WINTER OLYMPICS : Notebook : Bobsled Controversy Put on Hold for Now

The U.S. bobsled controversy that burned so hot last week has cooled, but that doesn’t mean the fire is out.

“Everything is calmed down now, but if the (American bobsled) federation runs true to form, they’ll do something just before the competition,” Matt Roy, driver of the No. 2 sled, said Monday. “That’s their usual style.”

For the moment, Roy added, the federation is not pushing Willie Gault, the Chicago Bear football player around whom the controversy revolved. Gault, who did some sliding with the team last season, rejoined it after the Bears were eliminated from the National Football League playoffs in early January. He was later awarded a spot on the 12-man Olympic team, at the expense of Don LaVigne, a regular who was bumped after working with the team since October.

When LaVigne hired a lawyer, who asked for binding arbitration in the case, all the alphabet organizations involved agreed to the reinstatement of LaVigne, giving the United States an extra man.

There has been some grumbling about that from a few of the other countries, who are questioning preferential treatment for the United States, but mostly, the teams have been going about their business.

In the case of the U.S. crews, that is not necessarily good business. With the two-man competition scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, some crews are still not set. There have been rumors of push-offs involving Gault and others, but if there are to be some, nobody is owning up to it.

Roy, in fact, said that his teams are set, thanks to No. 1 driver Brent Rushlaw’s use of Mike Aljoe as the brakeman on Rushlaw’s two-man sled. Roy was thinking about trying Aljoe as a pusher on his four-man sled.

“As long as Brent is using him, I won’t change my sled,” Roy said. “He’s thinking of using Mike on his four-man sled, too.”

If that happens, Aljoe most likely will replace pusher Bill White, Roy said.

Whatever happens, Gault is probably still in the picture. In two-man training runs Sunday and Monday, riding as brakeman for Randy Will on the alternate sled, his best push times were better than the best times turned in by Aljoe in Rushlaw’s sled or Jim Herberich in Roy’s.

Unfortunately for all of them, the U.S. sleds were not anywhere near as fast as the leaders’ either day.

Aljoe, a former Oklahoma football player, has borrowed a bit from Brian Bosworth, another former Oklahoma player of some note.

The left side of Aljoe’s head has been shaved, with the exception of two initials, a U and an S.

Roy had a three-generation rooting section at Monday’s bobsled practice.

His mother, Peg, was there, readily identifiable in a coat with a patch on the back that said, “Matt’s Mom.”

With her were Roy’s wife Caroline and their 2-month-old daughter, Katelin, tucked snugly into her mom’s big USA Bobsled coat.

Part of the fun of the Olympics is trying to match names and countries.

You might expect, for instance, that Doris Campbell and Kelvin Greenbank compete for Great Britain. But they don’t, since they are Austrians.

Franck Pajonkowski doesn’t represent Poland, either, but rather France. And it would be hard to guess that a gentleman whose last name is Benoit Zurcher is from Mexico, unless you heard his first name, which is Alejandro.

Surely, though, Heinz Holzer, Georg Beikirchner, Alex Wolf, Paul Hildgartner and Gerda Weissensteiner must compete for one of the Germanys, mustn’t they? No they mustn’t. Italians, one and all.

Perhaps the biggest fooler of all, though, is Marc Girardelli. His name sounds Italian but he’s a native of Austria who now lives in Luxembourg and constitutes that country’s entire Alpine ski team.

Pirmin Zurbriggen, the downhill gold medalist, said he suffered a slight leg injury early last week while “playing football (soccer) with some of my teammates. One of them fell on my leg, but it was not serious.”

He said the bruise bothered him for a couple of days in training, then disappeared.

“No, it wasn’t Peter who fell on me,” he said with a laugh, referring to downhill rival Peter Mueller.

American spectators had little to cheer about in the men’s downhill. A.J. Kitt was the top U.S. finisher, coming in 26th, 5.31 seconds behind Zurbriggen.

Jeff Olson was 28th, while Doug Lewis, skiing with a sign that said, “We Need Brownie” on his helmet, was 32nd. The reference was to Mike Brown, who was left off the U.S. Olympic team after he missed some January World Cup races due to a broken wrist. Brown finished second to Olson in the downhill at the National Championships earlier this month.

Felix McGrath is the main U.S. hope in today’s men’s combined downhill race, in which Zurbriggen will start his quest for a second gold medal.

Michela Figini of Switzerland was first and fourth in Monday’s two training runs for Thursday’s women’s downhill. Karen Percy of Canada was first and 15th, while Sigrid Wolf of Austria was impressive with a third and a fourth.

Hilary Lindh was the leading American, placing third and 20th.

United States Olympic Committee officials were concerned when they read Monday morning that the Calgary Herald had decided not to use Canadian ice dancers Rod and Karyn Garossino as guest columnists to protect their eligibility.

The Herald cited the International Olympic Committee’s Rule 51, which prohibits athletes involved in the Olympics from functioning as journalists.

The USOC told figure skater Brian Boitano he might have to discontinue his guest column for USA Today, then checked with the IOC for an interpretation of the rule.

IOC spokesperson Michelle Verdier said Boitano could write the column as long as he was not reporting on the Games, interviewing other athletes or receiving financial compensation. He said he is not being paid.

Furthermore, Verdier said the IOC had not approached the Calgary Herald about the Garossino columns and was not even aware of them until the newspaper reported Monday that they were terminated.

Jeff Knowlen, Herald sports editor, said the newspaper reacted to a memo from the Canadian Olympic Assn. and decided not to risk violating Rule 51. He said the columns will begin next week, after the ice dance competition has concluded.

The Calgary Sun’s SUNshine Girls, one of whom appears each day in a bikini on page three of the newspaper, volunteered to greet Olympic visitors at the airport.

“I was told the girls would be wearing western outfits, and I thought it was a good idea,” airport official Larry LeGros told the Sun. “Well, the SUNshine Girls arrived when I wasn’t there, and one of our staff--talking on an open-band radio--said, ‘The SUNshine Girls are here, but they’re not wearing enough clothes.’ Right away, half our staff rushed down to have a look.”

LeGros said that when he returned to the airport, he asked one of his staff members whether the women had been wearing cowboy boots.

“Gee,” he said, “I never looked at their feet.”

Turgut Atakol, an IOC member from Turkey, returned to Istanbul Sunday in a Canadian Air Force jet authorized by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Atakol, 72, is suffering from cancer. He was admitted to the hospital upon arriving in Calgary, left to attend the IOC meetings last week and then was re-admitted to the hospital Friday before doctors decided he should be flown home.

Park Seh Jik, president of the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee, left Calgary Monday for a series of meetings in Los Angeles, including one with Mayor Bradley. He also will attend a Seoul Olympic Night dinner at the Bonaventure Hotel. As representatives of the previous Summer Olympics host city, Los Angeles officials will participate in the Sept. 17 opening ceremony in Seoul.

Times assistant sports editor Bob Lochner and staff writer Randy Harvey contributed to this story.