So much for playing the welcoming hosts at the Olympics. Canadian Jeff Pain, a silver medalist in the skeleton at the 2006 Olympics and one of the most decorated athletes in his sport, tossed a hand grenade at the German skeleton team and the sport's ruling body Wednesday.
So much for playing the welcoming hosts at the Olympics. Jeff Pain, a silver medalist in the skeleton at the 2006 Olympics and one of the most decorated athletes in his sport, tossed a hand grenade at the German skeleton team and the sport's ruling body Wednesday morning. The Canadian veteran accused the Germans of using illegal technology to make their sleds slide faster during a news conference at the Whistler Media Centre.
"I know for a fact that they have a magnetic component in their sled, and I do question whether that is legal or not, because the way I read the rules it is not," Pain said. "Obviously, the FIBT disagrees with me, or they haven't found them. But there is a magnetic component in their sleds that does something, and it would be nice to have that investigated a little bit."
Pain's teammate, Jon Montgomery, stopped short of labeling the Germans as cheats. But he did say the playing field in skeleton was tilted toward the nation that gave the world the Porsche sports car and other finely engineered machines built for maximum speed and handling. The Germans practically own the sport of luge, but have not had the same success in skeleton. But two Germans are in the top three in this season's World Cup standings. Montgomery is fourth, Pain is 10th.
"In our case, we've got to be perfect to win, and the Germans are afforded some mistakes in their drive lines just because of their sled designs and what they have got going on," Montgomery said. "When we do prevail, and when we do win, we are sliding exceptionally well, and when they do come out on top of the heap, they sometimes have errors and mistakes."
Pain, meanwhile, can't say exactly how the magnets help the Germans, though he did offer a theory.
"I don't know 100% how they use it, my belief is that they are creating a magnetic field that provides damping -- like shock absorbing -- that's what I believe they are using it for," he said. "I don't 100% know, but I know it is right around the runner posts in their sleds is where the magnetic component is. So, I don't know what it is there for, but it is there for a reason, because they wouldn't put it there if it wasn't.
"If you read the rules, it says no electromagnetic fields..."
For now, the German sleds have passed all the mandatory inspections given by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, but the biggest challenge awaits next Thursday when the Canadians will try to topple what they perceive to be a technological edge.
