'A flop'

IOC head to visit Moscow after Olympic controversy

MOSCOW (AP) -- IOC President Jacques Rogge is expected to attend the traditional Olympic Ball in the Kremlin early next month, Russian Olympic Committee spokesman Alexander Ratner said Monday.

It will be Rogge's first visit to the Russian capital since he was elected president at the IOC meeting here last July, and it comes amid widespread Russian anger over the treatment of Russian athletes at the Salt Lake City games.

Russia suffered shock over the number of scandals that involved its athletes in Salt Lake City and was disappointed with the national team's results. Many commentators blamed the scandals in part on Rogge, and Russian President Vladimir Putin attributed the problems to the change of leadership in the IOC.

The first try is "always a flop," Putin said.

Rogge had to send a letter to Putin expressing understanding for the nation's anger, but he assured the Russian leader that the judging at the games was fair.

For the week following the close of the games, top Russian sports officials have held numerous news conferences to justify their threats to pull out of the games and play up their efforts to defend the athletes.

"We should calm down and make a thorough analysis to what has happened. Every Olympics has its own dramatic events. There were unexpected victories and losses, which had not been planned," Vitaly Smirnov, vice president of the IOC and former president of the Russian Olympic Committee, said Monday.

In fact, Russia could compete in just four sports -- cross-country skiing, biathlon, figure-skating and men's ice hockey, in which Russia has traditionally been in the front ranks.

 

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