US skiing golden girl Lindsey Vonn dealt the Winter Olympics a potential injury hammer-blow on Wednesday as the 2010 Games, already sweating over the weather, was rocked by its first allegations of cheating.
Two days ahead of the opening ceremony, Vonn admitted that a badly bruised and possibly fractured right shin was causing “excruciating pain” and could force her out of the Olympics.
The 25-year-old suffered the injury during a training run in Austria and has not been on the slopes since.
PHOTO: AFP
“This is definitely the most painful injury I’ve ever had,” Vonn said. “Three days ago I would have said absolutely not [competing]. It feels better. I’m optimistic but not sure.”
World downhill and Super-G champion Vonn, who has dominated both disciplines in the World Cup season, fell during her first training run eight days ago.
“I came down, got twisted funny and went over my skis,” Vonn said. “It was painful right away. I didn’t know how bad it was until I took off my boot and I couldn’t walk.”
While Vonn sweated over her injury, organizers were fretting over the weather.
Vancouver’s Cypress Mountain had its first dusting of snow in weeks amid frantic efforts to ready the troubled Olympic freestyle venue.
However, later on Wednesday, officials admitted that tomorrow’s women’s moguls at Cypress could be delayed due to fog because the judges, who watch from a cabin near the finish line, must have a clear view of the entire course.
At Whistler, poor weather also forced the cancellation of a men’s downhill training run after just 40 of 87 skiers made it down the course. Swiss veteran Didier Cuche topped the first training run ahead of the medal run tomorrow.
The Olympics also breathed in the first whiff of scandal as Canada and Germany became locked in a bitter row over the legality of the Europeans’ skeleton sled.
The Canadians claimed the Germans are using a magnetic component on their sleds to create an unfair advantage. But the Germans hit back, insisting their equipment had been checked by the FIBT (International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation).
“The German team have been tested the most this winter by the authorities,” team spokeswoman Margit Denglar-Paar said. “I have never heard anything about magnets.”
Canadian skeleton hopeful Jeff Pain, a silver medalist at the 2006 Turin Games, insisted that the Germans were cheating.
“I know for a fact [the German team] have a magnetic component in their sleds and I question whether that’s legal,” Pain said.
In the continuing battle against doping, Olympic chiefs said 30 athletes had been prevented from attending the Games.
International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said: “The World Anti-Doping Agency told us that there are 30 athletes who have been prevented from coming to the Games because they have tested positive.”
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