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Canadian skeleton coach Joe Cecchini has spoken out about the sudden national controversy surrounding his team’s decision to pull athletes out of an Olympic qualifier, costing American Katie Uhlaender a chance to compete at the Milan Cortina Winter Games. Uhlaender has responded to his claims.
Cecchini told CBC News “there is nothing wrong” with his team’s decision to withdraw four athletes from the North America Cup earlier this month, reducing the total number of points the event could award.
The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) ruled this week that the decision was “intentional and aimed at reducing the points available”, making it mathematically impossible for Uhlaender to qualify for the Milan Cortina. But no sanctions or score revisions were made by the IBSF despite the results.
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Katie Uhlaender of the United States reacts after the women’s skeleton heat 2 race during the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games at the Olympic Sliding Center in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on February 16, 2018. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)
“It’s all within the rules. There’s nothing wrong with those things. And people can be strategic in the races they enter. And she did and other nations did because you want to put your best foot forward,” Cecchini said. “This is a system error if anything. But we were within the rules.”
Cecchini also took direct aim at Uhlaender, saying she is not a “top-tier athlete.”
“I don’t really want to talk negatively about Katie, but Katie wasn’t on the World Cup team. She wasn’t a top-tier in that program anymore. She was at the end of her career. I personally would rather race against Katie. She’s not as competitive as the other athletes,” he said. “It’s probably really unfair to say and not really where I want to go with this, but that’s where we are with it.”
Uhlander, who competed in the previous five Winter Olympics, fired back at the coach for his comments.
“If I were Canada, I would be concerned about how this coach represents the Olympic values for his country,” Uhlaender told Pakinomist Digital. “He hurt an entire field of athletes, all with dreams, and this sends the message that they don’t matter unless they’re number one. All athletes matter, and we all deserve to compete fairly, with integrity and respect. He disrespected anyone in that field.
“This is not about my CV or how good the athletes were in the race. It is about the fact that he deliberately manipulated the competition to harm myself and 13 other countries because he felt it necessary to eliminate all possibilities. It is against the spirit of sport and not what the Olympic movement represents.”
TEAM CANADA FOUND TO HAVE MANIPULATED COMPETITION THAT COST US SHOT AT MILAN CORTINA OLYMPICS
Uhlaender won two world championship gold medals in 2012. Although she has never won an Olympic medal, she has reached the final in all five appearances.
Meanwhile, as an athlete, Cecchini was originally a member of the Canadian skeleton team. He narrowly missed out on Olympic qualification in 2014. He later switched to the less competitive Team Italy and qualified for the country’s Olympic team for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. He finished 27th in men’s skeleton in Pyeongchang for Italy.
Now, as coach, Cecchini finds himself at the center of a global controversy ahead of Milan Cortina following his team’s decision earlier this month.
So far, 15 other nations have signaled their support for Uhlaender’s bid for an Olympic berth in response to Canada’s decision.
Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) initially said the decision to withdraw the athletes was made “after careful evaluation of the needs of the program and in consultation with the IBSF” and “careful consideration of the athletes’ health, safety and long-term development.”
However, the IBSF has found evidence that Canada made a deliberate decision to withdraw athletes to manipulate the potential points at stake.
“Although Canada subsequently attributed its decision to order four athletes not to compete in official training to concerns about the athletes involved, substantial evidence supports Ms. Uhlaender’s claim that the move was a deliberate effort by Canada to reduce the number of points available at the final Lake Placid NAC to protect their own Olympic quotas,” the IBSF said.
Cecchini added that the situation has been “terrible” for him.
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(Left) A large Olympic rings logo is seen inside the stadium as flag bearers Charles Hamelin and Marie-Philip Poulin of Team Canada lead their team out during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, China, February 4, 2022. (Right) Katie Uhlaender forms the Team2 United States Olympic gate in the Beijing 2nd shoot in Irvine, California, on September 12, 2021. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images; Tom Pennington/Getty Images for Team USA)
“For me personally, this has been terrible. I never expected a decision like this within the rules of a development circuit to cause such a scenario,” he told The CBC.
“I really feel sorry for the athletes trying to understand why people are so potentially angry. There’s a voice from an athlete who has been to multiple Olympics and has some influence. And it’s been really hard and it’s challenged myself, my staff.”
