Who's the greatest of them all? 2006 supplies the answers (China Daily/Agencies) Updated: 2005-12-31 07:37
As with most modern Olympics, summer and winter, the build-up has been dogged
by legal and financial problems.
The most public is the Italian government's refusal to suspend its
tough anti-doping laws.
Under Italian law, athletes caught doping face criminal charges. To the IOC
and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) such athletes are not criminals and
should be punished with suspension by their sports federations.
Attention will be on the duel on the slopes between Austrian great Hermann
Maier and American rival Bode Miller.
Maier missed the last Olympics in Salt Lake City after he was involved in a
serious motorcycle crash in 2001 but he picked up two gold medals in the 1998
Nagano Olympics.
The 28-year-old Miller is never far from the headlines.
The American found himself embroiled in a doping row after he said he was
suprised that erythropoietin (EPO) was an illegal substance, even though he did
not use it himself.
He also gave out mixed signals about his motivation although he has recently
confirmed that he will take part in the Olympics.
"I'm still not really that motivated," he said. "I hoped that it would be
better. The racing itself still gives me the area I need to explore my limits
which is one reason I'm continuing."
The sun may have set on the British Empire, but the Commonwealth Games is
still alive and well.
Melbourne hosts the latest version from March 15-26 but, in a sign of the
times, will be locked in a security blanket for the duration.
Australian jet fighters and combat helicopters will guard the Games from a
possible September 11-style attack by enforcing an air "exclusion zone" within a
75-kilometer (45-mile) radius of the main venues.
|