Athens Has 4.5 Quake, but Judges Give It a 3.9

Rulon Gardner hit the Olympic wrestling mat Tuesday, beginning defense of his 2000 gold medal, and the earth shook.

You could look it up: Gardner participated in three pool matches in the Greco-Roman wrestling super-heavyweight class, won them all, and the Athens Geodynamic Institute reported a tremor with a preliminary magnitude of 4.5.

Mere coincidence?

The quake was a relatively small one. No injuries or damage were reported, although writers covering baseball at the Helliniko Complex noticed the press table shaking shortly after 3:30 p.m. Athens time.

What could that be, they wondered.

That can’t be Tommy Lasorda again, pounding the table with his fist, still unable to cope with the fact the United States failed to qualify for the Olympic baseball tournament. He really needs to let that one go.

Actually, it was a real earthquake, with an epicenter about 42 miles northeast of Athens, 12 miles beneath the Aegean Sea. This is not unusual for Greece, considered one of Europe’s most seismically active countries.

No wonder Greece recruited so many Californians to play on its Olympic softball and baseball teams. The imports were sure to feel right at home here.

Just to make Gardner feel at home, his old Russian nemesis, Alexander Karelin, was in the stands, watching and perhaps still stewing about his 2000 gold medal bout with Gardner, the greatest Olympic upset since a bunch of smaller Americans on ice skates -- not snowmobiles -- stunned another group of formidable Soviets at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Four years ago, Gardner became a modern-day American folk hero by ending Karelin’s 59-match winning streak. Apparently, Karelin hasn’t gotten over it. He was trying to keep a low profile in the stands, tough for him to do.

For one, Karelin is a massive man.

For another, the arena was half-empty, as most arenas have tended to be during these Olympics.

Karelin is now a high-ranking official in the Russian government and, surprisingly, he wasn’t there to file a protest. That has become the new Russian Olympic movement.

Finish second in women’s all-around gymnastics? Say you were “fleeced.”

Finish out of the medals in the men’s high bar competition? Make another appeal.

The Russians haven’t won many gold medals in Athens, but they’ve done a lot of griping about it.

Ernie Banks never played Red Square, but from the perspective of the new Russian national pastime, Tuesday was a great day to protest two.

First, the Russians protested Alexei Nemov’s “low” score in Monday night’s men’s gymnastics high-bar competition. Russian Olympic team spokesman Gennady Shvets told Reuters that a “strong letter” would be sent to International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, complaining of “biased judging” throughout the gymnastics competition.

“It is noticeable that there is a certain tendency [to disadvantage Russian athletes],” Shvets said.

An anti-Russian Olympic conspiracy in Greece is highly unlikely, but shortly after nightfall, on the Olympic Stadium track, another Russian athlete was disadvantaged, quite noticeably.

In the women’s 100-meter hurdles, Canadian world champion Perdita Felicien stepped on the crossbar of the first hurdle, went flying and crash-landed into the lane to her right, taking out Russia’s Irina Shevchenko as well. The two-for-one tumble helped American Joanna Hayes win the gold medal -- and led to yet another Russian protest.

The complaint: Felicien impeded Shevchenko by entering her lane.

You think?

A news release said “A re-run of the event is possible,” although finding a precedent to support such a cause was nearly impossible.

Early Wednesday morning, the protest was denied and Hayes got to keep her medal. Although Felicien, no doubt, would have voted for a do-over.

While Russian Olympic officials were busy protesting, Russian Olympic athletes continued competing. Given enough time, something positive on that end was bound to develop -- and sure enough, pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva broke the women’s world record en route to the gold medal, clearing 16 feet 1 1/4 inches.

In other Olympic protest news, U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm will be allowed to keep his gold medal without anyone cloning it, unless he’s guilted into giving it up. The International Gymnastics Federation said it has no provision allowing for twin gold medals to be awarded in such a dispute.

Imagine that.

If figure skating had the same rules as gymnastics, the Russians would have left Utah in 2002 as owners of the only set of pairs skating gold medals. The Russians probably would not have minded.

On the down side, Salt Lake City would have imploded on the spot, the media outrage reaching critical mass and causing downtown buildings and arenas to vaporize and forcing the Jazz to relocate to Boise.

Getting a head start on tomorrow’s Olympic protest news, Hungarian discus champion Robert Fazekas was stripped of his gold medal for trying to tamper with a urine sample. Alpha TV in Greece reported that Fazekas was caught carrying someone else’s urine in a bag on his way to doping control.

If true, Fazekas should have known better. When you’re directed to go to doping control, you head there with your warmup suit or your shoe bag or your wallet. And that’s it. As the signs say at the airport, all passengers limited to one carry-on.