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Russia Outraged Over Olympic Decisions
Friday, February 22, 2002
(14:52)
Gazeta.RU & Combined Reports

"It is a wild Olympics in the Wild West. What is taking place there is a discredit to the Olympic movement."

Sport spilt over into the political arena on Friday morning in Moscow with high-ranking Russian politicians expressing outrage at the suspiciously high number of incidents, decisions and rulings that have gone against the Russian Olympic Team at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Patience snapped following the effectual ban of the Russian women’s cross-country skiing relay team and now the Russian Olympic Committee is considering boycotting the closing ceremony in Salt Lake City and withdrawing from the Summer Games in Athens 2004.

On Thursday Larisa Lazutina was disqualified from the women’s cross country relay and Olympic officials refused to accept a substitute. The Russians were practically guaranteed of victory in the 20 kilometre final.

The head of the Russian Olympic Committee Leonid Tyagachev called a press conference soon afterwards to protest against the ban which he said was the just the latest in a series of incidents and rulings against the Russian team.

Larisa Lazutina was banned for having high levels of hemoglobin in her blood. Visibly distressed and angered, Tyagachev said this could be due to a combination of factors including her menstrual cycle and diet. “The Russian Team is absolutely innocent,” Tyagachev said, adding that the actions against them amounted to “banditism.”

Tyagachev announced that the Russian team is considering withdrawing from the current Winter Games and even boycotting the Summer Games in Athens in 2004.
(More: Gazeta.RU News Source)
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