(edit title) Nordén made to settle for Olympic silver Options

[The Local]

Swedish triathlete Lisa Nordén was confirmed as Olympic silver medallist on Saturday after a the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected a Swedish appeal to turn the medal into a shared gold with Swiss Nicola Spirig.

The women's triathlon ended in a photo finish between the two athletes and officials ruled at the time to give the gold to the Swiss runner. Only a few thousandths of a second separated the pair.

The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) duly lodged an appeal arguing that as the difference was so small both should be given the gold.

Click to read the full article.

[byke]

It looks like Denmark is allot further ahead in the points table for medals.
And Belarus is almost twice as far ahead.
1 United States 41 26 27 94
2 China 37 25 20 82
3 Great Britain & N. Ireland 26 15 18 59
4 Russian Federation 17 21 28 66
5 South Korea 13 7 7 27
6 Germany 10 18 14 42
7 France 9 9 12 30
8 Hungary 8 4 4 16
9 Australia 7 15 10 32
10 Italy 7 6 8 21
11 Netherlands 6 5 8 19
12 Kazakhstan 6 0 4 10
13 Japan 5 14 17 36
14 New Zealand 5 3 5 13
15 Iran 4 5 1 10
16 Ukraine 4 2 9 15
17 North Korea 4 0 2 6
18 Belarus 3 4 4 11
19 Jamaica 3 4 3 10
20 Cuba 3 3 4 10
21 South Africa 3 1 1 5
22 Ethiopia 3 0 3 6
23 Spain 2 9 3 14
24 Romania 2 5 2 9
25 Denmark 2 4 3 9
26 Czech Republic 2 3 3 8
26 Kenya 2 3 3 8
28 Brazil 2 2 8 12
29 Poland 2 2 6 10
30 Turkey 2 2 1 5
31 Croatia 2 1 1 4
32 Switzerland 2 1 0 3
33 Canada 1 5 12 18
34 Colombia 1 3 4 8
35 Sweden 1 3 3 7

[OUIJA]

Typical Swede. She lost, and it does not matter for how many milliseconds, but she lost, and then, she cries foul. I have heard the same attitude in other Olympic sports: the judges were against the Swedes; they gave point to the other athletes or teams. They stole medals from Sweden, etc, etc, etc. The never ending story of a crying nation with a bunch of childish athletes.

[Miss Kitten]

What are you talking about? The article clearly states that she had no part of the appeal. It wasn't even her idea. The Swedish Olympic Commitee filed the appeal on her behalf. She supported the appeal but stated interview that she didn't think it would do any good, and that she was happy with the silver medal.

[Great Scott]

The Swedish Olympic Committee states quite clearly says in its own statement that "the DIFFERENCE was so small", so if there is a difference then its gold and silver. Does the Swedish Olympic Committee not know what "difference" means, they should be punished for wasting the Court of Arbitration for Sport's time.

[SimonDMontfort]

No reason at all why an appeal shouldn't have been lodged: after all other competitors/national olympic teams have also appealed against decisions.
The Swedish girl came desperately close - and did after all record the same 'time' as the Swiss girl who won it

[Miss Kitten]

Even Norden thought they were wasting their time, but apparently the fact that the difference was down to thousands of a centimeter made it so close that she should have gotten a gold medal, according the the SOC.
The IOC didn't see it that way, though, and Norden knew they that wouldn't. She's perfectly happy with a silver medal and always has been, but now of course people are saying she was whining and crying foul, which couldn't be further from the truth.

[byke]

Based on what I have read, which is very little and from sources (such as the local) which I hold very little regards towards accuracy.
I must say that even if Norden didn't file the appeal (could she independently without the support of the SOC?) she did support it. And I doubt very much the SOC wouldn't have filled the appeal without Nordens consent.
And I think that is very bad taste and poor sportsmanship.
But since gold medals have become such a merit or sign of value or achievements to certain governments or nations. Then we are faced with a situation where we are seeing groups to do whatever it takes, even in bad taste.
I cant see any reason to justify her appeal.
And by backing such, has led me to judge both her and the SOC in a negative light.
One interesting fact is Switzerland has something like 7 point something million people in it ... and a climate in certain areas which many would describe as not the best place to train.
So its quite heartening to see such achievements by the swiss athlete Nicola Spirig, not only win .. even after an appeal ... but do so in the face of the usual boo hoo "We are only 9 million people" speech which is played on almost a state fed automatic re-run whenever something involves Swedens short comings.

[dizzymoe33]

Congratulations on your silver medal.

[Zhorka]

Nicola looks prettier than Lisa. I vote for her.

[Miss Kitten]

Even if Norden could file an appeal without the support of the SOC, she certainly never would. Again, she had nothing to do with it, and has repeatedly said she's happy with her silver medal. I
It's the SOC that is a sore loser, not her by any means.
In an interview she said that she was actually surprised that the SOC was appealing the result, since she was satisfied with it, and besides, there is never a shared result in the triathon, anyway.
It's too bad that the SOC decided to appeal it because it's done nothing but make Norden look bad. Well done, SOC.

[Emerentia]

I find it very strange that they say that the camera on the other side was broken. Shouldn't they make sure that those things work before they start the race? To admit this and let Nordén and Spirig share the gold would to admit that the made a mistake.

[Svensksmith]

If her gut was just a little bigger, she could have won.

[Spuds MacKenzie]

The fact that only one of the two finish line cameras were working should have been reason enough for this to be a shared gold medal. The IOC is a disgrace.

[SimonDMontfort]

Well - the IOC don't do themselves many favours when there is a belief, among some, that they are not doing enough to clean up the drug testing procedures
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/v...1134190?pgno=1