Injured Canadian Considers Action

A Canadian bobsledder injured Wednesday night by falling plexiglass in the Olympic village compound where American and other athletes are housed said Friday that he is considering legal action.

However, Matt Hindle said he did not know if the pieces came from a window that was broken during the incident in which U.S. hockey players vandalized three rooms on the fifth floor of the same dorm.

“I have no idea where they were staying,” he said during an impromptu news conference after the second heat of the four-man bobsled competition was rained out.

Hindle said he was appreciative to have received a genuine apology from Paul George, the U.S. chef de mission, and several U.S. athletes, but George said that what he offered Hindle was more an expression of concern and that he did not believe the accident was related to the vandalism.

“I went up to him and mentioned I was very sorry about what had happened to him, but I don’t know who broke the glass, and I still don’t,” George said.

“We’ve looked at it pretty clearly and, while I’ve learned never to say never, we’re pretty damn certain that the hockey players were not at the village at the time this happened [about 8 p.m., according to Hindle].

“They were just finishing a news conference at the [main press center] at 7:40, and it would have been physically impossible for them to get back by the time [Hindle was hurt].”

Hindle required five stitches for a deep cut near his left shoulder.

He said he had stopped to talk to U.S. bobsledders Dan and Darrin Steele when hit by the falling glass. “I looked up and saw a broken window on the sixth floor,” he said.

Suzanne Chariest, a spokesperson for the Canadian Olympic Assn., said Hindle, 23, was injured by pieces from a plexiglass barrier.

George said the spot from which the pieces fell was a common area near an elevator on the sixth floor, where athletes from all floors had access, and that athletes from Australia, and possibly Canada, lived on the floor.

“I’m definitely going to explore my options and see what they are,” Hindle said when asked about legal action. In fact, in response to several questions, he said he could not comment on the advice of counsel.

He described the falling pieces as very large, hitting with the impact of 10 pounds.

“It threw me for a loop,” he said.

“I couldn’t participate in official training yesterday. I was getting therapy all day. It’s not what you want to be doing before your Olympics.”

Hindle is a side pusher on Canada II, which was 11th after the first heat. He said his movements were restricted Friday.