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/ 13 February 2006

Kwan pulls out of Winter Olympics

Antoine Deneriaz won the marquee event of the Winter Olympics on Sunday with a surprising late run to upstage the Austrians and Americans in the men’s downhill. Unsurprisingly, Michelle Kwan withdrew from the Games, ending her decade-long quest for gold. Armin Zoeggeler gave Italy their first golden moment with victory in the luge.

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/ 13 February 2006

Winter Olympics pairs programme on track

Perhaps there won’t be so much controversy this time. The last Olympic pairs competition ended with a scoring scandal and gold medals awarded to two couples as officials scurried to make things right. This year, with a new scoring system, the short programme went off without a hitch ahead of Monday’s final.

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/ 31 January 2006

Italy to relax drug laws for Winter Olympics

The Italian government said on Monday it will be relaxing its strict doping laws for next month’s Winter Olympics in Turin, much to the relief of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada). The IOC and Wada had been concerned that some athletes could end up with jail sentences.

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/ 1 November 2005

Doping dispute clouds Winter Olympics countdown

A downhill skier is led off in handcuffs after crossing the finish line for a gold medal. Paramilitary police jump on to the ice and take away a hockey defenceman or chase down a pair of ice dancers. It may sound like a goofy film script, but the International Olympic Committee is worried about just such scenes at the Winter Olympics in Turin.

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/ 14 September 2004

Swiss give up on hosting Winter Olympics

Zurich officials pulled the plug on a joint Swiss bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics on Tuesday because the city will be unable to afford its portion. The bid was to be shared with the cantons of Graubuenden and Schwyz in eastern and central Switzerland, but Zurich’s withdrawal ended any possibility of making a submission.