US bobsleigh crewman Bill Schuffenhauer was detained following an alleged dispute with his fiancee, Canadian police said on Thursday.
The US Olympic Committee confirmed Schuffenhauer, set to compete in yesterday’s four-man bob event, had been detained on Wednesday night but released shortly afterward.
“We understand that late last evening Bill Schuffenhauer, a member of the US Bobsled team, was detained and released by authorities in Whistler,” US Olympic Committee chief communications officer Patrick Sandusky said.
PHOTO: AFP
A statement from the US Bobsled and Skeleton Federation CEO Darrin Steele read: “Billy was brought in, he answered questions for 2-3 hours and was let go. The situation occurred before midnight. Billy’s focus now is the race on Friday and Saturday.”
Insisting that “I don’t think there is a whole lot there,” Steele added: “We all have great admiration for Billy. He has a pretty amazing story ... how he sacrificed to get here. He’s the first to reach out to charities and volunteer causes.”
Schuffenhauer won a four-man silver medal at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 after he was drafted late to the team in place of Pavle Jovanovic, who was suspended for taking a banned nutritional supplement.
Schuffenhauer’s fiancee, Ruthann Savage, has spent the past few days in Vancouver and was due to watch the 36-year-old compete on the Whistler track, which has been the scene of more than a dozen spectacular crashes in both the men’s and women’s bobsleigh as well as the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.
The pair have a young son.
Schuffenhauer is a pushman on one of the three US crews entered in yesterday’s race.
Teammates rallied round Schuffenhauer, who had retired after the 2006 Games in which he finished sixth in the four-man and 14th in the two-man event.
“It’s not a distraction for us at all. All I was told is that there is a situation, and that’s all I know about it,” US pilot John Napier said.
Steele said that it “looks like nothing further is going to happen, and if it does, we’ll deal with it.”
“The big focus now is the race,” Steele said.
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