Olympics
Notebook: Bush camp won't halt Olympic- themed ads

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

ATHENS — President Bush's re-election campaign said yesterday it would continue to run television ads crediting his policies for the presence of "two more free nations" at the Olympics, despite objections from the U.S. Olympic Committee and Iraqi athletes.

The USOC sent the Bush campaign a letter Wednesday, formally asking it to cease the broadcasts. The committee cited an act of Congress, most recently amended in 1999, that bars the use of the terms "Olympic" and "Olympiad" for political or commercial purposes.

"It is the responsibility of the USOC to manage Olympic marks, terms and images in the U.S., and also to remain apolitical," said Darryl Seibel, a spokesman for the USOC.

A Bush campaign official said that the ad was an acceptable form of free speech, and that it would continue to air until at least Sunday, the last day of the Games.

Doping update

A rowing medalist from Ukraine and a Hungarian weightlifter became the latest drug cases at the Athens Olympics, the International Olympic Committee said. They brought the record number of doping violations at the Games to 15.

Olena Olefirenko, a member of the bronze-medal women's quadruple sculls crew, failed a test for a banned stimulant contained in medicine given by a team doctor, the IOC said. The whole Ukraine rowing crew lost its medals, which now go to the Australian team. Weightlifter Zoltan Kovacs was expelled for refusing to provide a urine sample, the IOC said.

The previous mark for drug cases at one Games was 12 in 1984 at Los Angeles.

Notes
 
• Upset with marks given to American Mary Sanders in qualifying, the U.S. rhythmic gymnastics team filed an inquiry with the International Gymnastics Federation seeking a review of her hoop routine. Sanders finished 18th out of 24 gymnasts in the first of two qualifying rounds.

• German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the Olympic medals awarded in the equestrian three-day eventing competition were worthless after his country lost out in a legal battle over the competition.

"If I were a Frenchman or American I would ask myself whether it is worth wearing a gold medal that was not won through achievement but through interpreting the rules, and in a dubious way to boot," Schroeder told German RTL television.

Germany lost two gold medals in the Olympic three-day eventing competition when France, Britain and the United States won an appeal to sport's highest appeals body last week.

• Olympic organizers said that more than 3.5 million tickets have been sold for the Games, surpassing the initial goal. Organizers had said they hoped to sell 3.4 million of the 5.3 million tickets.