Trouble in yet another NGB

[HDG]

Sorry for the cut-and-paste:

Embattled U.S. Skeleton Coach Fired


Feb 4, 11:24 AM (ET)

By TIM REYNOLDS

(AP) U.S. women's skeleton team coach Tim Nardiello looks on during a training day for the 2003...

U.S. skeleton coach Tim Nardiello was fired by the sport's national federation, which said he ignored orders not to join the American sliding team during its final Olympic preparations.
Nardiello, who was denied a credential to coach at the Turin Games, is in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where the four U.S. Olympic sliders are training. The letter of dismissal was e-mailed Friday.
"I'm very disappointed," Nardiello said Saturday, declining further comment.
Nardiello was suspended by the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation Dec. 31, accused of sexually harassing national-team members. He was reinstated 25 days later when an arbitrator found no credible evidence supporting those claims.

But the U.S. Olympic Committee, which conducted a separate inquiry into Nardiello's conduct, still refused to let him coach in Turin.
After his reinstatement, Nardiello asked permission join the U.S. team in Europe and coach until the Turin Games open. The federation declined, but Nardiello went anyway, and it's unknown how much time he's spent coaching American sliders since reaching Switzerland.
"Regrettably, you have chosen to ignore our express instructions to you, and have traveled to Europe, where you have been attempting to coach our World Cup athletes who are preparing for the Olympic Winter Games," USBSF sports director Terry Kent told Nardiello in the firing e-mail. "This action not only is in direct contravention of our instructions, it is in defiance of the USOC, and it constitutes clear insubordination."
The USOC declined comment, saying the matter is an internal one between Nardiello and the USBSF.
Each U.S. skeleton Olympian - Zach Lund, Kevin Ellis, Eric Bernotas and Katie Uhlaender - has supported Nardiello during the harassment saga and say they wanted him to be their Olympic coach.
Orvie Garrett was selected late last month by the USBSF as Nardiello's Olympic replacement.
The USOC has cited eight reasons for denying Nardiello a credential, including violations of rules banning sex between coaches and athletes. Nardiello dates Kelly Moffat, who competed for New Zealand during this past World Cup season.
Nardiello coached Moffat and three other international sliders, along with the U.S. team.
His firing caps another stormy week for the program. The World Anti-Doping Agency said this week it is appealing Lund's Olympic eligibility, with a final decision expected by Thursday.
Lund was warned but not suspended by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Jan. 23 after testing positive for finasteride - a banned steroid masking agent. Lund said the result stemmed from usage of a hair-restoration product.
Skeleton athletes slide headfirst on a sled at more than 70 mph on the track used for bobsled and luge.

[hpfencing]

Things could be and could get a ot worse in the USFA!

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Its a good thing we're having trouble in the USFA, otherwise the other NGB's would make fun of us, call us spoiled.

[KD5MDK]

How many women are there on the skeleton team? I could imagine a Zach being a woman, perhaps. But Kevin and Eric are decently masculine names. So was he theoretically only the coach for Katie Uhlaender? Or are there a lot of other skeletoners who are not mentioned but part of the program.

[Gav]

2 questions:

1. What is skeleton? Apart from the obvious that is..

2. Why hasn't this been added to an existing thread?

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!

2 questions:

1. What is skeleton? Apart from the obvious that is..

2. Why hasn't this been added to an existing thread?

#1: A sport where the single competitor races on a sled head first, chest down in a bob/luge track. It was added to the winter OG schedule last games, GB got a medal, I think gold.

#2: That is for the moderator to do!


Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

[jjefferies]

Things could be and could get a ot worse in the USFA!

Care to point out any relationship of this "tempest in a tea pot" to anything that's going on in the USFA?

[KD5MDK]

Well, the USOC apparently overruled the NGB's reinstatement of the coach. This implies that NGBs are subject to direct oversight from the USOC when the USOC feels like it.