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[Blwe_torch]

Dark side of Turin Games surfaces

February 15, 2006 12:09 IST


The dark side of the Winter Olympic Games surfaced in Turin on Tuesday when a Brazilian athlete was sent home in shame, having failed a doping test.

It was a bleak day too for Bode Miller. The American Alpine skier was disqualified from the combined event after straddling a gate in the first leg of the slalom.

But the Italian sun shone brightly on Sweden who won their first Winter Olympic gold medal since Lillehammer in 1994.

Armando dos Santos, a member of Brazil's four-man bobsleigh team, was banished from the Olympic Village when the result of a January test was disclosed, showing he had tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.

"As soon as we found out, he was sent home. Today he's at the airport, going back to Brazil," Brazilian ice sports team leader Eric Maleson said.

The Winter Games are also over for Sergei Dolidovich. The Belarussian cross-country skier, who was suspended for five days last week for a high haemoglobin value, had his "start prohibition" extended for another five days.

Dolidovich, whose reading was still too high and was not cleared to race as a health safeguard, had been scheduled to take part only in the men's team sprint which was raced on Tuesday.

Dolidovich was one of 12 athletes to have had over-high values. Four were cleared on Monday, while the others have not yet been tested again.

On the sporting field Sweden were celebrating their first Winter Olympic gold medals for 12 years when their men and women triumphed within 20 minutes of each other in the cross-country skiing team sprints.

SUN SHINING

Former world sprint champion Thobias Fredriksson and team mate Bjoern Lind surged to victory in the men's race just after Anna Dahlberg and Lina Andersson had triumphed in the women's.

A traditional powerhouse of Winter sports, Sweden failed to win a single gold at either the 1998 Nagano Olympics or the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

"Two golds for Sweden. We couldn't ask for any more," said Fredriksson, who shook off a fever on the eve of the Games to take part. "The sun is shining on us today."

Lind said he and his team mate had been pepped up by the success of the women.

"We saw Lina cross the line first and Thobias and I just stood and screamed with joy," he said.

There were no screams of American joy after Miller failed to deliver gold.

The combined leaderboard had initially showed the overall World Cup champion nearly one second ahead of Austrian world champion Benjamin Raich after the first slalom leg.

Television replays, however, showed he had straddled the 42nd gate and he was disqualified.

Miller, silver medallist at the last Olympics, was leading going into the slalom after setting the fastest time in the downhill leg earlier on Tuesday.

Olympic champion Kjetil Andre Aamodt had earlier opted out of competing in the combined.

Aamodt, who injured his knee when he finished fourth in Sunday's downhill, stayed in his hotel and concentrated on getting fit to defend his super-G title on Saturday.

Women's downhill Olympic champion Carole Montillet, injured in a practice crash, will decide at the last minute whether to defend her title on Wednesday.

French women's head-coach Lionel Finance said a final decision would be made at 1000 local time in Turin on Wednesday after the Salt Lake City gold medallist has completed her warm-up for the race.

http://in.rediff.com/sports/2006/feb/15games.htm