Olympic Notes: Lago Leaves Vancouver After Racy Pics Hit Web

Lago Leaves Vancouver After Racy Pics Appear On TMZ

The AP's Eddie Pells reported U.S. snowboarder Scotty Lago, who won the Bronze Medal in the halfpipe competition, left Vancouver over the weekend after a risqué picture "turned up on the TMZ Web site." Lago was "at a party Thursday night, wearing a Team USA T-shirt, when someone snapped a photo of a woman kneeling below his waist to kiss the medal." USOC CEO Scott Blackmun and Chair Larry Probst "said Lago's decision to go home came before the federation had a chance to react to the situation." Blackmun: "He put the code of conduct on himself, decided the correct thing was to go home." Probst: "He made that call, and it was the right decision" (AP, 2/20). However, YAHOO SPORTS' Jeff Passan cited sources as indicating that Lago was "forced to leave" and "did so to prevent an even greater escalation of a situation that already had been blown far out of proportion." The sources said that after the photos surfaced, the U.S. Snowboard Association, "in an effort to avoid USOC intervention, came to him with two options." Lago could either to "go home quietly and play the necessary political game, or go through a trial process and risk getting formally ejected." Passan noted whether Lago "broke any formal code of conduct is unclear," but USOC Chief Communications Officer Patrick Sandusky said, "It's more than just about an individual. They're here representing Team USA" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 2/20).

CROWD MANAGEMENT: In Vancouver, Sin & Luymes reported the Olympics have turned the downtown portion of the city “into a high-security party zone.” Long lines “have done little to deter people from visiting the more than 30 pavilions representing companies, provinces and countries.” Also, the zip line at Robson Square “has been a huge hit, as has the more child-friendly atmosphere of Granville Island.” VANOC CEO John Furlong said, “You have to be on the ground in Vancouver to see it. There has to be 60,000 or 70,000 people on Robson. The city has never seen anything like this in all our history. I can never remember a time in Canada that’s like the one we’re in. The whole country is celebrating” (Vancouver PROVINCE, 2/21).

SECURITY QUIET SO FAR: The GLOBE & MAIL’s Robert Matas reported the Vancouver Games’ “massive security operation … has so far stepped on few toes.” After “flooding Olympic zones, the security forces have asserted their authority quietly, mostly just by showing up.” B.C. Civil Liberties Association Exec Dir David Eby said, “I certainly thought there were opportunities for them to wade into the crowd, to try to make arrests or disperse people using crowd-control agents or pepper spray. They did not do any of those things” (GLOBE & MAIL, 2/20).

ROCK ‘N ROLL: The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Phred Dvorak in a front-page piece reports Canada’s inukshuk Olympic logo “is among the most curious” in recent memory, as it is a “pile of rocks.” The inukshuk is a “stack of stones traditionally used by the Inuit of the arctic to mark anything from a hunting spot to a food cache.” The logo “can be found on everything from key chains and T-shirts to rain gear for dogs.” Similar rock piles “have inspired unofficial products.” The Vancouver Aquarium has unveiled a “10-foot-high inukshuk made out of 4,368 cans of sustainably fished salmon and tuna.” Other rock piles “are sprouting up across Canada, as emblems of the Canada Speed Skating team and latest Group of Seven finance ministers meeting” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/22).

TURN UP THE RADIO: In N.Y., Jere Longman reports fans “can purchase closed-circuit radios to follow figure skating” for the first time during the Olympics. Fans who buy Axel Radio receive “expert analysis, detailed explanations of the complex scoring systems, trivia and cheeky humor long associated with an event that combines sport and art.” About 1,400 of the radios have been sold (N.Y. TIMES, 2/22).