Russians Threaten to Leave Salt Lake

Using inflammatory rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War and the boycotts that plagued the Olympic movement in the 1970s and 1980s, Russian sports and political leaders threatened Thursday to withdraw from the Salt Lake Games and said they might not take part in the Athens Summer Games in 2004.

The latest controversy to cast a shadow over the Games came after Russia’s Larissa Lazutina, a nine-time Olympic medalist, was disqualified before the women’s 20-kilometer cross-country relay because of a high red-blood-cell count found in a pre-race test. The Russians were unable to replace Lazutina in time for the race, which was won by Germany.

Leonid Tyagachev, the president of the Russian national Olympic committee, blamed the country’s disappointing showing so far at these Olympic Winter Games on unfair judging, starting with last week’s unprecedented decision to award a second set of gold medals to a Canadian pair of figure skaters who had originally finished second to the Russians. The incident involving Lazutina exhausted Russian patience, he said.

“We are not the only country that is humiliated,” Tyagachev said, referring to other controversial “nonobjective” judging decisions during the Games. “In other words, this is a very serious topic. How can we compete in the future?”

Speaking through a translator, Tyagachev initially gave International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge 24 hours to respond. Later, Vitaly Smirnov, an IOC vice president and longtime IOC member from Russia, said there was no ultimatum: “Not 24 hours, nor 48 hours.” Later still, Tyagachev said that if Rogge were to take the extraordinary step of sending an explanatory letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, that “will be a satisfactory conclusion.”

Olympic officials moved quickly to respond. A couple of hours later, IOC Director General Francois Carrard said Rogge had indeed sent a letter to Putin. He did not detail the contents but said Rogge, after briefings with skating, hockey and ski officials, had been “quite reassured” that there were no judging improprieties directed against Russian athletes.

Carrard also said there was “no pressure” from Putin, that Rogge simply “felt it appropriate” to keep the Russian president informed.

He also said, “The Russian delegation, the Russian athletes, the Russian people have shown a long commitment to the Olympic movement and we trust they will keep this full delegation and commitment.” As for the possibility of a Russian departure, he said, “This is a hypothetical question and I will not take it tonight.”

Meantime, the South Korean delegation announced that it, too, was furious about a judging call in Wednesday night’s 1,500-meter short-track speedskating race, in which the apparent winner, South Korea’s Kim Dong-Sung, was disqualified and American Apolo Anton Ohno, who had finished second, was awarded the gold medal.

South Korean officials said they would do “whatever is necessary” to correct “this unfortunate misjudgment” and, like the Russians, would consider boycotting the closing ceremonies of the Games, set for Sunday. In the meantime, the Koreans announced, they had filed a protest with the international skating federation, with an international sports arbitration panel--and were considering the filing of a lawsuit in a U.S. court over the 1,500-meter results.

Carrard said the South Korean protest was a matter for the International Skating Union, the worldwide skating federation at the center of last week’s dispute involving the Canadian and Russian pairs figure skaters.

“At this stage,” Carrard said, “the IOC has received no proposal and taken no action.”

It remained highly uncertain late Thursday whether the Russians were serious about leaving the Games--or were merely ratcheting up the pressure on judges in sports they still are competing in, or were simply trying to save face for constituencies back home.

Russia’s Irina Slutskaya, second behind Michelle Kwan of the U.S. heading into Thursday night’s free program in women’s figure skating, finished second. Kwan finished third. American Sarah Hughes, who skated an exemplary program, won gold.

Today the U.S. and Russian men’s hockey teams meet--in a rematch of the famous 1980 game, won by the United States.

The repercussions of a pullout would be far-reaching, affecting the Olympic movement--Russia has long been a key player in Olympic affairs--and the careers of Russia’s most influential sports leaders. For instance, Moscow officials have made no secret in recent months of their interest in bidding for the 2012 Summer Games.

The Soviet Union dominated winter sports from its arrival in the Winter Games, in 1956, until the breakup of the country a decade ago. It boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games--in apparent retaliation for the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, which was announced in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

In 1988, in Calgary, the Soviets won 29 medals. In 1992, in Albertville, the so-called Unified Team--athletes of the former Soviet Union, less those from Baltic states--won 23. In 1994, in Lillehammer, the Russians won 23. In 1998, in Nagano, the Russians took home 18 medals.

At these Games, with three days of competition left, the Russians have won 14 medals, five gold. Germany, the United States, Norway and even Austria have won more medals.

The United States, with a previous best of 13 medals, in Nagano and Lillehammer, has won 30 here in Salt Lake--10 gold.

Russian officials--including Pavel Rojkov, chairman of the Russian state Committee for Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism--made it plain Thursday they believed the problem was not poor performance but unfair judging.

It started, Russian officials said, with last week’s furor over the pairs skating program, in which Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were originally awarded silver, Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze the gold. Amid pressure, the Canadians got their gold.

Tyagachev maintained Thursday that Russian officials supported that position, even though he said 90% of Russian fans disagreed with the awarding of the second gold.

Then came Wednesday’s men’s hockey game between the Czech Republic and the Russians. The Russians won, 1-0, but left the game feeling that they’d been called for excessive penalties and the Czechs thus enjoyed too many power-play opportunities.

Smirnov called the refereeing in that game “truly disgusting” and said he saw “malicious intent.”

The final straw came Thursday, before the start of the women’s 20-kilometer cross-country relay, in which four athletes each ski a five-kilometer leg. A Soviet or Russian team had won this event at every Olympics since 1988.

But one of Russia’s top athletes, Lazutina, was disqualified before the race because of the high red-blood-cell count. A high count could signal the use of a performance-enhancing artificial substance.

Russian officials said the explanation was innocuous--Lazutina was having her period. “There is nothing to hide,” Tyagachev said.

“We had a sure gold medal, and it was just taken away,” Smirnov said.

Said Russian coach Anatoly Akentev: “We have been present at the funeral of the ski relay race within the framework of the Olympic Games.”

Carrard said the inflamed emotions were understandable:

“The stakes are high. Emotions are high. Tensions are high. We understand it. Judgment calls, we’ve said it from Day One, are part of human nature and human reactions are understandable. There is a lot of emotion building up, and I think these protests are the expressions of such emotions.”

And he said, “Let’s see what time does to all this.”