songs of experience

“Good on you, Joan. Pressure does get results sometimes. Witness Beckie Scott of Canada in XC skiing, she won the bronze and then eventually moved up to Gold when Gold and Silver tested positive. I think that “athletes” who cheat should be CRIMINALLY charged, they are in effect stealing from the other athletes. We all know that Regina Jacobs won all kinds of money that as far as I see it she STOLE from those behind her. Same for Ben Johnson, the sums he STOLE run into the hundreds of thousands. At least, here in Canada, something was done.”

Comment by George Muenz — 4/24/2006 @ 11:19 am

p.s. I bet some flunky from the IOC or USOC will give you grief for posting the Olympic rings on your blog. I think you should re-post that graphic with one ring missing to show that it is not complete as a result of the drug use that is covered up.


Beckie Scott with her honestly-won GOLD medal!

“Dubbed “The Protest Games”, controversy dogged the 19th Winter Olympics as doping offences and judging errors dominated the headlines as much as the individual athletic performances. The final day of the Games saw three cross-country skiers excluded for doping offences. Gold medallists Johann Muehlegg and Olga Danilova along with teammate Larissa Lazutina, failed out-of-competition tests on February 21 but were allowed to keep their Olympic medals. Muehlegg was stripped of the 50km classical cross-country win after testing positive for the performance-boosting substance darbepoetin and almost two years later the Court of Arbitration for Sport stripped him of his remaining medals.

Lazutina and Danilova were also stripped of their medals and 29 months later, Canadian Becky Scott - a longtime campaigner for drug-free competition - was awarded the gold medal in the 5km cross country pursuit. Scott became the first North American woman to win a cross-country Olympic medal with her third-place finish at Salt Lake, behind Danilova and Lazutina. Both passed their drug tests after that race, but in a later event tested positive for darbepoetin. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in December 2003 that Danilova should be stripped of the gold. Scott was upgraded to silver when it was proven Lazutina had failed a drug test in a World Cup race prior to the Olympics. That made her ineligible to compete at the Games. Throughout the process Scott became the only athlete to be awarded all three medals in a single event and she’s also the only athlete to return two medals from the same race.”

and this:
Beckie Scott retires
by, JAMES CHRISTIE

Globe and Mail Update

“Canada’s cross-country ski icon Beckie Scott bid a tearful farewell to her career on the trails Wednesday, a historic figure in Canadian skiing and a woman whose unrelenting battle against doping changed her sport.

Scott became the first North American to take an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing in 2002, after she and the Canadian Olympic Committee battled for justice at the International Court of Arbitration for Sport to have medals taken away from two Russian women who had used blood-boosting products.

“I think that seeing those medals withdrawn was one of the most satisfying days of my life. It wasn’t just a medal for me, it was a victory for my sport,” Scott said in a conference call following a formal announcement before friends, teammates, coaches and parents that was punctuated by sobs and thank-yous.

“I helped rewrite the history books and these athletes were going to be struck from the books and weren’t going to be remembered as the champions.”

The 32-year-old Scott could reflect on a career that saw her go from total anonymity to being a household name in Canadian sport, synonymous with both ethics and excellence. Scott, married to former U.S. cross-country star Justin Wadsworth, has been voted onto the International Olympic Committee by fellow athletes, is a director of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and an athlete member of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Most remarkably, she spearheaded the campaign that got officials of the International Ski Federation to institute rigorous anti-doping measures in a sport long regarded as a haven for blood dopers and drug cheats.

Not surprisingly, after the crackdown, Scott closed out an 11-year career with a brilliant World Cup and Olympic campaign, scoring 10 World Cup medals, four of them gold, winning five medals in the first World Cup circuit events ever held in Canada, and an Olympic silver with teammate and close friend Sara Renner at Turin.

“I remember when she got her first World Cup points, and this year, we couldn’t keep up with the champagne,” Renner said.

“It’s an emotional day, obviously,” said Scott, as she paid tribute to her parents, friends, husband and sponsors.

“This day marks the official end of my ski career and retirement,” she said. “There are many reasons, one of the most significant is that I can no longer sustain the incredible amount of focus, energy and commitment to continue competing at a high, high level.

“One of the reasons I rose to success was intuition, and building on that when I needed to. In keeping with that it’s time, time to say goodbye and time to channel my focus and energy out of sport and into life on the other side.”

She said a comeback is not likely, even with the lure of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Scott added she will maintain some connection with sport, though high-level coaching is not in her plans; “more likely grassroots programs with kids learning to ski.”

She and Wadsworth will move from their Bend, Ore., home to Canada in the near future. The couple owns a home in Panorama, B.C.

During the February Winter Olympics in Turin, Scott and Finland’s Saku Koivu, who captains the Montreal Canadiens, were elected to eight-year terms as members of IOC Athletes’ Commission by fellow athletes.

Scott was elected with 449 votes, Koivu with 412.

“I’m absolutely flattered to have been voted by my peers to represent them” Scott said. “I look forward to working for all of the athletes, and doing my best for them. I think it is really important to have a Canadian voice on the IOC Athletes’ Commission. Canadians are well respected worldwide, and bring a lot of what is good in sport and expected at the Olympic Games including sportsmanship and fair play.”

Scott also has IOC membership status for Canada, joining Richard Pound of Montreal.”