping laboratory were negative, too.
- Russian sprinter Anton Galkin was expelled from the Olympic Games after testing positive for the steroid stanozolol. He had been tested after competing in the semifinals of the Men's 400 metres, where he finished in 4th place.
- Colombian cyclist Marķa Luisa Calle lost her bronze medal after testing positive for heptaminol . The Colombian Olympic Committee appealed the decision and as of March, 2005, the matter is being studied.
Organization and security
- Ron Bensimhon , a Canadian spectator of the three meter synchronized diving competition, bare-chested and clad in a purple tutu, mounted the springboard and belly flopped into the pool. He had the URL for online gaming service GoldenPalace.com scrawled prominently on his chest. Bensinhom was immediately arrested and was swiftly convicted of trespassing and disturbing the public order. He was sentenced to five months imprisonment and a 300 Euro fine, and is currently on bail pending his appeal.
- During the Men's Marathon, Brazilian runner Vanderlei de Lima was grabbed by Cornelius Horan, a defrocked Irish priest and former disrupter, and was pushed into the crowd, losing several seconds and the first place in the marathon; Vanderlei eventually ended in third place, receiving the bronze medal. Soon after the incident, the Brazilian Track Federation submitted an appeal to the IAAF, asking that Vanderlei be awarded a duplicate gold medal. However, the IAAF denied the appeal, and the Brazilian Track Federation subsequently appealed to the CAS. Nevertheless, the IOC honoured Vanderlei with the Pierre de Coubertin medal, the highest recognition awarded by the IOC, for his "exceptional demonstration of fair play and Olympic values".
- Guidelines were published that say spectators may be refused admission to events if they are wearing any clothing bearing trademarks of non-sponsor companies (for instance, Pepsi or Pizza Hut). However, any incident of refused admission due to this cause has never been reported.
Officiating decisions
- The swimming officiating has been called into question several times:
- Television replays appeared to show that Kosuke Kitajima used a forbidden dolphin kick coming out of the turn to win the 100 metre breaststroke over world record-holder American Brendan Hansen . Although Hansen did not complain publicly about the turn, one of his teammates, American backstroker Aaron Peirsol, did, publicly calling for Kitajima to be disqualified. However, present swimming rules do not permit the use of taped replay after the fact to disqualify a swimmer — only the lane judge watching the turn during the event can do that.
- Peirsol then proceeded to find himself disqualified for a turn after winning the 200 metre Backstroke. Before each turn, backstrokers are allowed to spin onto their front preparatory to making a flip turn, but the spin and flip are supposed to be joined into one continuous motion. Experts watching replays doubted whether Peirsol's slight hesitation was enough to warrant a disqualification. After an appeal he was reinstated on technical grounds — the disqualification paperwork was apparently not entirely in English (as mandated) and did not match the oral description of the disqualification given by the lane judge. Throughout the incident, Peirsol was supported by his friend Markus Rogan, who took second place in the race and would have been awarded the gold medal had Peirsol's disqualification stood. Having finally been awarded the gold, Peirsol has said that the real sufferers by the mix-up were the swimmers who finished behind him and who, for about a half-hour, moved up in the standings — most notably Briton James Goddard who was temporarily promoted to bronze medal position. The British delegation is now considering a protest to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, although it is unclear whether this protest would have Goddard's support.
- Another less-consequential paperwork mix-up meant that George Bovell's disqualification during the men's 100m freestyle heats was never filed, allowing him through to swim in the semifinals.
- In the Men's High Bar, scores for Aleksei Nemov were raised after the spectators reacted very strongly to a low score. Throughout the competition, scores awarded did not seem to match the routines performed.
- Canadian men's rowing pair Chris Jarvis and David Calder are disqualified in the semifinal round after they cross into the lane belonging to the South African team of Donovan Cech and Ramon di Clemente and, according to the Australians, interfering with their progress. The Canadians appealed, unsuccessfully, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (had their appeal been successful, an additional lane would have been added to the final race).
- Dae Sung Lee, who was dismissed as the head coach of the US Taekwondo Team, sued the US Taekwondo Union and the US Olympic Committee alleging his dismissal related to his Korean heritage. His case was dismissed by US district Judge Susan Mollway.
- Three Gymnastics judges have been dismissed after they inadvertently reduced Tae Young Yang 's coeficient by a tenth in the Men's Artistic Individual All-Around. Had Yang been scored correctly, he would have finished ahead of American Paul Hamm for the gold medal. For more details on this situation, see the article for Hamm.
- After falling in the men's vault Marian Dragulescu still gets bronze with an impossibly high score and a greater deviation in scores than is permissible. A complaint has been filed on behalf of Canadian Kyle Shewfelt who moved into fourth.
- Hungarian Fencing official Josef Hidasi was suspended for two years by the FIE after commiting several errors during a Italy-China match.
- The US Gymnastics team filed a complaint with the FIG after American rhythmic gymnast Mary Sanders received a low technical score in the hoop routine during the qualification round of the Rhythmic Individual All-Around. This score was not in line with the higher scores she received in her clubs, ball, and ribbon routines, and also lower than she had ever scored in a competition, World or Olympic. This was disconcerting because her hoop routine was free of any major errors. The FIG denied the complaint, with no explanation. Sanders placed 15th out of 24, and failed to qualify for the All-Around Final.
- In the women's 100m hurdles, world champion and favorite Perdita Felicien of Canada stepped on the first hurdle, tumbling to the ground and taking Irina Shevchenko of Russia with her. The Russian Federation filed an unsuccessful protest, pushing the medal ceremony back a day. Track officials debated for about two hours before rejecting the Russians' arguments. The race was won by American Joanna Hayes in Olympic-record time.
Others
- Clayton Stanley , a player of the American volleyball team at the Olympic tournament, was arrested in Athens one day after the games had ended. After having an argument with a couple, Stanley went as far as attacking the woman who was pregnant. Stanley, a former Panathinaikos player, was arrested and charges were pressed against him for battery and potentially dangerous physical damage, plain physical damage and resisting arrest. He is now on bail pending his trial.
- Arash Miresmaili, Sports Illustrated's choice to win gold in judo, missed his bout against his Israeli opponent, Ehud Vaks. News reports have suggested, variously, that he refused to fight in a protest against the IOC's recognition of the state of Israel; that he was ineligible to fight after weighing in over-weight; or perhaps that he purposefully went over-weight in order to avoid the bout. It has been reported that Iranian Olympic team chairman Nassrollah Sajadi has suggested that the Iranian government should give him $115,000 (the amount he would have received if he had won the gold medal) as a reward for his actions, which were praised by the President of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, who is reported to have said his refusal to fight the Israeli would be "recorded in the history of Iranian glories" and stated that the nation considered him to be "the champion of the 2004 Olympic Games." An investigation has been launched. On September 8, the official Iranian press agency reported that the government had given Miresmaili and Iran's two gold medalists $125,000 each.
Sources
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