EDITORIAL
Cold and gold wars mar Olympic Games

Political rivalries, braggadocio, cheating and humiliation marked the Olympic Games of ancient Greece, where winners were elevated to veritable demigods while the losers faced public shame and disgrace.

And judging by some of the sniping and sniveling at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games that just ended in Salt Lake City, not much has changed since the days of chariot racing.

With 2,400 athletes and a price tag of about $2 billion, the athletic pageant got off to a rocky start with a bidding scandal and ended with charges of bias and threats of boycott.

As always, we were riveted to the displays of ecstatic glory and crushing disappointment. But we could have done without the jingoism, sour grapes and obsessive perfectionism leading to the "Gold War."

The huffy reactions of some athletes who didn't place first suggested that there was only one medal worth pursuing.

Meanwhile, Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov described this year's Olympics as "a continuation of the Cold War." And it sure looked that way. Rah-rah coverage of the games here was blatantly focused on U.S. gold medalists in waiting.

As for judging controversies, Russia ended the week demanding a gold medal for figure skater Irina Slutskaya, which she lost to American teenager Sarah Hughes. It didn't help Russia's mood that their cross-country skiing favorite was disqualified following a blood test.

The Canadians were no less vocal when they lobbied successfully to get their pairs figure skating team of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier an unprecedented duplicate gold medal. And Russia took full advantage of that precedent. "Canadian pairs skaters were awarded their gold medals. Now that subjective judging harmed us, we want the same for Slutskaya," said Viktor Mamotov, head of the Russian delegation in Salt Lake City.

In the meantime, South Korea protested a referee's ruling that gave the gold to America's Apolo Anton Ohno instead of their own speedskater, Kim Dong-sung, who was disqualified. Since then, Ohno has apparently received death threats and insulting e-mail.

And so we bid adieu to another drama-filled Olympic pageant and salute those athletes who were able to rise above the politics. Let's hope that the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens will be a tad more dignified.